Yom Kippur war - wikipedia Yom Kippur war Yom Kippur War / October War Part of the Arab -- Israeli conflict and Cold War Egyptian forces crossing the Suez Canal on October 7 Date October 6 -- 25, 1973 Location Both banks of the Suez Canal, Golan Heights and surrounding regions Result Israeli military victory Political gains for Egypt and Israel 1978 Camp David Accords Territorial changes The Egyptian army occupied the eastern coast of the Suez Canal with the exception of the Israeli crossing point near Deversoir. The Israeli army occupied sixteen hundred square kilometers of territory on the southwestern coast of the Suez Canal, within 100 km from Cairo, and encircled an Egyptian enclave in the east bank The Israeli army occupied five hundred square kilometers of the Syrian Bashan, on top of the Golan Heights, which brought it within 20 miles of Damascus. Belligerents Israel Supported by : United States Egypt Syria Expeditionary forces : Jordan Iraq Saudi Arabia Libya Algeria Morocco Cuba Supported by : Soviet Union Commanders and leaders Golda Meir Moshe Dayan David Elazar Israel Tal Shmuel Gonen Yitzhak Hofi Binyamin Peled Haim Bar - Lev Albert Mandler † Ariel Sharon Anwar Sadat Hafez al - Assad Ahmad Ismail Ali Mustafa Tlass Saad El Shazly Yusuf Shakkour Abdel Ghani el - Gammasy Ali Aslan Omar Abrash † Strength 375,000 -- 415,000 troops 1,700 tanks 3,000 armored carriers 945 artillery units 440 combat aircraft Egypt : 650,000 -- 800,000 troops ( 200,000 crossed ) 1,700 tanks ( 1,020 crossed ) 2,400 armored carriers 1,120 artillery units 400 combat aircraft 140 helicopters 104 Navy vessels 150 surface to air missile batteries ( 62 in the front line ) Syria : 150,000 troops 1,200 tanks 800 -- 900 armored carriers 600 artillery units Expeditionary Forces * : 100,000 troops 500 -- 670 tanks 700 armored carriers Cuba : 1,500 -- 4,000 troops Morocco : 5,500 troops 30 tanks 52 combat aircraft Saudi - Arabia : 3,000 troops Total : 914,000 -- 1,067,500 troops 3,430 -- 3,600 tanks 3,900 -- 4,000 armored carriers 1,720 artillery units 452 combat aircraft 140 helicopters 104 navy vessels 150 surface to air missile batteries Casualties and losses 2,521 -- 2,800 dead 7,250 -- 8,800 wounded 293 captured 1,063 tanks destroyed, damaged or captured 407 armored vehicles destroyed or captured 102 -- 387 aircraft destroyed Egypt : 5,000 -- 15,000 dead 8,372 captured Syria : 3,000 -- 3,500 dead 392 captured Iraq : 278 dead 898 wounded 13 captured Jordan : 23 dead 77 wounded Morocco : 6 captured Total casualties : 8,000 -- 18,500 dead 18,000 -- 35,000 wounded 8,783 captured 2,250 -- 2,300 tanks destroyed 341 -- 514 aircraft destroyed 19 naval vessels sunk Yom Kippur War Syrian front 1st Hermon Valley of Tears Model 5 Latakia 2nd Hermon 2nd Latakia Syrian GHQ Raid Gown al - Mazzah Airport Raid 3rd Hermon Egyptian front Badr Fort Budapest Lahtzanit Ofira Romani Marsa Talamat Tagar Baltim Sinai Mansoura Chinese Farm Abirey - Halev Egyptian Missile Bases Raid 25th Brigade ambush Ismailia Scud missile attack Suez International front Nickel Grass The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War, or October War ( Hebrew : מלחמת יום הכיפורים ‎ ‎, Milẖemet Yom HaKipurim, or מלחמת יום כיפור, Milẖemet Yom Kipur ; Arabic : حرب أكتوبر ‎ ‎, Ḥarb ʾUktōbar, or حرب تشرين, Ḥarb Tišrīn ), also known as the 1973 Arab -- Israeli War, was a war fought by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6 to 25, 1973. The fighting mostly took place in the Sinai and the Golan Heights, territories that had been occupied by Israel since the Six - Day War of 1967. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat wanted also to reopen the Suez Canal. Neither specifically planned to destroy Israel, although the Israeli leaders could not be sure of that. The war began when the Arab coalition launched a joint surprise attack on Israeli positions in the Israeli - occupied territories on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, which also occurred that year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed ceasefire lines to enter the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights respectively. Both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated massive resupply efforts to their respective allies during the war, and this led to a near - confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers. The war began with a massive and successful Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal. After crossing the cease - fire lines, Egyptian forces advanced virtually unopposed into the Sinai Peninsula. After three days, Israel had mobilized most of its forces and halted the Egyptian offensive, resulting in a military stalemate. The Syrians coordinated their attack on the Golan Heights to coincide with the Egyptian offensive and initially made threatening gains into Israeli - held territory. Within three days, however, Israeli forces had pushed the Syrians back to the pre-war ceasefire lines. The Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) then launched a four - day counter-offensive deep into Syria. Within a week, Israeli artillery began to shell the outskirts of Damascus. As Egyptian President Sadat began to worry about the integrity of his major ally, he believed that capturing two strategic passes located deeper in the Sinai would make his position stronger during post-war negotiations. He therefore ordered the Egyptians to go back on the offensive, but their attack was quickly repulsed. The Israelis then counter-attacked at the seam between the two Egyptian armies, crossed the Suez Canal into Egypt, and began slowly advancing southward and westward towards the city of Suez in over a week of heavy fighting that resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. On October 22 a United Nations -- brokered ceasefire quickly unraveled, with each side blaming the other for the breach. By October 24, the Israelis had improved their positions considerably and completed their encirclement of Egypt 's Third Army and the city of Suez. This development led to tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. As a result, a second ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on October 25 to end the war. The war had far - reaching implications. The Arab world, which had experienced humiliation in the lopsided rout of the Egyptian -- Syrian -- Jordanian alliance in the Six - Day War, felt psychologically vindicated by early successes in the conflict. In Israel, despite impressive operational and tactical achievements on the battlefield, the war led to recognition that there was no guarantee that Israel would always dominate the Arab states militarily, as it had consistently through the earlier First Arab -- Israeli War, the Suez War and the Six - Day War. These changes paved the way for the subsequent peace process. The 1978 Camp David Accords that followed led to the return of the Sinai to Egypt and normalized relations -- the first peaceful recognition of Israel by an Arab country. Egypt continued its drift away from the Soviet Union and left the Soviet sphere of influence entirely. Contents 1 Background 1.1 Events leading up to the war 1.2 Lead - up to the surprise attack 1.2. 1 Egyptian and Syrian military exercises 1.3 Lack of Israeli pre-emptive attack 2 Combat operations 2.1 In the Sinai 2.1. 1 Egyptian attack 2.1. 2 Failed Israeli counter-attack 2.1. 3 Temporary stabilization 2.1. 4 The Egyptian failed attack 2.1. 5 Israel planned attack considerations 2.1. 6 Israeli breakthrough -- Crossing the canal 2.1. 7 Securing the bridgehead 2.1. 8 Egyptian response to the Israeli crossing 2.1. 9 Israeli forces across the Suez 2.1. 10 The ceasefire and further battles 2.1. 11 Egypt 's trapped Third Army 2.1. 12 Post war battles 2.1. 13 Final situation on the Egyptian front 2.2 On the Golan Heights 2.2. 1 Syrian attack 2.2. 2 Israeli advance 2.2. 3 Northern front de-escalation 2.2. 4 Jordanian participation 2.2. 5 Final situation on the Syrian front 2.3 The war at sea 3 Atrocities against Israeli prisoners 3.1 Syrian atrocities 3.2 Egyptian atrocities 4 Participation by other states 4.1 Failure of the U.S. intelligence community 4.2 U.S. aid to Israel 4.3 Aid to Egypt and Syria 4.3. 1 Soviet Supplies 4.3. 2 Soviet Active Aid 4.3. 3 Soviet threat of intervention 4.3. 4 Other countries 4.4 Palestinian attacks from the Lebanese border 5 Weapons 6 Home front during the war 7 Casualties 8 Post-ceasefire 8.1 Kissinger pushes for peace 8.2 Disengagement agreement 8.3 Response in Israel 8.4 Response in Egypt 8.5 Response in Syria 8.6 Response in the Soviet Union 8.7 Oil embargo 9 Long - term effects 9.1 Egyptian -- Israeli disengagement agreement 9.2 Egyptian -- Israeli Camp David Accords 9.3 Commemorations 10 See also 11 References 11.1 Notes 11.2 Bibliography 12 External links Background The war was part of the Arab -- Israeli conflict, an ongoing dispute that included many battles and wars since 1948, when the state of Israel was formed. During the Six - Day War of 1967, Israel had captured Egypt 's Sinai Peninsula, roughly half of Syria 's Golan Heights, and the territories of the West Bank which had been held by Jordan since 1948. On June 19, 1967, shortly after the Six - Day War, the Israeli government voted to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria in return for peace agreements. This decision was not made public or conveyed to the Arab states ; the public position of the Israeli government was that they were willing to return both Sinai and the Golan Heights, with exception of some strategically important points, in exchange for a permanent peace settlement and a demilitarization of the returned territories. They rejected a full return to the boundaries and the situation before the war and also insisted on direct negotiations with the Arab governments as opposed to accepting negotiation through a third party. The Arab position, as it emerged in September 1967 at the Khartoum Arab Summit, was to reject any peaceful settlement with the state of Israel. The eight participating states -- Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, and Sudan -- passed a resolution that would later become known as the `` three no 's '' : there would be no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel. Prior to that, King Hussein of Jordan had stated that he could not rule out a possibility of a `` real, permanent peace '' between Israel and the Arab states. Armed hostilities continued on a limited scale after the Six - Day War and escalated into the War of Attrition, an attempt to wear down the Israeli position through long - term pressure. A ceasefire was signed in August 1970. President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt died in September 1970. He was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. A peace initiative led by both Sadat and UN intermediary Gunnar Jarring was tabled in 1971. Sadat set forth to the Egyptian Parliament his intention of arranging an interim agreement as a step towards a settlement on 4 February 1971, which extended the terms of the ceasefire and envisaged a reopening of the Suez Canal in exchange for a partial Israeli pullback. It resembled a proposal independently made by Moshe Dayan. Sadat had signaled in an interview with the New York Times in December 1970 that, in return for a total withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, he was ready `` to recognize the rights of Israel as an independent state as defined by the Security Council of the United Nations '. Gunnar Jarring coincidentally proposed a similar iniative four days later, on 8 February 1971. Egypt responded by accepting much of Jarring 's proposals, though differing on several issues, regarding the Gaza Strip, for example, and expressed its willingness to reach an accord if it also implemented the provisions of Security Council resolution 242. This was the first time an Arab government had gone public declaring its readiness to sign a peace agreement with Israel. In addition, the Egyptian response included a statement that the lasting peace could not be achieved without `` withdrawal of the Israeli armed forces from all the territories occupied since 5 June 1967 '' ( emphasis added ). The UNSC resolution called for `` withdrawal from territories occupied '' intentionally omitting `` all '', and `` the ''. '' Golda Meir reacted to the overture by forming a committee to examine the proposal and vet possible concessions. When the committee unanimously concluded that Israel 's interests would be served by full withdrawal to the internationally recognized lines dividing Israel from Egypt and Syria, returning the Gaza Strip and, in a majority view, returning most of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Meir was angered and shelved the document. The United States was infuriated by the cool Israeli response to Egypt 's proposal, and Joseph Sisco informed Yitzhak Rabin that `` Israel would be regarded responsible for rejecting the best opportunity to reach peace since the establishment of the state '. Israel responded to Jarring 's plan also on 26 of February by outlining its readiness to make some form of withdrawal, while declaring it had no intention of returning to the pre-5 June 1967 lines. Jarring was disappointed and blamed Israel for refusing to accept a complete pullout from the Sinai peninsula. Sadat hoped that by inflicting even a limited defeat on the Israelis, the status quo could be altered. Hafez al - Assad, the leader of Syria, had a different view. He had little interest in negotiation and felt the retaking of the Golan Heights would be a purely military option. After the Six - Day War, Assad had launched a massive military buildup and hoped to make Syria the dominant military power of the Arab states. With the aid of Egypt, Assad felt that his new army could win convincingly against Israel and thus secure Syria 's role in the region. Assad only saw negotiations beginning once the Golan Heights had been retaken by force, which would induce Israel to give up the West Bank and Gaza, and make other concessions. Sadat also had important domestic concerns in wanting war. `` The three years since Sadat had taken office... were the most demoralized in Egyptian history... A desiccated economy added to the nation 's despondency. War was a desperate option. '' In his biography of Sadat, Raphael Israeli argued that Sadat felt the root of the problem was the great shame over the Six - Day War, and before any reforms could be introduced, he believed that that shame had to be overcome. Egypt 's economy was in shambles, but Sadat knew that the deep reforms that he felt were needed would be deeply unpopular among parts of the population. A military victory would give him the popularity he needed to make changes. A portion of the Egyptian population, most prominently university students who launched wide protests, strongly desired a war to reclaim the Sinai and was highly upset that Sadat had not launched one in his first three years in office. The other Arab states showed much more reluctance to fully commit to a new war. Jordanian King Hussein feared another major loss of territory, as had occurred in the Six - Day War, in which Jordan lost all of the West Bank, territory it had conquered and annexed in 1948 -- 49, which had doubled its population. Sadat also backed the claim of the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ) to the West Bank and Gaza and, in the event of a victory, promised Yasser Arafat that he would be given control of them. Hussein still saw the West Bank as part of Jordan and wanted it restored to his kingdom. Moreover, during the Black September crisis of 1970, a near civil war had broken out between the PLO and the Jordanian government. In that war, Syria had intervened militarily on the side of the PLO, estranging Hussein. Iraq and Syria also had strained relations, and the Iraqis refused to join the initial offensive. Lebanon, which shared a border with Israel, was not expected to join the Arab war effort because of its small army and already evident instability. The months before the war saw Sadat engage in a diplomatic offensive to try to win support for the war. By the fall of 1973, he claimed the backing of more than a hundred states. These were most of the countries of the Arab League, Non-Aligned Movement, and Organization of African Unity. Sadat had also worked to curry favour in Europe and had some success before the war. Britain and France for the first time sided with the Arab powers against Israel on the United Nations Security Council. Events leading up to the war Four months before the war broke out, Henry Kissinger made an offer to Ismail, Sadat 's emissary. Kissinger proposed returning the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian control and an Israeli withdrawal from all of Sinai, except for some strategic points. Ismail said he would return with Sadat 's reply, but never did. Sadat was already determined to go to war. Only an American guarantee that the United States would fulfill the entire Arab program in a brief time could have dissuaded Sadat. Sadat declared that Egypt was prepared to `` sacrifice a million Egyptian soldiers '' to recover its lost territory. From the end of 1972, Egypt began a concentrated effort to build up its forces, receiving MiG - 21 jet fighters, SA - 2, SA - 3, SA - 6 and SA - 7 antiaircraft missiles, T - 55 and T - 62 tanks, RPG - 7 antitank weapons, and the AT - 3 Sagger anti-tank guided missile from the Soviet Union and improving its military tactics, based on Soviet battlefield doctrines. Political generals, who had in large part been responsible for the rout in 1967, were replaced with competent ones. The role of the superpowers, too, was a major factor in the outcome of the two wars. The policy of the Soviet Union was one of the causes of Egypt 's military weakness. President Nasser was only able to obtain the materiel for an anti-aircraft missile defense wall after visiting Moscow and pleading with Kremlin leaders. He said that if supplies were not given, he would have to return to Egypt and tell the Egyptian people Moscow had abandoned them, and then relinquish power to one of his peers who would be able to deal with the Americans. The Americans would then have the upper hand in the region, which Moscow could not permit. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. One of Egypt 's undeclared objectives in the War of Attrition was to force the Soviet Union to supply Egypt with more advanced arms and materiel. Egypt felt the only way to convince the Soviet leaders of the deficiencies of most of the aircraft and air defense weaponry supplied to Egypt following 1967 was to put the Soviet weapons to the test against the advanced weaponry the United States had supplied to Israel. Nasser 's policy following the 1967 defeat conflicted with that of the Soviet Union. The Soviets sought to avoid a new conflagration between the Arabs and Israelis so as not to be drawn into a confrontation with the United States. The reality of the situation became apparent when the superpowers met in Oslo and agreed to maintain the status quo. This was unacceptable to Egyptian leaders, and when it was discovered that the Egyptian preparations for crossing the canal were being leaked, it became imperative to expel the Soviets from Egypt. In July 1972, Sadat expelled almost all of the 20,000 Soviet military advisers in the country and reoriented the country 's foreign policy to be more favourable to the United States. The Syrians remained close to the Soviet Union. The Soviets thought little of Sadat 's chances in any war. They warned that any attempt to cross the heavily fortified Suez Canal would incur massive losses. Both the Soviets and Americans were then pursuing détente and had no interest in seeing the Middle East destabilized. In a June 1973 meeting with American President Richard Nixon, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev had proposed Israel pull back to its 1967 border. Brezhnev said that if Israel did not, `` we will have difficulty keeping the military situation from flaring up '' -- an indication that the Soviet Union had been unable to restrain Sadat 's plans. In an interview published in Newsweek ( April 9, 1973 ), Sadat again threatened war with Israel. Several times during 1973, Arab forces conducted large - scale exercises that put the Israeli military on the highest level of alert, only to be recalled a few days later. The Israeli leadership already believed that if an attack took place, the Israeli Air Force ( IAF ) could repel it. Almost a full year before the war, in an October 24, 1972, meeting with his Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Sadat declared his intention to go to war with Israel even without proper Soviet support. Planning had begun in 1971 and was conducted in absolute secrecy -- even the upper - echelon commanders were not told of the war plans until less than a week prior to the attack, and the soldiers were not told until a few hours beforehand. The plan to attack Israel in concert with Syria was code - named Operation Badr ( Arabic for `` full moon '' ), after the Battle of Badr, in which Muslims under Muhammad defeated the Quraish tribe of Mecca. Lead - up to the surprise attack The Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) Directorate of Military Intelligence 's ( abbreviated as `` Aman '' ) Research Department was responsible for formulating Israel 's intelligence estimate. Their assessments on the likelihood of war were based on several assumptions. First, it was assumed correctly that Syria would not go to war with Israel unless Egypt did so as well. Second, the department learned from Ashraf Marwan, former President Nasser 's son - in - law and also a senior Mossad agent, that Egypt wanted to regain all of the Sinai, but would not go to war until they were supplied MiG - 23 fighter - bombers to neutralize the Israeli Air Force and Scud missiles to be used against Israeli cities as a deterrent against Israeli attacks on Egyptian infrastructure. Since they had not received MiG - 23s and Scud missiles had only arrived in Egypt from Bulgaria in late August and it would take four months to train the Egyptian ground crews, Aman predicted war with Egypt was not imminent. This assumption about Egypt 's strategic plans, known as `` the concept '', strongly prejudiced the department 's thinking and led it to dismiss other war warnings. By mid-1973, Aman was almost completely aware of the Arab war plans. It knew that the Egyptian Second and Third Armies would attempt to cross the Suez Canal and advance ten kilometres into the Sinai, followed by armored divisions that would advance towards the Mitla and Gidi Passes, and that naval units and paratroopers would then attempt to capture Sharm el - Sheikh. Aman was also aware of many details of the Syrian war plan. However, Israeli analysts, following `` the concept '', did not believe the Arabs were serious about going to war. The Egyptians did much to further this misconception. Both the Israelis and the Americans felt that the expulsion of the Soviet military observers had severely reduced the effectiveness of the Egyptian army. The Egyptians ensured that there was a continual stream of false information regarding maintenance problems and a lack of personnel to operate the most advanced equipment. The Egyptians made repeated misleading reports about lack of spare parts that made their way to the Israelis. Sadat had so long engaged in brinkmanship that his frequent war threats were being ignored by the world. In April and May 1973, Israeli intelligence began picking up clear signals of Egypt 's intentions for war, recognizing that it had the necessary divisions and bridging equipment to cross the Suez Canal and a missile umbrella to protect any crossing operation from air attack. However, Aman Chief Eli Zeira was still confident that the probability of war was low. In May and August 1973, the Egyptian Army conducted military exercises near the border, and Ashraf Marwan inaccurately warned that Egypt and Syria would launch a surprise attack on May 15. The Israeli Army mobilized in response to both exercises at considerable cost. These exercises were to ensure that the Israelis would dismiss the actual war preparations right before the attack was launched as another exercise. Egyptian and Syrian military exercises For the week leading up to Yom Kippur, the Egyptian army staged a week - long training exercise adjacent to the Suez Canal. Israeli intelligence, detecting large troop movements towards the canal, dismissed them as mere training exercises. Movements of Syrian troops towards the border were also detected, as were the cancellation of leaves and a call - up of reserves in the Syrian army. These activities were considered puzzling, but not a threat because, Aman believed, they would not attack without Egypt and Egypt would not attack until the weaponry they wanted arrived. Despite this belief, Israel sent reinforcements to the Golan Heights. These forces were to prove critical during the early days of the war. On September 27 and 30, two batches of reservists were called up by the Egyptian army to participate in these exercises. Two days before the outbreak of the war, on October 4, the Egyptian command publicly announced the demobilization of part of the reservists called up during September 27 to lull Israeli suspicions. Around 20,000 troops were demobilized, and subsequently some of these men were given leave to perform the Umrah ( pilgrimage ) to Mecca. Reports were also given instructing cadets in military colleges to resume their courses on October 9. On October 1, an Aman researcher, Lieutenant Binyamin Siman - Tov, submitted an assessment arguing that the Egyptian deployments and exercises along the Suez Canal seemed to be a camouflage for an actual crossing of the canal. Siman - Tov sent a more comprehensive assessment on October 3. Both were ignored by his superior. According to Egyptian General El - Gamasy, `` On the initiative of the operations staff, we reviewed the situation on the ground and developed a framework for the planned offensive operation. We studied the technical characteristics of the Suez Canal, the ebb and the flow of the tides, the speed of the currents and their direction, hours of darkness and of moonlight, weather conditions, and related conditions in the Mediterranean and Red sea. '' He explained further by saying : `` Saturday 6 October 1973 ( 10 Ramadan 1393 ) was the day chosen for the September -- October option. Conditions for a crossing were good, it was a fast day in Israel, and the moon on that day, 10 Ramadan, shone from sunset until midnight. '' The war coincided that year with the Muslim month of Ramadan, when many Arab Muslim soldiers fast. On the other hand, the fact that the attack was launched on Yom Kippur may have helped Israel to more easily marshal reserves from their homes and synagogues because roads and communication lines were largely open, easing the mobilization and transportation of the military. Despite refusing to participate, King Hussein of Jordan `` had met with Sadat and Assad in Alexandria two weeks before. Given the mutual suspicions prevailing among the Arab leaders, it was unlikely that he had been told any specific war plans. But it was probable that Sadat and Assad had raised the prospect of war against Israel in more general terms to feel out the likelihood of Jordan joining in. '' On the night of September 25, Hussein secretly flew to Tel Aviv to warn Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir of an impending Syrian attack. `` Are they going to war without the Egyptians, asked Mrs. Meir. The king said he did n't think so. ' I think they ( Egypt ) would cooperate. ' '' This warning was ignored, and Aman concluded that the king had not told anything that was not already known. Throughout September, Israel received eleven warnings of war from well - placed sources. However, Mossad Director - General Zvi Zamir continued to insist that war was not an Arab option, even after Hussein 's warning. Zamir would later remark that `` We simply did n't feel them capable ( of war ). '' On the day before the war, General Ariel Sharon was shown aerial photographs and other intelligence by Yehoshua Saguy, his divisional intelligence officer. General Sharon noticed that the concentration of Egyptian forces along the canal was far beyond anything observed during the training exercises, and that the Egyptians had amassed all of their crossing equipment along the canal. He then called General Shmuel Gonen, who had replaced him as head of Southern Command, and expressed his certainty that war was imminent. On October 4 -- 5, Zamir 's concern grew, as additional signs of an impending attack were detected. Soviet advisers and their families left Egypt and Syria, transport aircraft thought to be laden with military equipment landed in Cairo and Damascus, and aerial photographs revealed that Egyptian and Syrian concentrations of tanks, infantry, and surface - to - air ( SAM ) missiles were at an unprecedented high. According to declassified documents from the Agranat Commission, Brigadier General Yisrael Lior, Prime Minister Golda Meir 's military secretary / attaché, claimed that Mossad knew from Ashraf Marwan that an attack was going to occur under the guise of a military drill a week before it occurred, but the process of passing along the information to the Prime Minister 's office failed. The information ended up with Mossad head Zvi Zamir 's aide, who passed it along to Zamir at 12 : 30 am on 5 October. According to the claim, an unfocused and groggy Zamir thanked the aide for the information and said he would pass it along to the Prime Minister 's office in the morning. On the night of October 5 / 6, Zamir personally went to Europe to meet with Marwan at midnight. Marwan informed him that a joint Syrian - Egyptian attack was imminent. However, Marwan incorrectly told Zamir that the attack would take place at sunset. It was this warning in particular, combined with the large number of other warnings, that finally goaded the Israeli High Command into action. Just hours before the attack began, orders went out for a partial call - up of the Israeli reserves. The attack by the Egyptian and Syrian forces caught the United States by surprise. According to future CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he was briefing an American arms negotiator on the improbability of armed conflict in the region when he heard the news of the outbreak of war on the radio. On the other hand, the KGB learned about the attack in advance, probably from its intelligence sources in Egypt. Lack of Israeli pre-emptive attack Upon learning of the impending attack, Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir made the controversial decision not to launch a pre-emptive strike. The Israeli strategy was, for the most part, based on the precept that if war was imminent, Israel would launch a pre-emptive strike. It was assumed that Israel 's intelligence services would give, in the worst case, about 48 hours notice prior to an Arab attack. Prime Minister Golda Meir, Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan, and Chief of General Staff David Elazar met at 8 : 05 am the morning of Yom Kippur, six hours before the war began. Dayan opened the meeting by arguing that war was not a certainty. Elazar then presented his argument in favor of a pre-emptive attack against Syrian airfields at noon, Syrian missiles at 3 : 00 pm, and Syrian ground forces at 5 : 00 pm `` When the presentations were done, the prime minister hemmed uncertainly for a few moments but then came to a clear decision. There would be no preemptive strike. Israel might be needing American assistance soon and it was imperative that it would not be blamed for starting the war. ' If we strike first, we wo n't get help from anybody ', she said. '' Prior to the war, Kissinger and Nixon consistently warned Meir that she must not be responsible for initiating a Middle east war. On October 6, 1973, the war opening date, Kissinger told Israel not to go for a preemptive strike, and Meir confirmed to him that Israel would not. Other developed nations, being more dependent on OPEC oil, took more seriously the threat of an Arab oil embargo and trade boycott, and had stopped supplying Israel with munitions. As a result, Israel was totally dependent on the United States for military resupply, and particularly sensitive to anything that might endanger that relationship. After Meir had made her decision, at 10 : 15 am, she met with American ambassador Kenneth Keating in order to inform the United States that Israel did not intend to preemptively start a war, and asked that American efforts be directed at preventing war. An electronic telegram with Keating 's report on the meeting was sent to the United States at 16 : 33 GMT ( 6 : 33 pm local time ). A message arrived later from United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger saying, `` Do n't preempt. '' At the same time, Kissinger also urged the Soviets to use their influence to prevent war, contacted Egypt with Israel 's message of non-preemption, and sent messages to other Arab governments to enlist their help on the side of moderation. These late efforts were futile. According to Henry Kissinger, had Israel struck first, it would not have received `` so much as a nail ''. David Elazar proposed a mobilization of the entire air force and four armored divisions, a total of 100,000 to 120,000 troops, while Dayan favored a mobilization of the air force and two armored divisions, totaling around 70,000 troops. Meir chose Elazar 's proposal. Combat operations In the Sinai Wreckage from an Egyptian Sukhoi Su - 7 shot down over the Sinai on October 6 on display at the Israeli Air Force Museum. The Sinai was once again the arena of conflict between Israel and Egypt. The Egyptians had prepared for an assault across the canal and deployed five divisions totaling 100,000 soldiers, 1,350 tanks and 2,000 guns and heavy mortars for the onslaught. Facing them were 450 soldiers of the Jerusalem Brigade, spread out in 16 forts along the length of the Canal. There were 290 Israeli tanks in all of Sinai divided into three armored brigades, and only one of these was deployed near the Canal when hostilities commenced. Large bridgeheads were established on the east bank on October 6. Israeli armoured forces launched counterattacks from October 6 to 8, but they were often piecemeal and inadequately supported and were beaten back principally by Egyptians using portable anti-tank missiles. Between October 9 and October 12 the American response was a call for cease - fire in place. Arms for Israel began to flow in modest quantities. The Egyptian units generally would not advance beyond a shallow strip for fear of losing the protection of their surface - to - air missile ( SAM ) batteries, which were situated on the west bank of the canal. In the Six - Day War, the Israeli Air Force had pummeled the defenseless Arab armies. Egypt ( and Syria ) had heavily fortified their side of the ceasefire lines with SAM batteries provided by the Soviet Union, against which the Israeli Air Force had no time to execute a Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses ( SEAD ) operation due to the element of surprise. Israel, which had invested much of its defense budget building the region 's strongest air force, would see the effectiveness of its air force curtailed in the initial phases of the conflict by the SAM presence. On October 9, the IDF chose to concentrate its reserves and build up its supplies while the Egyptians remained on the strategic defensive. Nixon and Kissinger held back on a full - scale resupply of arms to Israel. Short of supplies, the Israeli government reluctantly accepted a cease - fire in place on October 12 but Sadat refused. The Soviets started an airlift of arms to Syria and Egypt. The American global interest was to prove that Soviet arms could not dictate the outcome of the fighting, by supplying Israel. With an airlift in full swing, Washington was prepared to wait until Israeli success on the battlefield might persuade the Arabs and the Soviets to bring the fighting to an end. It was decided to counterattack once Egyptian armour attempted to expand the bridgehead beyond the protective SAM umbrella. The riposte, codenamed Operation Gazelle, was launched on October 15. IDF forces spearheaded by Ariel Sharon 's division broke through the Tasa corridor and crossed the Suez Canal to the north of the Great Bitter Lake. After intense fighting, the IDF progressed towards Cairo and advanced southwards on the east bank of the Great Bitter Lake and in the southern extent of the canal right up to Port Suez. It was important for the Americans that the fighting should be ended, when all parties could still emerge from the conflict with their vital interests and self - esteem intact. Hence they indicated an acceptance of Israeli advance while violating the ceasefire, but the U.S. did not permit the destruction of the Egyptian 3rd army corps. Israeli progress towards Cairo was brought to a halt when the ceasefire was declared on October 24. Egyptian attack The 1973 War in the Sinai, October 6 -- 15. Main article : Operation Badr ( 1973 ) Anticipating a swift Israeli armored counterattack by three armored divisions, the Egyptians had armed their assault force with large numbers of man - portable anti-tank weapons -- rocket - propelled grenades and the less numerous but more advanced Sagger guided missiles, which proved devastating to the first Israeli armored counterattacks. Each of the five infantry divisions that was to cross the canal had been equipped with RPG - 7 rockets and RPG - 43 grenades, and reinforced with an anti-tank guided missile battalion, as they would not have any armor support for nearly 12 hours. In addition, the Egyptians had built separate ramps at the crossing points, reaching as high as 21 metres ( 69 ft ) to counter the Israeli sand wall, provide covering fire for the assaulting infantry and to counter the first Israeli armored counterattacks. The scale and effectiveness of the Egyptian strategy of deploying these anti-tank weapons coupled with the Israelis ' inability to disrupt their use with close air support ( due to the SAM shield ) greatly contributed to Israeli setbacks early in the war. Wreckage of an Israeli A-4 Skyhawk on display in Egypt 's war museum. Egyptian Sukhoi Su - 7 fighter jets conducting air strikes over the Bar Lev Line on 6 October An Israeli Mirage III shot down by an Egyptian MiG - 21 The Egyptian Army put great effort into finding a quick and effective way of breaching the Israeli defenses. The Israelis had built large 18 metre ( 59 foot ) high sand walls with a 60 degree slope and reinforced with concrete at the water line. Egyptian engineers initially experimented with explosive charges and bulldozers to clear the obstacles, before a junior officer proposed using high pressure water cannons. The idea was tested and found to be a sound one, and several high pressure water cannons were imported from Britain and East Germany. The water cannons effectively breached the sand walls using water from the canal. At 2 : 00 pm on October 6, Operation Badr began with a large airstrike. More than 200 Egyptian aircraft conducted simultaneous strikes against three airbases, Hawk missile batteries, three command centers, artillery positions, and several radar installations. Airfields at Refidim and Bir Tamada were temporarily put out of service, and damage was inflicted on a Hawk battery at Ophir. The aerial assault was coupled with a barrage from more than 2,000 artillery pieces for a period of 53 minutes against the Bar Lev Line and rear area command posts and concentration bases. Author Andrew McGregor claimed that the success of the first strike negated the need for a second planned strike. Egypt acknowledged the loss of 5 aircraft during the attack. Kenneth Pollack wrote that 18 Egyptian aircraft were shot down, and that these losses prompted the cancellation of the second planned wave. In one notable engagement during this period, a pair of Israeli F - 4E Phantoms challenged 28 Egyptian MiGs over Sharm el - Sheikh and within half an hour, shot down seven or eight MiGs with no losses. One of the Egyptian pilots killed was Captain Atif Sadat, President Sadat 's half - brother. Simultaneously, 14 Egyptian Tupolev Tu - 16 bombers attacked Israeli targets in the Sinai with Kelt missiles, while another two Egyptian Tupolevs fired two Kelt missiles at a radar station in central Israel. One missile was shot down by a patrolling Israeli Mirage fighter, and the second fell into the sea. The attack was an attempt to warn Israel that Egypt could retaliate if it bombed targets deep in Egyptian territory. An Egyptian MiG - 17 shot down during the dogfight over Sharm el - Sheikh. Under cover of the initial artillery barrage, the Egyptian assault force of 32,000 infantry began crossing the canal in twelve waves at five separate crossing areas, from 14 : 05 to 17 : 30, in what became known as The Crossing. The Egyptians prevented Israeli forces from reinforcing the Bar Lev Line and proceeded to attack the Israeli fortifications. Meanwhile, engineers crossed over to breach the sand wall. The Israeli Air Force conducted air interdiction operations to try to prevent the bridges from being erected, but took losses from Egyptian SAM batteries. The air attacks were ineffective overall, as the sectional design of the bridges enabled quick repairs when hit. Despite fierce resistance, the Israeli reserve brigade garrisoning the Bar - Lev forts was overwhelmed. According to Shazly, within six hours, fifteen strongpoints had been captured as Egyptian forces advanced several kilometres into the Sinai. Shazly 's account was disputed by Kenneth Pollack, who noted that for the most part, the forts only fell to repeated assaults by superior forces or prolonged sieges over many days. The northernmost fortification of the Bar Lev Line, code - named ' Fort Budapest ', withstood repeated assaults and remained in Israeli hands throughout the war. Once the bridges were laid, additional infantry with the remaining portable and recoilless anti-tank weapons began to cross the canal, while the first Egyptian tanks started to cross at 20 : 30. The Egyptians also attempted to land several heli - borne commando units in various areas in the Sinai to hamper the arrival of Israeli reserves. This attempt met with disaster as the Israelis shot down up to twenty helicopters, inflicting heavy casualties. Israeli Major General ( res. ) Chaim Herzog placed Egyptian helicopter losses at fourteen. Other sources claim that `` several '' helicopters were downed with `` total loss of life '' and that the few commandos that did filter through were ineffectual and presented nothing more than a `` nuisance ''. Kenneth Pollack asserted that despite their heavy losses, the Egyptian commandos fought exceptionally hard and created considerable panic, prompting the Israelis to take precautions that hindered their ability to concentrate on stopping the assault across the canal. Egyptian forces advanced approximately 4 to 5 km into the Sinai Desert with two armies ( both corps - sized by western standards, included the 2nd Infantry Division in the northern Second Army ). By the following morning, some 850 tanks had crossed the canal. In his account of the war, Saad El Shazly noted that by the morning of October 7, the Egyptians had lost 280 soldiers and 20 tanks, though this account is disputed. Most Israeli soldiers defending the Bar Lev Line were casualties, and some 200 were taken prisoner. In the subsequent days, some defenders of the Bar Lev Line managed to break through Egyptian encirclement and return to their lines, or were extracted during Israeli counterattacks that came later on. For the next several days, the Israeli Air Force ( IAF ) played a minimal role in the fighting largely because it was needed to deal with the simultaneous, and ultimately more threatening, Syrian invasion of the Golan Heights. Egyptian forces then consolidated their initial positions. On October 7, the bridgeheads were enlarged an additional 4 km, at the same time repulsing Israeli counterattacks. In the north, the Egyptian 18th Division attacked the town of El - Qantarah el - Sharqiyya, engaging Israeli forces in and around the town. The fighting there was conducted at close quarters, and was sometimes hand - to - hand. The Egyptians were forced to clear the town building by building. By evening, most of the town was in Egyptian hands. El - Qantarah was completely cleared by the next morning. Meanwhile, the Egyptian commandos airdropped on October 6 began encountering Israeli reserves the following morning. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but the commandos were at times successful in delaying the movement of Israeli reserves to the front. These special operations often led to confusion and anxiety among Israeli commanders, who commended the Egyptian commandos. This view was contradicted by another source that stated that few commandos made it to their objectives, and were usually nothing more than a nuisance. According to Abraham Rabinovich, only the commandos near Baluza and those blocking the road to Fort Budapest had measurable successes. Of the 1,700 Egyptian commandos inserted behind Israeli lines during the war, 740 were killed -- many in downed helicopters -- and 330 taken prisoner. Failed Israeli counterattack An Israeli M60 Patton tank destroyed in the Sinai. On October 7, David Elazar visited Shmuel Gonen, commander of the Israeli Southern front -- who had only taken the position three months before at the retirement of Ariel Sharon -- and met with Israeli commanders. The Israelis planned a cautious counterattack for the following day by Abraham Adan 's 162nd Armored Division. The same day, the Israeli Air Force carried out Operation Tagar, aiming to neutralize Egyptian Air Force bases and its missile defense shield. Seven Egyptian airbases were damaged with the loss of two A-4 Skyhawks and their pilots. Two more planned attacks were called off because of the increasing need for air power on the Syrian front. The IAF carried out additional air attacks against Egyptian forces on the east bank of the canal, reportedly inflicting heavy losses. Israeli jets had carried out hundreds of sorties against Egyptian targets by the following day, but the Egyptian SAM shield inflicted heavy losses. IAF aircraft losses mounted to three aircraft for every 200 sorties, an unsustainable rate. The Israelis responded by rapidly devising new tactics to thwart Egyptian air defenses. On October 8, after Elazar had left, Gonen changed the plans on the basis of unduly optimistic field reports. Adan 's division was composed of three brigades totaling 183 tanks. One of the brigades was still en route to the area, and would participate in the attack by noon, along with a supporting mechanized infantry brigade with an additional 44 tanks. The Israeli counterattack was in the direction of the Bar Lev strongpoints opposite the city of Ismailia, against entrenched Egyptian infantry. In a series of ill - coordinated attacks, which were met by stiff resistance, the Israelis suffered heavy losses. That afternoon, Egyptian forces advanced once more to deepen their bridgeheads, and as a result the Israelis lost several strategic positions. Further Israeli attacks to regain the lost ground proved futile. Towards nightfall, an Egyptian counterattack was repulsed with the loss of 50 Egyptian tanks by the Israeli 143rd Armoured Division, which was led by General Ariel Sharon, who had been reinstated as a division commander at the outset of the war. Garwych, citing Egyptian sources, documented Egyptian tank losses up to October 13 at 240. An Israeli Centurion tank operating in the Sinai. Temporary stabilization According to Herzog, by October 9 the front lines had stabilized. The Egyptians were unable to advance further, and Egyptian armored attacks on October 9 and 10 were repulsed with heavy losses. However, this claim was disputed by Shazly, who claimed that the Egyptians continued to advance and improve their positions well into October 10. He pointed to one engagement, which involved elements of the 1st Infantry Brigade, attached to the 19th Division, which captured Ayoun Mousa, south of Suez. The Egyptian 1st Mechanized Brigade launched a failed attack southward along the Gulf of Suez in the direction of Ras Sudar. Leaving the safety of the SAM umbrella, the force was attacked by Israeli aircraft and suffered heavy losses. Shazly cited this experience as a basis to resist pressure by Minister of War, General Ahmad Ismail Ali to attack eastward toward the Mitla and Gidi Passes. Between October 10 and 13, both sides refrained from any large - scale actions, and the situation was relatively stable. Both sides launched small - scale attacks, and the Egyptians used helicopters to land commandos behind Israeli lines. Some Egyptian helicopters were shot down, and those commando forces that managed to land were quickly destroyed by Koah Patzi, a twelve - man squad consisting of officers from the Sayeret Shaked unit. In one key engagement on October 13, Koah Patzi destroyed a particularly large incursion and killed close to a hundred Egyptian commandos. The Egyptian failed attack General Shazly strongly opposed any eastward advance that would leave his armor without adequate air cover. He was overruled by General Ismail and Sadat, whose aims were to seize the strategic Mitla and Gidi Passes and the Israeli nerve centre at Refidim, which they hoped would relieve pressure on the Syrians ( who were by now on the defensive ) by forcing Israel to shift divisions from the Golan to the Sinai. The 1973 War in the Sinai, October 15 -- 24. The 2nd and 3rd Armies were ordered to attack eastward in six simultaneous thrusts over a broad front, leaving behind five infantry divisions to hold the bridgeheads. The attacking forces, consisting of 800 -- 1,000 tanks would not have SAM cover, so the Egyptian Air Force ( EAF ) was tasked with the defense of these forces from Israeli air attacks. Armored and mechanized units began the attack on October 14 with artillery support. They were up against 700 -- 750 Israeli tanks. Preparatory to the tank attack, Egyptian helicopters set down 100 commandos near the Lateral Road to disrupt the Israeli rear. An Israeli reconnaissance unit quickly subdued them, killing 60 and taking numerous prisoners. Still bruised by the extensive losses their commandos had suffered on the opening day of the war, the Egyptians were unable or unwilling to implement further commando operations that had been planned in conjunction with the armored attack. The Egyptian armored thrust suffered heavy losses. Instead of concentrating forces of maneuvering, except for the wadi thrust, Egyptian units launched head - on - attacks against the waiting Israeli defenses. The Egyptian attack was decisively repelled. At least 250 Egyptian tanks and some 200 armored vehicles were destroyed. Egyptian casualties exceeded 1,000. Fewer than 40 Israeli tanks were hit and all but six of them were repaired by Israeli maintenance crews and returned to service, while Israeli casualties numbered 665. Kenneth Pollack credited a successful Israeli commando raid early on October 14 against an Egyptian signals - intercept site at Jebel Ataqah with seriously disrupting Egyptian command and control and contributing to its breakdown during the engagement. Israel planned attack considerations With the situation on the Syrian front stabilizing, the Israeli High Command agreed that the time was ripe for an Israeli counterattack and strike across the canal. General Sharon advocated an immediate crossing at Deversoir at the northern edge of Great Bitter Lake. On October 9, a reconnaissance force attached to Colonel Amnon Reshef 's Brigade detected a gap between the Egyptian Second and Third armies in this sector. According to General Gamasy, the gap had been detected by an American SR - 71 spy plane. Chief of Staff Elazar and General Chaim Bar - Lev, who had by now replaced Gonen as Chief of Southern Command, agreed that this was the ideal spot for a crossing. However, given the size of the Egyptian armoured reserves, the Israelis chose to wait for an opportunity that would allow them to reduce Egyptian armored strength before initiating any crossing. The opportunity arrived on October 12, when Israeli intelligence detected signs that the Egyptians were gearing up for a major armored thrust. This was precisely the moment the Israelis were waiting for. They could finally utilize their advantages in speed, maneuver and tank gunnery, areas in which they excelled. Once Egyptian armored strength was sufficiently degraded, the Israelis would commence their own canal crossing. Israeli breakthrough -- crossing the canal Israeli tanks crossing the Suez Canal. The Israelis immediately followed the Egyptian failed attack of October 14 with a multidivisional counterattack through the gap between the Egyptian 2nd and 3rd Armies. Sharon 's 143rd Division, now reinforced with a paratroop brigade commanded by Colonel Danny Matt, was tasked with establishing bridgeheads on the east and west banks of the canal. The 162nd and 252nd Armored Divisions, commanded by Generals Avraham Adan and Kalman Magen respectively, would then cross through the breach to the west bank of the canal and swing southward, encircling the 3rd Army. The offensive was code - named Operation Stouthearted Men or alternatively, Operation Valiant. On the night of October 15, 750 of Colonel Matt 's paratroopers crossed the canal in rubber dinghies. They were soon joined by tanks ferried on motorized rafts and additional infantry. The force encountered no resistance initially and fanned out in raiding parties, attacking supply convoys, SAM sites, logistic centers and anything of military value, with priority given to the SAMs. Attacks on SAM sites punched a hole in the Egyptian anti-aircraft screen and enabled the Israeli Air Force to strike Egyptian ground targets more aggressively. On the night of October 15, 20 Israeli tanks and 7 APCs under the command of Colonel Haim Erez crossed the canal and penetrated 12 kilometres into mainland Egypt, taking the Egyptians by surprise. For the first 24 hours, Erez 's force attacked SAM sites and military columns with impunity. On the morning of October 17, it was attacked by the 23rd Egyptian Armored Brigade, but managed to repulse the attack. By this time, the Syrians no longer posed a credible threat and the Israelis were able to shift their air power to the south in support of the offensive. The combination of a weakened Egyptian SAM umbrella and a greater concentration of Israeli fighter - bombers meant that the IAF was capable of greatly increasing sorties against Egyptian military targets, including convoys, armor and airfields. The Egyptian bridges across the canal were damaged in Israeli air and artillery attacks. Israeli jets began attacking Egyptian SAM sites and radars, prompting General Ismail to withdraw much of the Egyptians ' air defense equipment. This in turn gave the IAF still greater freedom to operate in Egyptian airspace. Israeli jets also attacked and destroyed underground communication cables at Banha in the Nile Delta, forcing the Egyptians to transmit selective messages by radio, which could be intercepted. Aside from the cables at Banha, Israel refrained from attacking economic and strategic infrastructure following an Egyptian threat to retaliate against Israeli cities with Scud missiles. Israeli aircraft bombed Egyptian Scud batteries at Port Said several times. The Egyptian Air Force attempted to interdict IAF sorties and attack Israeli ground forces, but suffered heavy losses in dogfights and from Israeli air defenses, while inflicting light aircraft losses on the Israelis. The heaviest air battles took place over the northern Nile Delta, where the Israelis repeatedly attempted to destroy Egyptian airbases. Securing the bridgehead Despite the success the Israelis were having on the west bank, Generals Bar - Lev and Elazar ordered Sharon to concentrate on securing the bridgehead on the east bank. He was ordered to clear the roads leading to the canal as well as a position known as the Chinese Farm, just north of Deversoir, the Israeli crossing point. Sharon objected and requested permission to expand and breakout of the bridgehead on the west bank, arguing that such a maneuver would cause the collapse of Egyptian forces on the east bank. But the Israeli high command was insistent, believing that until the east bank was secure, forces on the west bank could be cut off. Sharon was overruled by his superiors and relented. On October 16, he dispatched Amnon Reshef 's Brigade to attack the Chinese Farm. Other IDF forces attacked entrenched Egyptian forces overlooking the roads to the canal. After three days of bitter and close - quarters fighting, the Israelis succeeded in dislodging the numerically superior Egyptian forces. The Israelis lost about 300 dead, 1,000 wounded, and 56 tanks. The Egyptians suffered heavier casualties, including 118 tanks destroyed and 15 captured. Egyptian response to the Israeli crossing Israeli soldiers during the Battle of Ismailia. One of them has a captured Egyptian RPG - 7. The Egyptians meanwhile failed to grasp the extent and magnitude of the Israeli crossing, nor did they appreciate its intent and purpose. This was partly due to attempts by Egyptian field commanders to obfuscate reports concerning the Israeli crossing and partly due to a false assumption that the canal crossing was merely a diversion for a major IDF offensive targeting the right flank of the Second Army. Consequently, on October 16, General Shazly ordered the 21st Armored Division to attack southward and the T - 62 - equipped 25th Independent Armored Brigade to attack northward in a pincer action to eliminate the perceived threat to the Second Army. The Egyptians failed to scout the area and were unaware that by now, Adan 's 162nd Armored Division was in the vicinity. Moreover, the 21st and 25th failed to coordinate their attacks, allowing General Adan 's Division to meet each force individually. Adan first concentrated his attack on the 21st Armored Division, destroying 50 -- 60 Egyptian tanks and forcing the remainder to retreat. He then turned southward and ambushed the 25th Independent Armored Brigade, destroying 86 of its 96 tanks and all of its APCs while losing three tanks. Destroyed Israeli M48 Patton tanks on the banks of the Suez Canal. Egyptian artillery shelled the Israeli bridge over the canal on the morning of October 17, scoring several hits. The Egyptian Air Force launched repeated raids, some with up to twenty aircraft, to take out the bridge and rafts, damaging the bridge. The Egyptians had to shut down their SAM sites during these raids, allowing Israeli fighters to intercept the Egyptians. The Egyptians lost 16 planes and 7 helicopters, while the Israelis lost 6 planes. The bridge was damaged, and the Israeli Paratroop Headquarters, which was near the bridge, was also hit, wounding the commander and his deputy. During the night, the bridge was repaired, but only a trickle of Israeli forces crossed. According to Chaim Herzog, the Egyptians continued attacking the bridgehead until the cease - fire, using artillery and mortars to fire tens of thousands of shells into the area of the crossing. Egyptian aircraft attempted to bomb the bridge every day, and helicopters launched suicide missions, making attempts to drop barrels of napalm on the bridge and bridgehead. The bridges were damaged multiple times, and had to be repaired at night. The attacks caused heavy casualties, and many tanks were sunk when their rafts were hit. Egyptian commandos and frogmen with armored support launched a ground attack against the bridgehead, which was repulsed with the loss of 10 tanks. Two subsequent Egyptian counterattacks were also beaten back. After the failure of the October 17 counterattacks, the Egyptian General Staff slowly began to realize the magnitude of the Israeli offensive. Early on October 18, the Soviets showed Sadat satellite imagery of Israeli forces operating on the west bank. Alarmed, Sadat dispatched Shazly to the front to assess the situation first hand. He no longer trusted his field commanders to provide accurate reports. Shazly confirmed that the Israelis had at least one division on the west bank and were widening their bridgehead. He advocated withdrawing most of Egypt 's armor from the east bank to confront the growing Israeli threat on the west bank. Sadat rejected this recommendation outright and even threatened Shazly with a court martial. Ahmad Ismail Ali recommended that Sadat push for a cease - fire so as to prevent the Israelis from exploiting their successes. Israeli forces across the Suez Israeli forces were by now pouring across the canal on two bridges, including one of indigenous design, and motorized rafts. Israeli engineers under Brigadier - General Dan Even had worked under heavy Egyptian fire to set up the bridges, and over 100 were killed and hundreds more wounded. The crossing was difficult because of Egyptian artillery fire, though by 4 : 00 am, two of Adan 's brigades were on the west bank of the canal. On the morning of October 18, Sharon 's forces on the west bank launched an offensive toward Ismailia, slowly pushing back the Egyptian paratroop brigade occupying the sand rampart northward to enlarge the bridgehead. Some of his units attempted to move west, but were stopped at the crossroads in Nefalia. Adan 's division rolled south toward Suez City while Magen 's division pushed west toward Cairo and south toward Adabiya. On October 19, one of Sharon 's brigades continued to push the Egyptian paratroopers north towards Ismailia until the Israelis were within 8 or 10 km ( 5 or 6 mi ) of the city. Sharon hoped to seize the city and thereby sever the logistical and supply lines for most of the Egyptian Second Army. Sharon 's second brigade began to cross the canal. The brigade 's forward elements moved to the Abu Sultan Camp, from where they moved north to take Orcha, an Egyptian logistics base defended by a commando battalion. Israeli infantrymen cleared the trenches and bunkers, often engaging in hand - to - hand combat, as tanks moved alongside them and fired into the trench sections to their front. The position was secured before nightfall. More than 300 Egyptians were killed and 50 taken prisoner, while the Israelis lost 18 dead. The fall of Orcha caused the collapse of the Egyptian defensive line, allowing more Israeli troops to get onto the sand rampart. There, they were able to fire in support of Israeli troops facing Missouri Ridge, an Egyptian - occupied position on the Bar - Lev Line that could pose a threat to the Israeli crossing. On the same day, Israeli paratroopers participating in Sharon 's drive pushed the Egyptians back far enough for the Israeli bridges to be out of sight of Egyptian artillery observers, though the Egyptians continued shelling the area. As the Israelis pushed towards Ismailia, the Egyptians fought a delaying battle, falling into defensive positions further north as they came under increasing pressure from the Israeli ground offensive, coupled with airstrikes. On October 21, one of Sharon 's brigades was occupying the city 's outskirts, but facing fierce resistance from Egyptian paratroopers and commandos. The same day, Sharon 's last remaining unit on the east bank attacked Missouri Ridge. Shmuel Gonen had demanded Sharon capture the position, and Sharon had reluctantly ordered the attack. The assault was preceded by an air attack that caused hundreds of Egyptian soldiers to flee and thousands of others to dig in. One battalion then attacked from the south, destroying 20 tanks and overrunning infantry positions before being halted by Sagger rockets and minefields. Another battalion attacked from southwest, and was stopped by fortified infantry. The Israelis managed to occupy one - third of Missouri Ridge. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan countermanded orders from Sharon 's superiors to continue the attack. However, the Israelis continued to expand their holdings on the east bank. According to the Israelis, the IDF bridgehead was 40 km ( 25 mi ) wide and 32 km ( 20 mi ) deep by the end of October 21. On October 22, Ismailia 's Egyptian defenders were occupying their last line of defense, but managed to repel an Israeli attempt to get behind Ismailia and encircle the city, then push some of Sharon 's forward troops back to the Sweetwater Canal. The Israeli advance on Ismailia had been stopped 10 km south of the city. Both sides had suffered heavy losses. On the northern front, the Israelis also attacked Port Said, facing Egyptian troops and a 900 - strong Tunisian unit, who fought a defensive battle. The Egyptian government claimed that the city was repeatedly bombed by Israeli jets, and that hundreds of civilians were killed or wounded. Adan and Magen moved south, decisively defeating the Egyptians in a series of engagements, though they often encountered determined Egyptian resistance, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. Adan advanced towards the Sweetwater Canal area, planning to break out into the surrounding desert and hit the Geneifa Hills, where many SAM sites were located. Adan 's three armored brigades fanned out, with one advancing through the Geneifa Hills, another along a parallel road south of them, and the third advancing towards Mina. Adan 's brigades met resistance from dug - in Egyptian forces in the Sweetwater Canal area 's greenbelt. Adan 's other brigades were also held by a line of Egyptian military camps and installations. Adan was also harassed by the Egyptian Air Force. The Israelis slowly advanced, bypassing Egyptian positions whenever possible. After being denied air support due to the presence of two SAM batteries that had been brought forward, Adan sent two brigades to attack them. The brigades slipped past the dug - in Egyptian infantry, moving out from the greenbelt for more than eight kilometres, and fought off multiple Egyptian counterattacks. From a distance of four kilometres, they shelled and destroyed the SAMs, allowing the IAF to provide Adan with close air support. Adan 's troops advanced through the greenbelt and fought their way to the Geneifa Hills, clashing with scattered Egyptian, Kuwaiti, and Palestinian troops. The Israelis clashed with an Egyptian armored unit at Mitzeneft and destroyed multiple SAM sites. Adan also captured Fayid Airport, which was subsequently prepared by Israeli crews to serve as a supply base and to fly out wounded soldiers. 16 kilometres ( 10 mi ) west of the Bitter Lake, Colonel Natke Nir 's brigade overran an Egyptian artillery brigade that had been participating in the shelling of the Israeli bridgehead. Scores of Egyptian artillerymen were killed and many more taken prisoner. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed, including the son of General Moshe Gidron. Meanwhile, Magen 's division moved west and then south, covering Adan 's flank and eventually moving south of Suez City to the Gulf of Suez. The Israeli advance southward reached Port Suez, on the southern boundary of the Suez Canal. The ceasefire and further battles When the ceasefire came into effect, Israel had lost territory on the east side of the Suez Canal to Egypt --, but gained territory west of the canal and in the Golan Heights --. An Israeli soldier on the road to Ismailia. The United Nations Security Council passed ( 14 -- 0 ) Resolution 338 calling for a ceasefire, largely negotiated between the U.S. and Soviet Union, on October 22. It called upon the belligerents to immediately cease all military activity. The cease - fire was to come into effect 12 hours later at 6 : 52 pm Israeli time. Because this was after dark, it was impossible for satellite surveillance to determine where the front lines were when the fighting was supposed to stop. U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger intimated to Prime Minister Meir that he would not object to offensive action during the night before the ceasefire was to come into effect. Several minutes before the ceasefire came into effect, three Scud missiles were fired at Israeli targets by either Egyptian forces or Soviet personnel in Egypt. This was the first combat use of Scud missiles. One Scud targeted the port of Arish and two targeted the Israeli bridgehead on the Suez Canal. One hit an Israeli supply convoy and killed seven soldiers. When the time for the ceasefire arrived, Sharon 's division had failed to capture Ismailia and cut off the Second Army 's supply lines, but Israeli forces were just a few hundred metres short of their southern goal -- the last road linking Cairo and Suez. Adan 's drive south had left Israeli and Egyptian units scattered throughout the battlefield, with no clear lines between them. As Egyptian and Israeli units tried to regroup, regular firefights broke out. During the night, Elazar reported that the Egyptians were attacking in an attempt to regain land at various locations, and that nine Israeli tanks had been destroyed. He asked permission from Dayan to respond to the attacks and Dayan agreed. Israel then resumed its drive south. It is unclear which side fired first but Israeli field commanders used the skirmishes as justification to resume the attacks. When Sadat protested alleged Israeli truce violations, Israel said that Egyptian troops had fired first. William B. Quandt noted that regardless of who fired the first post-ceasefire shot, it was the Israeli Army that was advancing beyond the October 22 ceasefire lines. Adan resumed his attack on October 23. Israeli troops finished the drive south, captured the last ancillary road south of the port of Suez, and encircled the Egyptian Third Army east of the Suez Canal. The Israelis then transported enormous amounts of military equipment across the canal, which Egypt claimed was in violation of the ceasefire. Egyptian aircraft launched repeated attacks in support of the Third Army, sometimes in groups of up to 30 planes, but took severe losses. Israeli armor and paratroopers also entered Suez in an attempt to capture the city, but they were confronted by Egyptian soldiers and hastily raised local militia forces. They were surrounded, but towards night the Israeli forces managed to extricate themselves. The Israelis had lost 80 dead and 120 wounded, with an unknown number of Egyptian casualties, for no tactical gain ( see Battle of Suez ). The next morning, October 23, a flurry of diplomatic activity occurred. Soviet reconnaissance flights had confirmed that Israeli forces were moving south, and the Soviets accused the Israelis of treachery. Kissinger called Meir in an effort to persuade her to withdraw a few hundred metres and she indicated that Israel 's tactical position on the ground had improved. Egypt 's trapped Third Army Kissinger found out about the Third Army 's encirclement shortly thereafter. Kissinger considered that the situation presented the United States with a tremendous opportunity and that Egypt was dependent on the United States to prevent Israel from destroying its trapped army. The position could be parlayed later into allowing the United States to mediate the dispute and wean Egypt from Soviet influence. As a result, the United States exerted tremendous pressure on the Israelis to refrain from destroying the trapped army, even threatening to support a UN resolution demanding that the Israelis withdraw to their October 22 positions if they did not allow non-military supplies to reach the army. In a phone call with Israeli ambassador Simcha Dinitz, Kissinger told the ambassador that the destruction of the Egyptian Third Army `` is an option that does not exist. '' Despite being surrounded, the Third Army managed to maintain its combat integrity east of the canal and keep up its defensive positions, to the surprise of many. According to Trevor N. Dupuy, the Israelis, Soviets and Americans overestimated the vulnerability of the Third Army at the time. It was not on the verge of collapse, and he wrote that while a renewed Israeli offensive would probably overcome it, this was not a certainty, and according to David Elazar chief of Israeli headquarter staff on December 3, 1973 : `` As for the third army, in spite of our encircling them they resisted and advanced to occupy in fact a wider area of land at the east. Thus, we can not say that we defeated or conquered them. '' David T. Buckwalter agrees that despite the isolation of the Third Army, it was unclear if the Israelis could have protected their forces on the west bank of the canal from a determined Egyptian assault and still maintain sufficient strength along the rest of the front. This assessment was challenged by Patrick Seale, who stated that the Third Army was `` on the brink of collapse ''. Seale 's position was supported by P.R. Kumaraswamy, who wrote that intense American pressure prevented the Israelis from annihilating the stranded Third Army. Herzog noted that given the Third Army 's desperate situation, in terms of being cut off from re-supply and reassertion of Israeli air superiority, the destruction of the Third Army was inevitable and could have been achieved within a very brief period. Shazly himself described the Third Army 's plight as `` desperate '' and classified its encirclement as a `` catastrophe that was too big to hide ''. He further noted that, `` the fate of the Egyptian Third Army was in the hands of Israel. Once the Third Army was encircled by Israeli troops every bit of bread to be sent to our men was paid for by meeting Israeli demands. '' Shortly before the ceasefire came into effect, an Israeli tank battalion advanced into Adabiya, and took it with support from the Israeli Navy. Some 1,500 Egyptian prisoners were taken, and about a hundred Egyptian soldiers assembled just south of Adabiya, where they held out against the Israelis. The Israelis also conducted their third and final incursion into Suez. They made some gains, but failed to break into the city center. As a result, the city was partitioned down the main street, with the Egyptians holding the city center and the Israelis controlling the outskirts, port installations and oil refinery, effectively surrounding the Egyptian defenders. Post war battles On the morning of October 26, the Egyptian Third Army violated the ceasefire by attempting to break through surrounding Israeli forces. The attack was repulsed by Israeli air and ground forces. The Egyptians also made minor gains in attacks against Sharon 's forces in the Ismailia area. The Israelis reacted by bombing and shelling priority targets in Egypt, including command posts and water reserves. The front was quieter in the Second Army 's sector in the northern canal area, where both sides generally respected the ceasefire. Though most heavy fighting ended on October 28, the fighting never stopped until January 18, 1974. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan stated that `` The cease - fire existed on paper, but the continued firing along the front was not the only characteristic of the situation between October 24, 1973 and January 18, 1974. This intermediate period also held the ever - present possibility of a renewal of full - scale war. There were three variations on how it might break out, two Egyptian and one Israeli. One Egyptian plan was to attack Israeli units west of the canal from the direction of Cairo. The other was to cut off the Israeli canal bridgehead by a link - up of the Second and Third Armies on the east bank. Both plans were based on massive artillery pounding of Israeli forces, who were not well fortified and who would suffer heavy casualties. It was therefore thought that Israel would withdraw from the west bank, since she was most sensitive on the subject of soldier 's lives. Egypt, at the time had a total of 1,700 first - line tanks on both sides of the canal front, 700 on the east bank and 1,000 on the west bank. Also on the west bank, in the second line, were an additional 600 tanks for the defense of Cairo. She had some 2,000 artillery pieces, about 500 operational aircraft, and at least 130 SAM missile batteries positioned around our forces so as to deny us air support. '' The IDF acknowledged the loss of 14 soldiers during this postwar period. Egyptian losses were higher, especially in the sector controlled by General Ariel Sharon, who ordered his troops to respond with massive firepower to any Egyptian provocation. Some aerial battles took place, and the Israelis also shot down several helicopters attempting to resupply the Third Army. Final situation on the Egyptian front By the end of the war, the Israelis had advanced to positions some 101 kilometres from Egypt 's capital, Cairo, and occupied 1,600 square kilometres west of the Suez Canal. They had also cut the Cairo - Suez road and encircled the bulk of Egypt 's Third Army. The Israelis had also taken many prisoners after Egyptian soldiers, including many officers, began surrendering in masses towards the end of the war. The Egyptians held a narrow strip on the east bank of the canal, occupying some 1,200 square kilometres of the Sinai. One source estimated that the Egyptians had 70,000 men, 720 tanks and 994 artillery pieces on the east bank of the canal. However, 30,000 to 45,000 of them were now encircled by the Israelis. Despite Israel 's tactical successes west of the canal, the Egyptian military was reformed and organized. Consequently, according to Gamasy, the Israeli military position became `` weak '' for different reasons, `` One, Israel now had a large force ( about six or seven brigades ) in a very limited area of land, surrounded from all sides either by natural or man - made barriers, or by the Egyptian forces. This put it in a weak position. Moreover, there were the difficulties in supplying this force, in evacuating it, in the lengthy communication lines, and in the daily attrition in men and equipment. Two, to protect these troops, the Israeli command had to allocate other forces ( four or five brigades ) to defend the entrances to the breach at the Deversoir. Three, to immobilize the Egyptian bridgeheads in Sinai the Israeli command had to allocate ten brigades to face the Second and Third army bridgeheads. In addition, it became necessary to keep the strategic reserves at their maximum state of alert. Thus, Israel was obliged to keep its armed force - and consequently the country - mobilized for a long period, at least until the war came to an end, because the ceasefire did not signal the end of the war. There is no doubt that this in total conflict with its military theories. '' For those reasons and according to Dayan, `` It was therefore thought that Israel would withdraw from the west bank, since she was most sensitive on the subject of soldier 's lives. '' The Egyptian forces did n't pull to the west and held onto their positions east of the canal controlling both shores of the Suez Canal. None of the Canal 's main cities were occupied by Israel ; however, the city of Suez was surrounded. Egypt wished to end the war when they realized that the IDF canal crossing offensive could result in a catastrophe. The Egyptian 's besieged Third Army could not hold on without supply. The Israeli Army advanced to 100 km from Cairo, which worried Egypt. The Israeli army had open terrain and no opposition to advance further to Cairo ; had they done so, Sadat 's rule might have ended. On the Golan Heights Syrian attack President Hafez al - Assad ( right ) with soldiers, 1973. A map of the fighting on the Golan Heights. In the Golan Heights, the Syrians attacked two Israeli brigades and eleven artillery batteries with five divisions ( the 7th, 9th and 5th, with the 1st and 3rd in reserve ) and 188 batteries. They began their attack with an airstrike by about 100 aircraft and a 50 - minute artillery barrage. The forward brigades of three divisions then penetrated the cease - fire lines and bypassed United Nations observer posts, followed by the main assault force, which was covered by mobile anti-aircraft batteries, bulldozers to penetrate anti-tank ditches, bridge - layers to overcome obstacles and mine - clearance vehicles. The engineering vehicles were priority targets for Israeli gunners and took heavy losses, but Syrian infantrymen, braving intense fire, advanced forward and used their entrenching tools to build up earthen causeways for the tanks, enabling them to overcome anti-tank ditches. At the onset of the battle, the Israeli brigades of some 3,000 troops, 180 tanks and 60 artillery pieces faced off against three infantry divisions with large armour components comprising 28,000 Syrian troops, 800 tanks and 600 artillery pieces. In addition, the Syrians deployed two armoured divisions from the second day onwards. Every Israeli tank deployed on the Golan Heights was engaged during the initial attacks. Syrian commandos dropped by helicopter also took the most important Israeli stronghold at Mount Hermon, which had a variety of surveillance equipment. An Israeli force attempting to counterattack was stopped by a Syrian ambush. The Golan Heights front was given priority by the Israeli High Command because of its proximity to Israeli population centers. If the Syrians had regained the area, it would pose a serious threat to major Israeli cities such as Tiberias, Safed, Haifa and Netanya. Reservists were directed to the Golan as quickly as possible. They were assigned to tanks and sent to the front as soon as they arrived at army depots, without waiting for the crews they trained with to arrive, machine guns to be installed on the tanks, or taking the time to calibrate the tank guns ( a time - consuming process known as bore - sighting ). The Syrians had expected it to take at least 24 hours for Israeli reserves to reach the front lines ; in fact, reserve units began reaching the battle lines only 15 hours after the war began. Israeli reserve forces approaching the Golan Heights were subjected to Syrian artillery fire directed from Mount Hermon. An abandoned Syrian T - 55 tank on the Golan Heights. As the Egyptians had in the Sinai, the Syrians took care to stay under cover of their SAM batteries. Also as in the Sinai, the Syrians made use of Soviet anti-tank weapons, though they were not as effective as in the Sinai because of the uneven terrain. The Israeli Air Force initially lost 40 planes from Syrian anti-aircraft batteries, but Israeli pilots soon adopted a different tactic ; flying in low over Jordan and diving in over the Golan heights, catching the Syrians in the flank and avoiding many of their batteries. Israeli aircraft dropped both conventional bombs and napalm, devastating Syrian armored columns. However, the Syrian Air Force repeatedly struck Israeli positions during this period. On the second day of the war, the Israeli Air Force attempted to take out the Syrian anti-aircraft batteries. Codenamed Doogman 5, the attempt was a costly failure. The Israelis destroyed one Syrian missile battery and lost six aircraft. An Israeli Centurion tank. It was considered in many respects superior to the Soviet T - 54 / 55. Syrian forces suffered heavy losses as Israeli tanks and infantry fought desperately to buy time for reserve forces to reach the front lines, and conducted stopgap blocking actions whenever the Syrians were on the verge of breaking through. Having practiced on the Golan Heights numerous times, Israeli gunners made effective use of mobile artillery. However, the Syrians pressed the attack in spite of their losses, and the vastly outnumbered defenders lost a number of tanks. Within six hours of the initial assault, the first Israeli line of defense was overrun by sheer weight of numbers, but the Israelis continued to resist. A Syrian tank brigade passing through the Rafid Gap turned northwest up a little - used route known as the Tapline Road, which cut diagonally across the Golan. This roadway would prove one of the main strategic hinges of the battle. It led straight from the main Syrian breakthrough points to Nafah, which was not only the location of Israeli divisional headquarters but the most important crossroads on the Heights. During the night, Israeli forces successfully held back numerically superior Syrian forces. The Syrians were equipped with night - vision goggles, and struck with precision. The Israelis had to allow the Syrians to advance to ranges close enough for night fighting, and then open fire. Whenever Syrian tanks penetrated the Israeli lines, Israeli gunners would immediately rotate their turrets and destroy them before turning their attention back to the oncoming forces. Israeli tank commander Avigdor Kahalani lined up his tanks and began a barrage of gunfire into the valley beyond their position, leading the Syrians to believe that they were facing a vast Israeli tank armada. During the night, the Syrians regained some of the high ground that Israel had held since the Six Day War, but were soon pushed off by an Israeli counterattack. Israeli tank on the Golan Heights during the Arab -- Israeli War Lieutenant Zvika Greengold, who arrived unattached to any unit, fought running battles with Syrian armor for 20 hours, sometimes with his single tank and other times as part of a larger unit, changing tanks half a dozen times as they were knocked out. Greengold suffered burn injuries, but stayed in action and repeatedly showed up at critical moments from an unexpected direction to change the course of a skirmish. For his actions, he received Israel 's highest decoration, the Medal of Valor. During over four days of fighting, the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade in the north ( commanded by Avigdor Ben - Gal ) managed to hold the rocky hill line defending the northern flank of their headquarters in Nafah, inflicting heavy losses on the Syrians. Syrian Brigadier - General Omar Abrash was killed on the third day of the fighting when his command tank was hit as he was preparing for an attack. However, the Syrians continued to press their attack, and the brigade began weakening as it took losses. By the afternoon of October 9, only six of the brigade 's tanks remained in action, defending a clear path into northern Israel. After the brigade 's tanks were down to their last few rounds, they began to pull back. However, right then, a force of some 15 tanks which had been scrambled by Lt. Col. Yossi Ben - Hanan arrived. Although the group was in fact a scratch force of repaired tanks which had injured men among their crews, the Syrians, who had been exhausted by three days of continuous fighting, believed that the Israeli reserves were now arriving, and began to retreat. Abandoned Syrian T - 62 tanks on the Golan Heights. To the south, the Israeli Barak Armored Brigade was bereft of any natural defenses. The Syrians were initially slowed down by a minefield. The Barak Brigade 's gunners inflicted severe losses on the Syrians with accurate cannon fire, but Syrians continued pushing and the Barak Brigade began to take heavy casualties. The Israelis continued to fight desperately, hoping to buy time for reserve forces to reach the front lines. In several instances, some tank crews sacrificed themselves rather than voluntarily give ground. At night, the Syrians made deadly use of infrared technology, while the Israelis responded by using illumination rounds and xenon light projectors on their tanks and carried out a series of small blocking actions. Brigade Commander Colonel Shoham was killed on the second day, along with his second - in - command and operations officer, as the Syrians desperately tried to advance towards the Sea of Galilee and Nafah. At this point, the Barak Brigade was no longer a cohesive force, although surviving tanks and crewmen continued fighting independently. The Syrians were close to reaching the Israeli defenders at Nafah, yet stopped the advance on Nafah 's fences at 1700 ; the pause lasted all night, allowing Israeli forces to form a defensive line. It is surmised that the Syrians had calculated estimated advances, and the commanders in the field did not want to diverge from the plan. The tide in the Golan began to turn as arriving Israeli reserve forces were able to contain the Syrian advance. Beginning on October 8, the Israelis began pushing the Syrians back towards the pre-war ceasefire lines, inflicting heavy tank losses. Another Syrian attack north of Quneitra was repulsed. The tiny Golan Heights were too small to act as an effective territorial buffer, unlike the Sinai Peninsula in the south, but it proved to be a strategic geographical stronghold and was a crucial key in preventing the Syrians from bombarding the cities below. The Israelis, who had suffered heavy casualties during the first three days of fighting, also began relying more heavily on artillery to dislodge the Syrians at long - range. The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian General Staff headquarters in Damascus. On October 9, Syrian FROG - 7 surface - to - surface missiles struck the Israeli Air Force base of Ramat David, killing a pilot and injuring several soldiers. Additional missiles struck civilian settlements. In retaliation, seven Israeli F - 4 Phantoms flew into Syria and struck the Syrian General Staff Headquarters in Damascus. The jets struck from Lebanese airspace to avoid the heavily defended regions around the Golan Heights, attacking a Lebanese radar station along the way. The upper floors of the Syrian GHQ and the Air Force Command were badly damaged. A Soviet cultural center, a television station, and other nearby structures were also mistakenly hit. One Israeli Phantom was shot down. The strike prompted the Syrians to transfer air defense units from the Golan Heights to the home front, allowing the Israeli Air Force greater freedom of action. On October 9, as the last Syrian units were being driven from the Golan Heights, the Syrians launched a counterattack north of Quneitra. As part of the operation, they attempted to land heli - borne troops in the vicinity of El Rom. The counterattack was repulsed, and four Syrian helicopters were shot down with total loss of life. By October 10, the last Syrian unit in the central sector was pushed back across the Purple Line, the pre-war ceasefire line. After four days of intense and incessant combat, the Israelis had succeeded in ejecting the Syrians from the entire Golan. A decision now had to be made -- whether to stop at the post-1967 border or to continue advancing into Syrian territory. The Israeli High Command spent all of October 10 debating well into the night. Some favored disengagement, which would allow soldiers to be redeployed to the Sinai ( Shmuel Gonen 's defeat at Hizayon in the Sinai had taken place two days earlier ). Others favored continuing the attack into Syria, towards Damascus, which would knock Syria out of the war ; it would also restore Israel 's image as the supreme military power in the Middle East and would give Israel a valuable bargaining chip once the war ended. Others countered that Syria had strong defenses -- antitank ditches, minefields, and strongpoints -- and that it would be better to fight from defensive positions in the Golan Heights ( rather than the flat terrain deeper in Syria ) in the event of another war with Syria. However, Prime Minister Golda Meir realized the most crucial point of the whole debate : It would take four days to shift a division to the Sinai. If the war ended during this period, the war would end with a territorial loss for Israel in the Sinai and no gain in the north -- an unmitigated defeat. This was a political matter and her decision was unmitigating -- to cross the purple line... The attack would be launched tomorrow, Thursday, October 11. Israeli advance Israeli artillery pounds Syrian forces near the Valley of Tears. Quneitra village, showing two minarets and an elevated car On October 11, Israeli forces pushed into Syria and advanced towards Damascus along the Quneitra - Damascus road until October 14, encountering stiff resistance by Syrian reservists in prepared defenses. Three Israeli divisions broke the first and second defensive lines near Sasa, and conquered a further 50 square kilometres of territory in the Bashan salient. From there, they were able to shell the outskirts of Damascus, only 40 km away, using M107 heavy artillery. On October 12, Israeli paratroopers from the elite Sayeret Tzanhanim reconnaissance unit launched Operation Gown, infiltrating deep into Syria and destroying a bridge in the tri-border area of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. The operation disrupted the flow of weapons and troops to Syria. During the operation, the paratroopers destroyed a number of tank transports and killed several Syrian soldiers. There were no Israeli casualties. As the Syrian position deteriorated, Jordan sent an expeditionary force into Syria. King Hussein, who had come under intense pressure to enter the war, told Israel of his intentions through U.S. intermediaries, in the hope that Israel would accept that this was not a casus belli justifying an attack on Jordan. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan declined to offer any such assurance, but said that Israel had no intention of opening another front. Iraq also sent an expeditionary force to Syria, consisting of the 3rd and 6th Armoured Divisions, some 30,000 men, 250 -- 500 tanks, and 700 APCs. Israeli jets attacked Iraqi forces as they arrived in Syria. The Iraqi divisions were a strategic surprise for the IDF, which had expected 24 - hour - plus advance intelligence of such moves. This turned into an operational surprise, as the Iraqis attacked the exposed southern flank of the advancing Israeli armor, forcing its advance units to retreat a few kilometres in order to prevent encirclement. Combined Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian counterattacks prevented any further Israeli gains. However, they were unable to push the Israelis back from the Bashan salient, and suffered heavy losses in their engagements with the Israelis. The most effective attack took place on October 20, though Arab forces lost 120 tanks in that engagement. The Syrian Air Force attacked Israeli columns, but its operations were highly limited because of Israeli air superiority, and it suffered heavy losses in dogfights with Israeli jets. On October 23, a large air battle took place near Damascus during which the Israelis shot down 10 Syrian aircraft. The Syrians claimed a similar toll against Israel. The IDF also destroyed the Syrian missile defense system. The Israeli Air Force utilized its air superiority to attack strategic targets throughout Syria, including important power plants, petrol supplies, bridges and main roads. The strikes weakened the Syrian war effort, disrupted Soviet efforts to airlift military equipment into Syria, and disrupted normal life inside the country. On October 22, the Golani Brigade and Sayeret Matkal commandos recaptured the outpost on Mount Hermon, after a hard - fought battle that involved hand - to - hand combat and Syrian sniper attacks. An unsuccessful attack two weeks prior had cost the Israelis 23 dead and 55 wounded and the Syrians 29 dead and 11 wounded, while this second attack cost Israel an additional 55 dead and 79 wounded. An unknown number of Syrians were also killed and some were taken prisoner. An IDF D9 bulldozer supported by infantry forced its way to the peak. An Israeli paratroop force, landing by helicopter took the corresponding Syrian Hermon outposts on the mountain, killing more than a dozen Syrians while losing one dead and four wounded. Seven Syrian MiGs and two Syrian helicopters carrying reinforcements were shot down as they attempted to intercede. Northern front de-escalation The Syrians prepared for a massive counteroffensive to drive Israeli forces out of Syria, scheduled for October 23. A total of five Syrian divisions were to take part, alongside the Iraqi and Jordanian expeditionary forces. The Soviets had replaced most of the losses Syria 's tank forces had suffered during the first weeks of the war. However, the day before the offensive was to begin, the United Nations imposed its ceasefire ( following the acquiescence of both Israel and Egypt ). Abraham Rabinovich claimed that `` The acceptance by Egypt of the cease - fire on Monday ( October 22 ) created a major dilemma for Assad. The cease - fire did not bind him, but its implications could not be ignored. Some on the Syrian General Staff favored going ahead with the attack, arguing that if it did so Egypt would feel obliged to continue fighting as well... Others, however, argued that continuation of the war would legitimize Israel 's efforts to destroy the Egyptian Third Army. In that case, Egypt would not come to Syria 's assistance when Israel turned its full might northward, destroying Syria 's infrastructure and perhaps attacking Damascus ''. Ultimately, Syrian President Hafez al - Assad decided to cancel the offensive. On October 23, the day the offensive was to begin, Syria announced that it had accepted the ceasefire, and ordered its troops to cease fire, while the Iraqi government ordered its forces home. Following the UN ceasefire, there were constant artillery exchanges and skirmishes, and Israeli forces continued to occupy positions deep within Syria. According to Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, Syria 's constant artillery attacks were `` part of a deliberate war of attrition designed to paralyse the Israeli economy '', and were intended to pressure Israel into yielding the occupied territory. Some aerial engagements took place, and both sides lost several aircraft. In spring 1974, the Syrians attempted to retake the summit of Mount Hermon. The fighting lasted for more than a month and saw heavy losses on both sides, but the Israelis held their positions. The situation continued until a May 1974 disengagement agreement. Jordanian participation The U.S. pressed King Hussein to keep Jordan out of the war. Though King Hussein of Jordan initially refrained from entering the conflict, on the night of October 12 -- 13 Jordanian troops deployed to the Jordanian - Syrian frontier to buttress Syrian troops, and Jordanian forces joined Syrian and Iraqi assaults on Israeli positions on October 16 and October 19. Hussein sent a second brigade to the Golan front on October 21. According to historian Assaf David, declassified U.S. documents show that the Jordanian participation was only a token to preserve King Hussein 's status in the Arab world. The documents reveal that Israel and Jordan had a tacit understanding that the Jordanian units would try to stay out of the fighting and Israel would try to not attack them. Final situation on the Syrian front The Israeli Army advanced to a 40 km distance from Damascus from where they were able to shell the outskirts of Damascus using M107 heavy artillery. The war at Sea Diagram of the Battle of Latakia Diagram of the Battle of Baltim On the first day of the war, Egyptian missile boats bombarded the Sinai Mediterranean coast, targeting Rumana and Ras Beyron, Ras Masala and Ras Sudar on the Gulf of Suez, and Sharm el - Sheikh. Egyptian naval frogmen also raided the oil installations at Bala'eem, disabling the massive driller. The Battle of Latakia, between the Israeli and Syrian navies, took place on October 7, the second day of the war. Five Israeli missile boats heading towards the Syrian port of Latakia, sank a Syrian torpedo boat and minesweeper before encountering five Syrian missile boats. The Israelis used electronic countermeasures and chaff to evade Syrian missiles, then sank all five Syrian missile boats. This revolutionary engagement, the first between missile boats using surface - to - surface missiles, proved the potency of small, fast missile boats equipped with advanced ECM packages. The battle also established the Israeli Navy, long derided as the `` black sheep '' of the Israeli military, as a formidable and effective force in its own right. The port of Latakia was the site of another engagement between October 10 -- 11, when Israeli missile boats fired into the port, targeting two Syrian missile boats spotted maneuvering among merchant ships. Both Syrian vessels were sunk, and two merchant ships were mistakenly hit and sunk. October 7 also witnessed he Battle of Marsa Talamat. Two Israeli Dabur class patrol boats patrolling in the Gulf of Suez encountered two Egyptian Zodiac boats loaded with Egyptian naval commandos, a patrol boat, backed up by coastal guns. The Israeli patrol boats sank both Zodiacs and the patrol boat, though both suffered damage during the battle. The Battle of Baltim, which took place on October 8 -- 9 off the coast of Baltim and Damietta, ended in a decisive Israeli victory. Six Israeli missile boats heading towards Port Said encountered four Egyptian missile boats coming from Alexandria. In an engagement lasting about forty minutes, the Israelis evaded Egyptian Styx missiles using electronic countermeasures and sank three of the Egyptian missile boats with Gabriel missiles and gunfire. The Battles of Latakia and Baltim `` drastically changed the operational situation at sea to Israeli advantage ''. Five nights after the Battle of Baltim, five Israeli patrol boats entered the Egyptian anchorage at Ras Ghareb, where over fifty Egyptian small patrol craft, including armed fishing boats mobilized for the war effort and loaded with troops, ammunition and supplies bound for the Israeli side of the Gulf, were based. In the battle that followed, 19 Egyptian boats were sunk, while others remained bottled up in port. The Israeli Navy had control of the Gulf of Suez during the war, which made possible the continued deployment of an Israeli SAM battery near an Israeli naval base close to the southern end of the Suez Canal, depriving the Egyptian Third Army of air support and preventing it from moving southward and attempting to capture the southern Sinai. Israeli commandos from Shayetet 13, the Israeli Navy 's elite special unit, infiltrated the Egyptian port of Hurghada on the night of October 9 -- 10 and sank a Komar - class missile boat after four previous attempts had failed. After another infiltration attempt failed, the commandos successfully infiltrated Hurghada again on the night of October 21 -- 22 and heavily damaged a missile boat with M72 LAW rockets. During one of the raids, the commandos also blew up the port 's main docking pier. On October 16, Shayetet 13 commandos infiltrated Port Said in two Hazir mini-submarines to strike Egyptian naval targets. During the raid, the commandos sank a torpedo boat, a coast guard boat, a tank landing craft, and a missile boat. Two frogmen went missing during the operation. On October 18, Israeli frogmen set off an explosion that severed two underwater communications cables off Beirut, one of which led to Alexandria and the other to Marseilles. As a result, telex and telecommunications between the West and Syria were severed, and were not restored until the cables were repaired on October 27. The cables had also been used by the Syrians and Egyptians to communicate with each other in preference to using radio, which was monitored by Israeli, U.S. and Soviet intelligence. Egypt and Syria resorted to communicating via a Jordanian radio station in Ajloun, bouncing the signals off a U.S. satellite. On October 11, Israeli missile boats sank two Syrian missile boats in an engagement off Tartus. During the battle, a Soviet merchant ship was hit by Israeli missiles and sank. A Syrian oil terminal in Baniyas after being shelled by Israeli Sa'ar 3 - class missile boats Having decisively beaten the Egyptian and Syrian navies, the Israeli Navy had the run of the coastlines. Israeli missile boats utilized their 76mm cannons and other armaments to strike targets along the Egyptian and Syrian coastlines, including wharves, oil tank farms, coastal batteries, radar stations, airstrips, and other targets of military value. The Israeli Navy even attacked some of Egypt 's northernmost SAM batteries. The Israeli Navy 's attacks were carried out with minimal support from the Israeli Air Force ( only one Arab naval target was destroyed from the air during the entire war ). The Egyptian Navy managed to enforce a blockade at Bab - el - Mandeb. Eighteen million tons of oil had been transported yearly from Iran to Israel through the straits of Bab - el - Mandeb. The blockade was enforced by two Egyptian destroyers and two submarines, supported by ancillary craft. Shipping destined for Israel through the Gulf of Eilat was halted by the Egyptians. The Israeli Navy had no means of lifting the blockade due to the long range involved, and the Israeli Air Force, apparently also incapable of lifting the blockade, did not challenge it. The blockade was lifted on November 1, after Israel used the surrounded Egyptian Third Army as a bargaining chip. The Egyptians unsuccessfully attempted to blockade the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, and mined the Gulf of Suez to prevent the transportation of oil from the Bala'eem and Abu Rudeis oil fields in southwestern Sinai to Eilat in southern Israel. Two oil tankers, of 48,000 ton and 2,000 ton capacity, sank after hitting mines in the Gulf. According to Admiral Ze'ev Almog, the Israeli Navy escorted tankers from the Gulf to Eilat throughout the war, and Israeli tankers sailing from Iran were directed to bypass the Red Sea. As a result of these actions and the failure of Egypt 's Mediterranean blockade, the transport of oil, grain and weapons to Israeli ports was made possible throughout nearly the entire war. A post-war survey found that during the entire war period, Israel suffered no oil shortages, and even sold oil to third parties affected by the Arab oil embargo. This claim was disputed by Edgar O'Ballance, who claimed that no oil went to Israel during the blockade, and the Eilat - Ashdod pipeline was empty by the end of the war. Israel responded with a counter-blockade of Egypt in the Gulf of Suez. The Israeli blockade was enforced by naval vessels based at Sharm el - Sheikh and the Sinai coast facing the Gulf of Suez. The Israeli blockade substantially damaged the Egyptian economy. According to historian Gammal Hammad, Egypt 's principal ports, Alexandria and Port Safaga, remained open to shipping throughout the war. Throughout the war, the Israeli Navy enjoyed complete command of the seas both in the Mediterranean approaches and in the Gulf of Suez. During the last week of the war, Egyptian frogmen carried out three or four raids on Eilat. The attacks caused minor damage, but created some alarm. According to Israeli and Western sources, the Israelis lost no vessels in the war. Israeli vessels were `` targeted by as many as 52 Soviet - made anti-ship missiles '', but none hit their targets. According to historian Benny Morris, the Egyptians lost seven missile boats and four torpedo boats and coastal defense craft, while the Syrians lost five missile boats, one minesweeper, and one coastal defense vessel. All together, the Israeli Navy suffered three dead or missing and seven wounded. Atrocities against Israeli prisoners Syrian atrocities Syria ignored the Geneva Conventions and many Israeli prisoners of war were tortured or killed. Advancing Israeli forces, re-capturing land taken by the Syrians early in the war, came across the bodies of 28 Israeli soldiers who had been blindfolded with their hands bound and summarily executed. In a December 1973 address to the National Assembly, Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass stated that he had awarded one soldier the Medal of the Republic for killing 28 Israeli prisoners with an axe, decapitating three of them and eating the flesh of one of his victims. The Syrians employed brutal interrogation techniques utilizing electric shocks to the genitals. A number of Israeli soldiers taken prisoner on Mount Hermon were executed. Near the village of Hushniye, the Syrians captured 11 administrative personnel from the Golan Heights Force, all of whom were later found dead, blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs. Within Hushniye, seven Israeli prisoners were found dead, and another three were executed at Tel Zohar. Syrian prisoners who fell into Israeli captivity confirmed that their comrades killed IDF prisoners. Some Israeli POWs reported having their fingernails ripped out while others were described as being turned into human ashtrays as their Syrian guards burned them with lit cigarettes. A report submitted by the chief medical officer of the Israeli army notes that, `` the vast majority of ( Israeli ) prisoners were exposed during their imprisonment to severe physical and mental torture. The usual methods of torture were beatings aimed at various parts of the body, electric shocks, wounds deliberately inflicted on the ears, burns on the legs, suspension in painful positions and other methods. '' Following the conclusion of hostilities, Syria would not release the names of prisoners it was holding to the International Committee of the Red Cross and in fact, did not even acknowledge holding any prisoners despite the fact they were publicly exhibited by the Syrians for television crews. The Syrians, having been thoroughly defeated by Israel, were attempting to use their captives as their sole bargaining chip in the post-war negotiations. One of the most famous Israeli POWs was Avraham Lanir, an Israeli pilot who bailed out over Syria and was taken prisoner. Lanir died under Syrian interrogation. When his body was returned in 1974, it exhibited signs of torture. Egyptian atrocities Israeli historian Aryeh Yitzhaki estimated that the Egyptians killed about 200 Israeli soldiers who had surrendered. Yitzhaki based his claim on army documents. In addition, dozens of Israeli prisoners were beaten and otherwise mistreated in Egyptian captivity. Individual Israeli soldiers gave testimony of witnessing comrades killed after surrendering to the Egyptians, or seeing the bodies of Israeli soldiers found blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. Avi Yaffe, a radioman serving on the Bar - Lev Line, reported hearing calls from other soldiers that the Egyptians were killing anyone who tried to surrender, and also obtained recordings of soldiers who were saved from Egyptian firing squads. Photographic evidence of such executions exists, though some of it has never been made public. Photos were also found of Israeli prisoners who were photographed alive in Egyptian captivity, but were returned to Israel dead. The order to kill Israeli prisoners came from General Shazly, who, in a pamphlet distributed to Egyptian soldiers immediately before the war, advised his troops to kill Israeli soldiers even if they surrendered. Participation by other States Failure of the U.S. intelligence community The U.S. intelligence community -- which includes the CIA -- failed to predict in advance the Egyptian - Syrian attack on Israel. A U.S. intelligence report as late as October 4 still stated that `` We continue to believe that an outbreak of major Arab -- Israeli hostilities remains unlikely for the immediate future ''. However, one U.S. government source that was able to predict the approaching war was Roger Merrick, an analyst working for the INR ( Intelligence and Research section in the State Department ), but his conclusions were ignored at the time, and the report he had written to that effect was only rediscovered by U.S. government archive officials in 2013. U.S. aid to Israel Based on intelligence estimates at the commencement of hostilities, American leaders expected the tide of the war to quickly shift in Israel 's favor, and that Arab armies would be completely defeated within 72 to 96 hours. On October 6, Secretary of State Kissinger convened the National Security Council 's official crisis management group, the Washington Special Actions Group, which debated whether the U.S. should supply additional arms to Israel. High - ranking representatives of the Defense and State Departments opposed such a move. Kissinger was the sole dissenter ; he said that if the U.S. refused aid, Israel would have little incentive to conform to American views in postwar diplomacy. Kissinger argued the sending of U.S. aid might cause Israel to moderate its territorial claims, but this thesis raised a protracted debate whether U.S. aid was likely to make it more accommodating or more intransigent toward the Arab world. An Israeli M48 Patton captured by Egyptian forces By October 8, Israel had encountered military difficulties on both fronts. In the Sinai, Israeli efforts to break through Egyptian lines with armor had been thwarted, and while Israel had contained and begun to turn back the Syrian advance, Syrian forces were still overlooking the Jordan River and their air defense systems were inflicting a high toll on Israeli planes. It became clear by October 9 that no quick reversal in Israel 's favor would occur and that IDF losses were unexpectedly high. During the night of October 8 -- 9, an alarmed Dayan told Meir that `` this is the end of the third temple. '' He was warning of Israel 's impending total defeat, but `` Temple '' was also the code word for Israel 's nuclear weapons. Dayan again raised the nuclear topic in a cabinet meeting, warning that the country was approaching a point of `` last resort ''. That night Meir authorized the assembly of thirteen 20 - kiloton - of - TNT ( 84 TJ ) tactical nuclear weapons for Jericho missiles at Sdot Micha Airbase, and McDonnell Douglas F - 4 Phantom II aircraft at Tel Nof Airbase, for use against Syrian and Egyptian targets. They would be used if absolutely necessary to prevent total defeat, but the preparation was done in an easily detectable way, likely as a signal to the United States. Kissinger learned of the nuclear alert on the morning of October 9. That day, President Nixon ordered the commencement of Operation Nickel Grass, an American airlift to replace all of Israel 's material losses. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Kissinger told Sadat that the reason for the U.S. airlift was that the Israelis were close to `` going nuclear ''. However, subsequent interviews with Kissinger, Schlesinger, and William Quandt suggested that the nuclear aspect was not a major factor in the decision to re-supply. These officials cited the ongoing Soviet re-supply effort and Sadat 's early rejection of a ceasefire as the primary motivators. European countries refused to allow U.S. airplanes carrying supplies for Israel to refuel at their bases, fearing an Arab oil embargo, with the exception of Portugal and the Netherlands. Portugal permitted the United States to use a leased base in the Azores, and the defence minister of the Netherlands, apparently acting without consulting his cabinet colleagues, secretly authorised the use of Dutch airfields. An M60 delivered during Operation Nickel Grass Israel began receiving supplies via U.S. Air Force cargo airplanes on October 14, although some equipment had arrived on planes from Israel 's national airline El Al before this date. By that time, the IDF had advanced deep into Syria and was mounting a largely successful invasion of the Egyptian mainland from the Sinai, but had taken severe material losses. According to Abraham Rabinovich, `` while the American airlift of supplies did not immediately replace Israel 's losses in equipment, it did allow Israel to expend what it did have more freely ''. By the end of Nickel Grass, the United States had shipped 22,395 tons of matériel to Israel. 8,755 tons of it arrived before the end of the war. American C - 141 Starlifter and C - 5 Galaxy aircraft flew 567 missions throughout the airlift. El Al planes flew in an additional 5,500 tons of matériel in 170 flights. The airlift continued after the war until November 14. The United States also delivered approximately 90,000 tons of matériel to Israel by sealift until the beginning of December, using 16 ships. 33,210 tons of it arrived by October 30. By the beginning of December, Israel had received between 34 and 40 F - 4 fighter - bombers, 46 A-4 attack airplanes, 12 C - 130 cargo airplanes, 8 CH - 53 helicopters, 40 unmanned aerial vehicles, 200 M - 60 / M - 48A3 tanks, 250 armored personnel carriers, 226 utility vehicles, 12 MIM - 72 Chaparral surface - to - air missile systems, 3 MIM - 23 Hawk surface - to - air missile systems, 36 155 mm artillery pieces, 7 175 mm artillery pieces, large quantities of 105 mm, 155 mm and 175 mm ammunition, state of the art equipment, such as the AGM - 65 Maverick missile and the BGM - 71 TOW, weapons that had only entered production one or more years prior, as well as highly advanced electronic jamming equipment. Most of the combat airplanes arrived during the war, and many were taken directly from United States Air Force units. Most of the large equipment arrived after the ceasefire. The total cost of the equipment was approximately US $800 million ( US $4.32 billion today ). On October 13 and 15, Egyptian air defense radars detected an aircraft at an altitude of 25,000 metres ( 82,000 ft ) and a speed of Mach 3 ( 3,675 km / h ; 2,284 mph ), making it impossible to intercept either by fighter or SAM missiles. The aircraft proceeded to cross the whole of the canal zone, the naval ports of the Red Sea ( Hurghada and Safaga ), flew over the airbases and air defenses in the Nile delta, and finally disappeared from radar screens over the Mediterranean Sea. The speed and altitude were those of the U.S. Lockheed SR - 71 Blackbird, a long - range strategic - reconnaissance aircraft. According to Egyptian commanders, the intelligence provided by the reconnaissance flights helped the Israelis prepare for the Egyptian attack on October 14 and assisted it in conducting Operation Stouthearted Men. Aid to Egypt and Syria Soviet supplies A Syrian BMP - 1 captured by Israeli forces Starting on October 9, the Soviet Union began supplying Egypt and Syria by air and by sea. The Soviets airlifted 12,500 -- 15,000 tons of supplies, of which 6,000 tons went to Egypt, 3,750 tons went to Syria and 575 tons went to Iraq. General Shazly, the former Egyptian chief of staff, claimed that more than half of the airlifted Soviet hardware actually went to Syria. According to Ze'ev Schiff, Arab losses were so high and the attrition rate so great that equipment was taken directly from Soviet and Warsaw Pact stores to supply the airlift. Antonov An - 12 and AN - 22 aircraft flew over 900 missions during the airlift. The Soviets supplied another 63,000 tons, mainly to Syria, by means of a sealift by October 30. Historian Gamal Hammad asserts that 400 T - 55 and T - 62 tanks supplied by the sealift were directed towards replacing Syrian losses, transported from Odessa on the Black Sea to the Syrian port of Latakia. Hammad claimed that Egypt did not receive any tanks from the Soviets, a claim disputed by Schiff, who stated that Soviet freighters loaded with tanks and other weapons reached Egyptian, Algerian and Syrian ports throughout the war. The sealift may have included Soviet nuclear weapons, which were not unloaded but kept in Alexandria harbor until November to counter the Israeli nuclear preparations, which Soviet satellites had detected ( Soviet intelligence informed Egypt that Israel had armed three nuclear weapons ). American concern over possible evidence of nuclear warheads for the Soviet Scud missiles in Egypt contributed to Washington 's decision to go to DEFCON 3. According to documents declassified in 2016, the move to DEFCON 3 was motivated by Central Intelligence Agency reports indicating that the Soviet Union had sent a ship to Egypt carrying nuclear weapons along with two other amphibious vessels. Soviet troops never landed, though the ship supposedly transporting nuclear weapons did arrive in Egypt. Further details are unavailable and may remain classified. Soviet active aid On the Golan front, Syrian forces received direct support from Soviet technicians and military personnel. At the start of the war, there were an estimated 2,000 Soviet personnel in Syria, of whom 1,000 were serving in Syrian air defense units. Soviet technicians repaired damaged tanks, SAMs and radar equipment, assembled fighter jets that arrived via the sealift, and drove tanks supplied by the sealift from ports to Damascus. On both the Golan and Sinai fronts, Soviet military personnel retrieved abandoned Israeli military equipment for shipment to Moscow. Soviet advisors were reportedly present in Syrian command posts `` at every echelon, from battalion up, including supreme headquarters ''. Some Soviet military personnel went into battle with the Syrians, and it was estimated that 20 were killed in action and more were wounded. In July 1974, Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres informed the Knesset that high - ranking Soviet officers had been killed on the Syrian front during the war. There were strong rumors that a handful were taken prisoner, but this was denied. However, it was noted that certain Soviet Jews were allowed to emigrate just after the war, leading to suspicions of a covert exchange. The Observer wrote that seven Soviets in uniform were taken prisoner after surrendering when the Israelis overran their bunker. The Israelis reportedly took the prisoners to Ramat David Airbase for interrogation, and treated the incident with great secrecy. Israeli military intelligence reported that Soviet - piloted MiG - 25 Foxbat interceptor / reconnaissance aircraft conducted flyovers over the Canal Zone. Soviet threat of intervention October 24. A UN-arranged meeting between IDF Lt. Gen. Haim Bar - Lev and Egyptian Brigadier General Bashir Sharif in Sinai. On October 9, the Soviet cultural center in Damascus was damaged during an Israeli airstrike, and two days later, the Soviet merchant ship Ilya Mechnikov was sunk by the Israeli Navy during a battle off Syria. The Soviets condemned Israeli actions, and there were calls within the government for military retaliation. The Soviets ultimately reacted by deploying two destroyers off the Syrian coast. Soviet warships in the Mediterranean were authorized to open fire on Israeli combatants approaching Soviet convoys and transports. There were several recorded instances of Soviet ships exchanging fire with Israeli forces. In particular, the Soviet minesweeper Rulevoi and the medium landing ship SDK - 137, guarding Soviet transport ships at the Syrian port of Latakia, fired on approaching Israeli jets. During the cease - fire, Henry Kissinger mediated a series of exchanges with the Egyptians, Israelis and the Soviets. On October 24, Sadat publicly appealed for American and Soviet contingents to oversee the ceasefire ; it was quickly rejected in a White House statement. Kissinger also met with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin to discuss convening a peace conference with Geneva as the venue. Later in the evening ( 9 : 35 pm ) of October 24 -- 25, Brezhnev sent Nixon a `` very urgent '' letter. In that letter, Brezhnev began by noting that Israel was continuing to violate the ceasefire and it posed a challenge to both the U.S. and USSR. He stressed the need to `` implement '' the ceasefire resolution and `` invited '' the U.S. to join the Soviets `` to compel observance of the cease - fire without delay ''. He then threatened `` I will say it straight that if you find it impossible to act jointly with us in this matter, we should be faced with the necessity urgently to consider taking appropriate steps unilaterally. We can not allow arbitrariness on the part of Israel. '' The Soviets were threatening to militarily intervene in the war on Egypt 's side if they could not work together to enforce the ceasefire. Kissinger immediately passed the message to White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig, who met with Nixon for 20 minutes around 10 : 30 pm, and reportedly empowered Kissinger to take any necessary action. Kissinger immediately called a meeting of senior officials, including Haig, Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, and CIA Director William Colby. The Watergate scandal had reached its apex, and Nixon was so agitated and discomposed that they decided to handle the matter without him : When Kissinger asked Haig whether ( Nixon ) should be wakened, the White House chief of staff replied firmly ' No. ' Haig clearly shared Kissinger 's feelings that Nixon was in no shape to make weighty decisions. The meeting produced a conciliatory response, which was sent ( in Nixon 's name ) to Brezhnev. At the same time, it was decided to increase the Defense Condition ( DEFCON ) from four to three. Lastly, they approved a message to Sadat ( again, in Nixon 's name ) asking him to drop his request for Soviet assistance, and threatening that if the Soviets were to intervene, so would the United States. The Soviets placed seven airborne divisions on alert and airlift was marshaled to transport them to the Middle East. An airborne command post was set up in the southern Soviet Union, and several air force units were also alerted. `` Reports also indicated that at least one of the divisions and a squadron of transport planes had been moved from the Soviet Union to an airbase in Yugoslavia ''. The Soviets also deployed seven amphibious warfare craft with some 40,000 naval infantry in the Mediterranean. The Soviets quickly detected the increased American defense condition, and were astonished and bewildered at the response. `` Who could have imagined the Americans would be so easily frightened, '' said Nikolai Podgorny. `` It is not reasonable to become engaged in a war with the United States because of Egypt and Syria, '' said Premier Alexei Kosygin, while KGB chief Yuri Andropov added that `` We shall not unleash the Third World War. '' The letter from the U.S. cabinet arrived during the meeting. Brezhnev decided that the Americans were too nervous, and that the best course of action would be to wait to reply. The next morning, the Egyptians agreed to the American suggestion, and dropped their request for assistance from the Soviets, bringing the crisis to an end. Other countries Plaque commemorating the supply of 8 East German Air Force MiG - 21s to Syria during the war, on display at the Flugplatzmuseum Cottbus In total, Arab countries added up to 100,000 troops to Egypt and Syria 's frontline ranks. Besides Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, several other Arab states were also involved in this war, providing additional weapons and financing. In addition to its forces in Syria, Iraq sent a single Hawker Hunter squadron to Egypt. The squadron quickly gained a reputation amongst Egyptian field commanders for its skill in air support, particularly in anti-armor strikes. However, nearly all Arab reinforcements came with no logistical plan or support, expecting their hosts to supply them, and in several cases causing logistical problems. On the Syrian front, a lack of coordination between Arab forces led to several instances of friendly fire. Algeria sent a squadron each of MiG - 21s and Su - 7s to Egypt, which arrived at the front between October 9 and October 11. It also sent an armored brigade of 150 tanks, the advance elements of which began to arrive on October 17, but reached the front only on October 24, too late to participate in the fighting. After the war, during the first days of November, Algeria deposited around US $200 million with the Soviet Union to finance arms purchases for Egypt and Syria. Algerian fighter jets however did participate in attacks together with Egyptians and Iraqis. Cuba sent approximately 4,000 troops, including tank and helicopter crews to Syria, and they reportedly engaged in combat operations against the IDF. 20 North Korean pilots and 19 non-combat personnel were sent to Egypt. The unit had four to six encounters with the Israelis from August through the end of the war. According to Shlomo Aloni, the last aerial engagement on the Egyptian front, which took place on December 6, saw Israeli F - 4s engage North Korean - piloted MiG - 21s. The Israelis shot down one MiG, and another was mistakenly shot down by Egyptian air defenses. Egyptian sources said that the North Koreans suffered no losses but claimed no aerial victories in their engagements. According to Chengappa, several Pakistan Air Force pilots flew combat missions in Syrian aircraft, and shot down one Israeli fighter. Libya, which had forces stationed in Egypt before the outbreak of the war, provided one armored brigade and two squadrons of Mirage V fighters, of which one squadron was to be piloted by the Egyptian Air Force and the other by Libyan pilots. Only Egyptian - manned squadrons participated in the war. Libyan armored brigade stationed in Egypt never took an active part in the war. Libya also sent financial aid. Saudi Arabia sent 3,000 soldiers to Syria, bolstered by a squadron of Panhard AML - 90 armored cars. These arrived with additional Jordanian and Iraqi reinforcements in time for a new Syrian offensive scheduled for October 23, which was later cancelled. One of the Panhards was later captured by the Israelis near Golan Heights and displayed to the media as proof of Saudi involvement. Saudi Arabia also provided financial aid. Kuwait dispatched 3,000 soldiers to Syria. These arrived with additional Jordanian and Iraqi reinforcements in time for a new Syrian offensive scheduled for October 23, which was later cancelled. Kuwaiti troops were also sent to Egypt. Kuwait also provided financial aid. Morocco sent one infantry brigade to Egypt and one armored regiment to Syria. Tunisia sent 1,000 -- 2,000 soldiers to Egypt, where they were stationed in the Nile Delta and some of them were stationed to defend Port Said. Lebanon sent radar units to Syria for air defense. Lebanon however did not take part in the war. North Korea was reported to have sent pilots to fly for the Egyptian Air Force. Sudan deployed a 3,500 - strong infantry brigade to Egypt. It arrived on October 28, too late to participate in the war. Non-state participants : An infantry brigade composed of Palestinians was in Egypt before the outbreak of the war. Palestinian attacks from the Lebanese border During the course of the war, Palestinian militias from southern Lebanon launched several attacks on Israeli border communities. All of the attempts to infiltrate Israel failed and in all clashes 23 militants were killed and 4 were captured. Most of the activity was focused on Katyusha rocket and anti-tank missile fire on Israeli border communities. In the attacks some civilians were injured, mostly lightly and damage was made to property. In 10 October, after Palestinian militants fired some 40 rockets on Israeli communities, Chief of Staff David Elazar and chief of the Northern Command, Yitzhak Hofi, requested to deploy a force which will cleanse Lebanese villages from Palestinian militants, but the request was declined by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. Weapons The Arab armies ( with the exception of the Jordanians ), were equipped with predominantly Soviet - made weapons while Israel 's armaments were mostly Western - made. The Arabs ' T - 54 / 55s and T - 62s were equipped with night vision equipment, which the Israeli tanks lacked, giving them an advantage in fighting at night, while Israel tanks had better armor and / or better armament. Israeli tanks also had a distinct advantage while on the ramps, in the `` hull - down '' position where steeper angles of depression resulted in less exposure. The main guns of Soviet tanks could only depress 4 degrees. By contrast, the 105 mm guns on Centurion and Patton tanks could depress 10 degrees. Type Arab armies IDF AFVs Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan used T - 34, T - 54, T - 55, T - 62, PT - 76 and M48 Patton, as well as SU - 100 / 152 World War II vintage self - propelled guns. M50 and M51 Shermans with upgraded engines, M48 Patton, M60 Patton, Centurion, PT - 76 and T - 54 / 55. All tanks were upgraded with the British 105 mm L7 gun, prior to the war. APCs / IFVs BTR - 40, BTR - 152, BTR - 50, BTR - 60 APC 's & BMP 1 IFV 's M2 / M3 Half - track, M113 Artillery 152 mm howitzer - gun M1937 ( ML - 20 ), BM - 21, D - 30 ( 2A18 ) Howitzer, M1954 field gun, 152 mm towed gun - howitzer M1955 ( D - 20 ) M109 self - propelled howitzer, M107 self - propelled gun, M110 self - propelled howitzer, M50 self - propelled howitzer and Makmat 160 mm self - propelled mortar, Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50, Soltam M - 68 and 130 mm towed field gun M1954 ( M - 46 ) Aircraft MiG - 21, MiG - 19, MiG - 17, Dassault Mirage 5, Su - 7 B, Hawker Hunter, Tu - 16, Il - 28, Il - 18, Il - 14, An - 12, Aero L - 29 A-4 Skyhawk, F - 4 Phantom II, Dassault Mirage III, Dassault Super Mystère, IAI Nesher Helicopters Mi - 6, Mi - 8 Super Frelon, Sea Stallion, AB - 205 AAW SA - 6 Gainful, SA - 3 Goa, SA - 2 Guideline, ZSU - 23 - 4, Strela 2 MIM - 23 Hawk, MIM - 72 Chaparral, Bofors 40 mm gun Infantry weapons AK - 47, AKM, Hakim, Rasheed, RPK, RPD, PKM, SVD, Port Said, Browning Hi - Power, Beretta M1951, TT - 33, Makarov PM, F1 grenade, RGD - 5 grenade, RPG - 43 anti-tank grenade, RKG - 3 anti-tank grenade, DShK HMG, RPG - 7, AT - 3 Sagger and B - 11 recoilless rifle FN FAL, Uzi, M16, CAR - 15, M14, AK - 47, Karabiner 98k, Lee - Enfield, FN MAG, Browning Hi - Power, Beretta M1951, M26A2 grenade, M2HB Browning, SS. 11, M72 LAW, BGM - 71 TOW, RL - 83 Blindicide and M40 recoilless rifle Sea to Sea Missiles P - 15 Termit Gabriel Air - to - Air Missiles K - 13 Shafrir 2, AIM - 9 Sidewinder, AIM - 7 Sparrow Air - to - Ground Missiles AGM - 45 Shrike anti radiation missile Home front during the war The war created a state of emergency in the countries involved in fighting. Upon the outbreak of war, air raid sirens sounded throughout Israel. During the war, blackouts were enforced in major cities. The Egyptian government began to evacuate foreign tourists, and on October 11, 1973, the Egyptian ship Syria left Alexandria to Piraeus with a load of tourists wishing to exit Egypt. The U.S. Interest Section in Cairo also requested U.S. government assistance in removing U.S. tourists to Greece. On October 12, Kissinger ordered the U.S. Interest Section in Cairo to speed up preparations for the departure of U.S. tourists staying in Egypt, while notifying such actions to the IDF in order to avoid accidental military operations against them. Casualties See also : Israeli casualties of war Israel suffered between 2,521 and 2,800 killed in action. An additional 7,250 to 8,800 soldiers were wounded. Some 293 Israelis were captured. Approximately 400 Israeli tanks were destroyed. Another 600 were disabled but returned to service after repairs. A major Israeli advantage, noted by many observers, was their ability to quickly return damaged tanks to combat. The Israeli Air Force lost 102 airplanes : 32 F - 4s, 53 A-4s, 11 Mirages and 6 Super Mysteres. Two helicopters, a Bell 205 and a CH - 53, were also lost. According to Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, nearly half of these were shot down during the first three days of the war. IAF losses per combat sortie were less than in the preceding Six Day War of 1967. An Israeli Air Force Mirage IIIC. Flag markings on the nose credit this particular aircraft with 13 aerial kills. Downed Israeli Mirage Arab casualties were known to be much higher than Israel 's, though precise figures are difficult to ascertain as Egypt and Syria never disclosed official figures. The lowest casualty estimate is 8,000 ( 5,000 Egyptian and 3,000 Syrian ) killed and 18,000 wounded. The highest estimate is 18,500 ( 15,000 Egyptian and 3,500 Syrian ) killed. Most estimates lie somewhere in between the two, with the Insight Team of the London The Sunday Times combined Egyptian and Syrian losses of 16,000 killed. and yet another source citing a figure of some 15,000 dead and 35,000 wounded. U.S. estimates placed Egyptian casualties at 13,000. Iraq lost 278 killed and 898 wounded, while Jordan suffered 23 killed and 77 wounded. Some 8,372 Egyptians, 392 Syrians, 13 Iraqis and 6 Moroccans were taken prisoner. Arab tank losses amounted to 2,250 though Garwych cites a figure of 2,300. 400 of these fell into Israeli hands in good working order and were incorporated into Israeli service. Between 341 and 514 Arab aircraft were shot down. According to Herzog, 334 of these aircraft were shot down by the Israeli Air Force in air - to - air combat for the loss of only five Israeli planes. The Sunday Times Insight Team notes Arab aircraft losses of 450. 19 Arab naval vessels, including 10 missile boats, were sunk for no Israeli losses. Post-ceasefire Kissinger pushes for peace Play media 1974 news report about warfare on the Golan prior to the May disengagement accords On October 24, the UNSC passed Resolution 339, serving as a renewed call for all parties to adhere to the ceasefire terms established in Resolution 338. Most heavy fighting on the Egyptian front ended by October 26, but clashes along the ceasefire lines and a few airstrikes on the Third Army took place. With some Israeli advances taking place, Kissinger threatened to support a UN withdrawal resolution, but before Israel could respond, Egyptian national security advisor Hafez Ismail sent Kissinger a stunning message -- Egypt was willing to enter into direct talks with Israel, provided that it agree to allow non-military supplies to reach the Third Army and to a complete ceasefire. About noon on October 25, Kissinger appeared before the press at the State Department. He described the various stages of the crisis and the evolution of U.S. policy. He reviewed the first two weeks of the crisis and the nuclear alert, reiterated opposition to U.S. and Soviet troops in the area and more strongly opposed unilateral Soviet moves. He then reviewed the prospects for a peace agreement, which he termed `` quite promising '', and had conciliatory words for Israel, Egypt and even the USSR. Kissinger concluded his remarks by spelling out the principles of a new U.S. policy toward the Arab -- Israeli conflict saying : Our position is that... the conditions that produced this war were clearly intolerable to the Arab nations and that in the process of negotiations it will be necessary to make substantial concessions. The problem will be to relate the Arab concern for the sovereignty over the territories to the Israeli concern for secure boundaries. We believe that the process of negotiations between the parties is an essential component of this. Quandt considers, `` It was a brilliant performance, one of his most impressive. '' One hour later the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 340. This time the ceasefire held, and the fourth Arab -- Israeli war was over. Disengagement agreement Main article : Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria UN Emergency Forces at Kilometre 101 Disengagement talks took place on October 28, 1973, at `` Kilometre 101 '' between Israeli Major General Aharon Yariv and Egyptian Major General Abdel Ghani el - Gamasy. Ultimately, Kissinger took the proposal to Sadat, who agreed. United Nations checkpoints were brought in to replace Israeli ones, nonmilitary supplies were allowed to pass, and prisoners - of - war were to be exchanged. A summit conference in Geneva followed in December 1973. All parties to the war -- Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt -- were invited to a joint effort by the Soviet Union and the United States to finally usher peace between the Arabs and Israelis. This conference was recognized by UN Security Council Resolution 344 and was based on the Resolution 338, calling for a `` just and durable peace ''. Nevertheless, the conference was forced to adjourn on January 9, 1974, as Syria refused attendance. After the failed conference Henry Kissinger started conducting shuttle diplomacy, meeting with Israel and the Arab states directly. The first concrete result of this was the initial military disengagement agreement, signed by Israel and Egypt on January 18, 1974. The agreement commonly known as Sinai I had the official name of Sinai Separation of Forces Agreement. Under its terms, Israel agreed to pull back its forces from the areas West of Suez Canal, which it had occupied since the end of hostilities. Moreover, Israeli forces were also pulled back on the length of the whole front to create security zones for Egypt, UN and Israel, each roughly ten kilometres wide. Thus Israel gave up its advances reaching beyond the Suez canal, but it still held nearly all of Sinai. It became the first of many such Land for Peace agreements where Israel gave up territory in exchange for treaties. On the Syrian front, skirmishes and artillery exchanges continued taking place. Shuttle diplomacy by Henry Kissinger eventually produced a disengagement agreement on May 31, 1974, based on exchange of prisoners - of - war, Israeli withdrawal to the Purple Line and the establishment of a UN buffer zone. The agreement ended the skirmishes and exchanges of artillery fire that had occurred frequently along the Israeli - Syrian ceasefire line. The UN Disengagement and Observer Force ( UNDOF ) was established as a peacekeeping force in the Golan. The peace discussion at the end of the war was the first time that Arab and Israeli officials met for direct public discussions since the aftermath of the 1948 war. Response in Israel Though the war reinforced Israel 's military deterrence, it had a stunning effect on the population in Israel. Following their victory in the Six - Day War, the Israeli military had become complacent. The shock and sudden reversals that occurred at the beginning of the war inflicted a terrible psychological blow to the Israelis, who had hitherto experienced no serious military challenges. A protest against the Israeli government started four months after the war ended. It was led by Motti Ashkenazi, commander of Budapest, the northernmost of the Bar - Lev forts and the only one during the war not to be captured by the Egyptians. Anger against the Israeli government ( and Dayan in particular ) was high. Shimon Agranat, President of the Israeli Supreme Court, was asked to lead an inquiry, the Agranat Commission, into the events leading up to the war and the setbacks of the first few days. The Agranat Commission published its preliminary findings on April 2, 1974. Six people were held particularly responsible for Israel 's failings : Though his performance and conduct during the war was lauded, IDF Chief of Staff David Elazar was recommended for dismissal after the Commission found he bore `` personal responsibility for the assessment of the situation and the preparedness of the IDF ''. Aman Chief, Aluf Eli Zeira, and his deputy, head of Research, Brigadier - General Aryeh Shalev, were recommended for dismissal. Lt. Colonel Bandman, head of the Aman desk for Egypt, and Lt. Colonel Gedelia, chief of intelligence for the Southern Command, were recommended for transfer away from intelligence duties. Shmuel Gonen, commander of the Southern front, was recommended by the initial report to be relieved of active duty. He was forced to leave the army after the publication of the Commission 's final report, on January 30, 1975, which found that `` he failed to fulfill his duties adequately, and bears much of the responsibility for the dangerous situation in which our troops were caught. '' Rather than quieting public discontent, the report -- which `` had stressed that it was judging the ministers ' responsibility for security failings, not their parliamentary responsibility, which fell outside its mandate '' -- inflamed it. Although it had absolved Meir and Dayan of all responsibility, public calls for their resignations ( especially Dayan 's ) intensified. In the December 1973 legislative election, Meir 's Alignment party lost five Knesset seats. On April 11, 1974, Golda Meir resigned. Her cabinet followed suit, including Dayan, who had previously offered to resign twice and was turned down both times by Meir. A new government was seated in June, and Yitzhak Rabin, who had spent most of the war as an advisor to Elazar in an unofficial capacity, became Prime Minister. In 1999, the issue was revisited by the Israeli political leadership to prevent similar shortcomings from being repeated. The Israeli National Security Council was created to improve coordination between the different security and intelligence bodies, and the political branch of government. Response in Egypt For the Arab states ( and Egypt in particular ), Arab successes during the war healed the psychological trauma of their defeat in the Six - Day War, allowing them to negotiate with the Israelis as equals. Because of the later setbacks in the war ( which saw Israel gain a large salient on African soil and even more territory on the Syrian front ), some believe that the war helped convince many in the Arab world that Israel could not be defeated militarily, thereby strengthening peace movements and delaying the Arab ambition of destroying Israel by force. General Shazly had angered Sadat for advocating the withdrawal of Egyptian forces from Sinai to meet the Israeli incursion on the West Bank of the Canal. Six weeks after the war, he was relieved of command and forced out of the army, ultimately going into political exile for years. Upon his return to Egypt, he was placed under house arrest. Following his release, he advocated the formation of a `` Supreme High Committee '' modeled after Israel 's Agranat Commission in order to `` probe, examine and analyze '' the performance of Egyptian forces and the command decisions made during the war, but his requests were completely ignored. He published a book, banned in Egypt, that described Egypt 's military failings and the sharp disagreements he had with Ismail and Sadat in connection with the prosecution of the war. The commanders of the Second and Third Armies, Generals Khalil and Wasel, were also dismissed from the army. The commander of the Egyptian Second Army at the start of the war, General Mamoun, suffered a heart attack, or, alternatively, a breakdown, after the Egyptian defeat during the October 14 Sinai tank battle, and was replaced by General Khalil. Response in Syria In Syria, Colonel Rafik Halawi, the Druze commander of an infantry brigade that had collapsed during the Israeli breakthrough, was executed before the war even ended. He was given a quick hearing and sentenced to death ; his execution was immediate. Military historian Zeev Schiff referred to him as Syria 's `` sacrificial lamb ''. The Syrians however offered vehement denials that Halawi was executed and expended great efforts trying to debunk the allegation. They claimed he was killed in battle with Israel and threatened severe punishment to anyone repeating the allegation of execution. Their concern stemmed from a desire to maintain Syrian Druze loyalty to Assad 's regime and prevent Syrian Druze from siding with their co-religionists in Israel. On July 7, 1974, Halawi 's remains were removed from a Syrian military hospital and he was interred in Damascus at the `` Cemetery of the Martyrs of the October War '' in the presence of many Syrian dignitaries. One analyst noted that the presence of so many high - level officials was unusual and attributed it to Syrian efforts to quell any suggestion of execution. Response in the Soviet Union According to Chernyaev, on 4 Nov 1973, the Soviet leader Brezhnev said : We have offered them ( the Arabs ) a sensible way for so many years. But no, they wanted to fight. Fine ! We gave them technology, the latest, the kind even Vietnam did n't have. They had double superiority in tanks and aircraft, triple in artillery, and in air defense and anti-tank weapons they had absolute supremacy. And what ? Once again they were beaten. Once again they scrammed ( sic ). Once again they screamed for us to come save them. Sadat woke me up in the middle of the night twice over the phone, `` Save me ! '' He demanded to send Soviet troops, and immediately ! No ! We are not going to fight for them. Oil embargo In response to U.S. support of Israel, the Arab members of OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, decided to reduce oil production by 5 % per month on October 17. On October 19, President Nixon authorized a major allocation of arms supplies and $2.2 billion in appropriations for Israel. In response, Saudi Arabia declared an embargo against the United States, later joined by other oil exporters and extended against the Netherlands and other states, causing the 1973 energy crisis. Long - term Effects Egyptian -- Israeli disengagement agreement Main article : Sinai Interim Agreement Another Egyptian -- Israeli disengagement agreement, the Sinai Interim Agreement, was signed in Geneva on September 4, 1975, and was commonly known as Sinai II. This agreement led Israel to withdraw from another 20 -- 40 km with UN forces buffering the vacated area. After the agreement, Israel still held more than two thirds of Sinai, which would prove to be a valuable bargaining chip in the coming negotiations. Egyptian -- Israeli Camp David Accords Main article : Camp David Accords The Yom Kippur War upset the status quo in the Middle East, and the war served as a direct antecedent of the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Accords resulted in the Egypt -- Israel Peace Treaty, the first ever between Israel and an Arab state. According to George Friedman, the war gave the Israelis increased respect for the Egyptian military and decreased their confidence in their own, and caused the Israelis to be uncertain whether they could defeat Egypt in the event of another war. At the same time, the Egyptians recognized that despite their improvements, they were defeated in the end, and became doubtful that they could ever defeat Israel militarily. Therefore, a negotiated settlement made sense to both sides. Rabin 's government was hamstrung by a pair of scandals, and he was forced to step down in 1977. In the elections that followed, the right - wing Likud party won a majority in the Knesset, and Menachem Begin, the party 's founder and leader, was appointed Prime Minister. This marked a historic change in the Israeli political landscape : for the first time since Israel 's founding, a coalition not led by the Labor Party was in control of the government. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin acknowledge applause during a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C., during which President Jimmy Carter announced the results of the Camp David Accords, September 18, 1978. Sadat, who had entered the war in order to recover the Sinai from Israel, grew frustrated at the slow pace of the peace process. In a 1977 interview with CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite, Sadat admitted under pointed questioning that he was open to a more constructive dialog for peace, including a state visit. This seemed to open the floodgates, as in a later interview with the same reporter, the normally hard - line Begin -- perhaps not wishing to be compared unfavorably to Sadat -- said he too would be amenable to better relations. On November 9, 1977, Sadat stunned the world when he told parliament that he would be willing to visit Israel and address the Knesset. Shortly afterward, the Israeli government cordially invited him to address the Knesset. Thus, in November of that year, Sadat took the unprecedented step of visiting Israel, becoming the first Arab leader to do so, and so implicitly recognized Israel. The act jump - started the peace process. United States President Jimmy Carter invited both Sadat and Begin to a summit at Camp David to negotiate a final peace. The talks took place from September 5 -- 17, 1978. Ultimately, the talks succeeded, and Israel and Egypt signed the Israel - Egypt Peace Treaty in 1979. Israel subsequently withdrew its troops and settlers in the Sinai, in exchange for normal relations with Egypt and a lasting peace, with last Israeli troops exiting on April 26, 1982. There is still no formal peace agreement between Israel and Syria to this day. Many in the Arab world were outraged at Egypt 's peace with Israel. Sadat, in particular, became deeply unpopular both in the Arab world and in his own country. Egypt was suspended from the Arab League until 1989. Until then, Egypt had been `` at the helm of the Arab world ''. Egypt 's tensions with its Arab neighbors culminated in 1977 in the short - lived Libyan -- Egyptian War. Sadat was assassinated two years later on October 6, 1981, while attending a parade marking the eighth anniversary of the start of the war, by Islamist army members who were outraged at his negotiations with Israel. Commemorations A destroyed Syrian T - 62 stands as part of an Israeli memorial commemorating the battle of the ' Valley of Tears ', Northern Golan Heights. October 6 is a national holiday in Egypt called Armed Forces Day. It is a national holiday in Syria as well, where it is called `` Tishreen Liberation Day ''. Marking the 35th anniversary in 2008, Hosni Mubarak said that the conflict `` breathed new life '' into Egypt. He said Egypt and Syria 's initial victories in the conflict eased Arab bitterness over Israel 's victory in the 1967 Six - Day War and ultimately put the two nations on a path of peaceful coexistence. In Egypt, many places were named after the date of October 6th and Ramadan 10th, which is the equivalent day in the Islamic calendar. Examples of these commemorations are 6th October Bridge in Cairo and the cities of 6th of October and 10th of Ramadan. In addition, `` Museum of October 6 War '' was built in 1989 in the Heliopolis district of Cairo. The center of the museum is occupied by a rotunda housing a panoramic painting of the struggle between Egyptian and Israeli armed forces. The panorama, the creation of which was outsourced to a group of North Korean artists and architects, is equipped with engines to rotate it 360 ° during a 30 - minutes presentation accompanied by commentary in various languages. A similar museum, which was also built with North Korean assistance -- the October War Panorama -- operates in Damascus. In Latrun, a Yom Kippur War exhibit can be found at The Armored Corps Museum at Yad La - Shiryon. See also Corrective Movement ( Syria ) List of modern conflicts in the Middle East Leninsky Komsomol class cargo ships -- Seven Soviet Union Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships carried out military cargo in Syria and Egypt in October and November 1973 : SS Fizik Kurchatov visited Alexandria 2 times and Latakia 1 time SS Bratstvo ( 1963 ) arrived in Latakia on the 20 of October, 1973 SS Fizik Vavilov SS Leninsky Komsomol SS Parizhskaya Kommuna SS Leninsky Pioner SS Yunyi Leninets References Notes Jump up ^ Kumaraswamy, P.R. ( 2013 - 01 - 11 ). Revisiting the Yom Kippur War. Routledge. p. 235. ISBN 9781136328954. ^ Jump up to : Edgar O'Ballance. No Victor, No Vanquished : The Yom Kippur War ( 1979 ed. ). Barrie & Jenkins Publishing. pp. 28 -- 370. ISBN 978 - 0214206702. Jump up ^ `` An unknown story from the Yom Kippur war : Israeli F - 4s vs North Korean MiG - 21s ''. The Aviationist. June 24, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Shazly, p. 278. Jump up ^ Mahjoub Tobji ( 2006 ). Les officiers de Sa Majesté : Les dérives des généraux marocains 1956 -- 2006. 107 : Fayard. ISBN 978 - 2213630151. ^ Jump up to : Perez, Cuba, Between Reform and Revolution, pp. 377 -- 379. Gott, Cuba, A New History, p. 280. Jump up ^ Israelyan, Victor ( 2010 - 11 - 01 ). Inside the Kremlin During the Yom Kippur War. Penn State Press. p. 101. ISBN 0271041188. Jump up ^ Herzog ( 1975 ). The War of Atonement. Little, Brown and Company... Foreword. ^ Jump up to : Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, p. 450. Jump up ^ Luttwak ; Horowitz ( 1983 ). The Israeli Army. Cambridge, MA : Abt Books. Jump up ^ Rabinovich ( 2004 ). The Yom Kippur War. Schocken Books. p. 498. Jump up ^ Kumaraswamy, PR ( March 30, 2000 ). Revisiting The Yom Kippur War. pp. 1 -- 2. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7146 - 5007 - 4. Jump up ^ Johnson ; Tierney. Failing To Win, Perception of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. pp. 177, 180. Jump up ^ Liebman, Charles ( July 1993 ). `` The Myth of Defeat : The Memory of the Yom Kippur war in Israeli Society '' ( PDF ). Middle Eastern Studies. London : Frank Cass. 29 ( 3 ) : 411. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 7, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Israel 's victory came at the cost of heavy casualties, and Israelis criticized the government 's lack of preparedness. '' YOM KIPPUR WAR at history.com Jump up ^ `` The 1973 war thus ended in an Israeli victory, but at great cost to the United States. '' The 1973 Arab - Israeli War at website of Office of the Historian Jump up ^ Simon Dunstan ( 2007 - 09 - 18 ). The Yom Kippur War : The Arab - Israeli War of 1973. p. 205. ISBN 9781846032882. Jump up ^ Asaf Siniver ( 2013 ). The Yom Kippur War : Politics, Legacy, Diplomacy. Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 933481 - 0. ( p. 6 ) `` For most Egyptians the war is remembered as an unquestionable victory - militarily as well as politically... The fact that the war ended with Israeli troops stationed in the outskirts of Cairo and in complete encirclement of the Egyptian third army has not dampened the jubilant commemoration of the war in Egypt. '' ( p 11 ) `` Ultimately, the conflict provided a military victory for Israel, but it is remembered as ' the earthquake ' or ' the blunder ' '' Jump up ^ Ian Bickerton ( 2 February 2012 ). The Arab - Israeli Conflict : A Guide for the Perplexed. A&C Black. p. 128. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4411 - 2872 - 0. the Arab has suffered repeated military defeats at the hand of Israel in 1956, 1967, and 1973 Jump up ^ P.R. Kumaraswamy ( 11 January 2013 ). Revisiting the Yom Kippur War. Routledge. p. 184. ISBN 978 - 1 - 136 - 32888 - 6. ( p. 184 ) `` Yom Kippur War... its final outcome was, without doubt, a military victory... '' ( p. 185 ) ``... in October 1973, that despite Israel 's military victory '' Jump up ^ See Jump up ^ Loyola, Mario ( 7 October 2013 ). `` How We Used to Do It -- American diplomacy in the ''. National Review. p. 1. Retrieved 2 December 2013. ^ Jump up to : Morris, 2011, Righteous Victims, p. 437 Jump up ^ Morris, 2011 p. 433, `` Bashan... 500 square kilometers... which brought it within 20 miles of Damascus '' ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich. The Yom Kippur War. p. 54. Jump up ^ Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, p. 372 -- 373. ^ Jump up to : The number reflects artillery units of caliber 100 mm and up Jump up ^ Herzog. p. 239. Missing or empty title = ( help ) Jump up ^ `` Yom Kippur War ''. globalsecurity.org. ^ Jump up to : Shazly, p. 244. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 272. Jump up ^ Haber & Schiff, pp. 30 -- 31. ^ Jump up to : USMC Major Michael C. Jordan ( 1997 ). `` The 1973 Arab -- Israeli War : Arab Policies, Strategies, and Campaigns ''. GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved April 20, 2009. ^ Jump up to : Major George E. Knapp ( 1992 ). `` 4 : Antiarmor Operations on the Golan Heights ''. Combined Arms in battle since 1939. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Archived from the original on May 7, 2010. Retrieved June 1, 2009. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, p. 314. Jump up ^ Bar - On, Mordechai ( 2004 ). A Never Ending Conflict. Greenwood Publishing. p. 170. Jump up ^ Bourne, Peter G. ( 1986 ). Fidel : A Biography of Fidel Castro. New York : Dodd, Mead & Company. ^ Jump up to : `` Le jour où Hassan II a bombardé Israël ''. Le Temps. Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2013. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, pp. 464 -- 465. ^ Jump up to : Schiff, A History of the Israeli Army, p. 328. ^ Jump up to : Garwych, p. 243. Jump up ^ Journal `` الأهرام '', `` Al Ahram ''. 14 October 1974 Jump up ^ Rabinovich. The Yom Kippur War. p. 497. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, p. 496 ^ Jump up to : `` White House Military Briefing '' ( PDF ). Retrieved October 22, 2011. Jump up ^ `` القوة الثالثة ، تاريخ القوات الجوية المصرية. '' Third Power : History of Egyptian Air Force Ali Mohammed Labib. pp. 187 ^ Jump up to : Herzog, Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, 1974, p. 87. ^ Jump up to : `` Ministry of Foreign Affairs ''. Mfa.gov.il. Retrieved October 22, 2011. ^ Jump up to : Dunstan, p. 200. Jump up ^ Rabinovich p. 497 ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, pp. 496 -- 497. ^ Jump up to : Garwych p. 244 ^ Jump up to : Herzog, p. 260. ^ Jump up to : Herzog, War of Atonement, p. 269. Jump up ^ Denis Joseph Sullivan ; Kimberly Jones ( 2008 ). Global Security Watch -- Egypt : A Reference Handbook. ABC - CLIO. pp. 9 --. ISBN 978 - 0 - 275 - 99482 - 2. Sadat 's goals were the ` return of Sinai and the reopening of the Suez Canal... to reengage the U.S in middle east diplomacy Jump up ^ Benny Morris ( 25 May 2011 ). Righteous Victims : A History of the Zionist - Arab Conflict, 1881 -- 1998. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 396. ISBN 978 - 0 - 307 - 78805 - 4. Sadat and Assad ' sought to regain the territories lost in 1967. Neither aimed to destroy Israel, though during the opening hours of the conflict, its leaders could not be sure of it. ' ^ Jump up to : El - Gamasy ( 1993 ). The October War : Memoirs of Field Marshal El - Gamasy of Egypt. The American University in Cairo Press. p. 181. ^ Jump up to : Quandt, William ( 2005 ). Peace Process : American Diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict Since 1967 ( Third ed. ). USA : University of California Press. pp. 104 -- 105. ISBN 9780520246317. Retrieved 14 January 2017. Jump up ^ Hammad ( 2002 ), pp. 237 -- 276 Jump up ^ Gawrych ( 1996 ), p. 60 Jump up ^ Herzog, Heroes of Israel, p. 253. Jump up ^ Shlaim, p. 254. Jump up ^ Shlomo Ben - Ami ( 2005 ). Scars of War, Wounds of Peace : The Israeli -- Arab Tragedy. Orion 0Books Ltd. p. 125. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7538 - 2104 - 6. But was there on 19 June 1967 an Israeli peace overture towards Syria and Egypt ? Did the Israeli cabinet end its deliberations on that day with a decision to convey concrete peace proposals to its Arab neighbors along the lines as discussed in the Cabinet, or perhaps ask the American administration to do so on its behalf ? Notwithstanding Abba Eban 's ( Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1967 ) insistence that this was indeed the case, there seems to be no solid evidence to corroborate his claim. No formal peace proposal was made either directly or indirectly by Israel. The Americans, who were briefed of the Cabinet 's decision by Eban, were not asked to convey it to Cairo and Damascus as official peace proposals, nor were they given indications that Israel expected a reply. At the meeting of 19 June the Israeli government developed policy guidelines ; it did not discuss a peace initiative, nor did it ever formalise it as such. Jump up ^ Seth S. King ( 1967 - 06 - 30 ). `` Israeli aims tied to 6 vital areas ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 2015 - 09 - 21. Jump up ^ Drew Middleton ( 1967 - 06 - 01 ). `` Latin nations bid Israel withdraw ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 2015 - 09 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Main Mideast Proposals ''. New York Times. 1967 - 06 - 20. Retrieved 2015 - 09 - 16. Jump up ^ Smith, Terrebce ( 1967 - 08 - 15 ). `` A Mediated Peace Rejected by Eban ''. New York Times. Retrieved 2015 - 09 - 16. Jump up ^ `` Eban rejects aid in settling crisis ''. The New York Times. 1967 - 06 - 27. p. 3. Retrieved 2015 - 09 - 21. Jump up ^ Podeh, Elie ( 2015 ). Chances for Peace : Missed Opportunities in the Arab - Israeli Conflict ( First ed. ). USA : University of Texas Press. pp. 104 -- 105. ISBN 9781477305614. Retrieved 14 January 2017. Jump up ^ Rosenne, Meir. `` Understanding UN Security Council Resolution 242 ''. Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs. Retrieved November 2015. Check date values in : access - date = ( help ) Jump up ^ `` The Jarring initiative and the response '', Israel 's Foreign Relations, Selected Documents, vols 1 -- 2, 1947 -- 1974. Retrieved June 9, 2005. Jump up ^ Podeh, p. 106. Jump up ^ Podeh p. 107. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 13. Jump up ^ Henry Kissinger ( 1 September 2011 ). Years of Upheaval : The Second Volume of His Classic Memoirs. Simon and Schuster. p. 254. ISBN 978 - 0 - 85720 - 718 - 0. It was in France on May 20, 1973... We had a formal meeting on the upper floor and, after lunch, I walked with Ismail in the garden in the spring sunshine. In these beautiful... Ismail remained cool to my scheme of separating sovereignty and security. He called this ' diluted sovereignty, ' but said he would check with Sadat and let me know. I never heard from him. The American official who had found the meeting place reported to me that after I left, Ismail, visibly dispirited and glum, had sat alone in the garden for a long time contemplating the waterfall... For Ismail knew that Sadat was determined on war. Only an American guarantee that we would fulfill the entire Arab program in a brief time could have dissuaded him. Jump up ^ Morris 2001, p. 390. Jump up ^ Heikal, 22. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 39. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 25. ^ Jump up to : Mossad 's tip - off ahead of Yom Kippur `` War did not reach prime minister, newly released papers show '', Times of Israel, 20 September 2012. ^ Jump up to : `` Israeli Intelligence and the Yom Kippur War of 1973 ''. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved May 31, 2012. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 207. Jump up ^ Gawrych 1996, p. 24. Jump up ^ Schiff, p. 12 Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 51. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 50. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, p. 57. ^ Jump up to : Sharon, Gilad : Sharon : The Life of a Leader ( 2011 ). Jump up ^ Blum, Howard ( July 13, 2007 ). `` Who killed Ashraf Marwan ? ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Doron Geller, `` Israeli Intelligence and the Yom Kippur War of 1973 November 27, 2005. Archived May 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The World Was Going Our Way : The KGB and the Battle for the Third World, Basic Books, 2006. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 89. Jump up ^ William B. Quandt ( 1 January 1977 ). Decade of Decisions : American Policy Toward the Arab -- Israeli Conflict, 1967 -- 1976. University of California Press. p. 169. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 03469 - 3. Kissinger and Nixon consistently warned Israel that she must not be responsible for initiating a Middle east war Jump up ^ The national security archive, declassified archival records, The October War and U.S. Policy. Jump up ^ `` Government of Israel Concern about possible Syrian and Egyptian attack today ''. United States Department of State. October 6, 1973. Retrieved August 11, 2010. Jump up ^ Sachar, Howard M. A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. Alfred A. Knopf, 2007, p. 755. Jump up ^ William B. Quandt, Peace Process, p. 105. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 454. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, Abraham ( 12 September 2013 ). `` Three years too late, Golda Meir understood how war could have been avoided ''. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 April 2017. Jump up ^ Gawrych 1996, p. 27. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, prologue. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 62. Jump up ^ William B. Quandt ( 2005 ). Peace Process : American Diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict Since 1967. 109 -- 112. University of California Press. p. 109. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 24631 - 7. between October 9 and October 12... the American response... call for cease - fire... in place... arms for Israel began to flow in modest quantities Jump up ^ Abudi, Joseph ( October 1, 2003 ). `` The missile did not bend the wing ''. Journal of the Israeli Air Force ( in Hebrew ). Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011. Jump up ^ Abudi, Joseph ( October 2005 ). `` ( What between ' challenge ' and ' model ' ) '' ( PDF ) ( in Hebrew ). The Fisher Institute. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 11, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011. Jump up ^ William B. Quandt ( 2005 ). Peace Process : American Diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict Since 1967. 109 -- 112. University of California Press. p. 112. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 24631 - 7. Nixon and Kissinger held back on a full scale... resupply effort... short of supplies, the Israeli government reluctantly accepted a cease - fire in place on October 12... but... Sadat refused Jump up ^ William B. Quandt ( 2005 ). Peace Process : American Diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict Since 1967. 114. University of California Press. p. 112. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 24631 - 7. Soviet arms must not be allowed to dictate the outcome of the fighting... Israeli success on the battlefield had become an important factor in persuading the Arabs and the Soviets to bring the fighting to an end... With an airlift in full swing, Washington was prepared to wait until... realities on the battlefield led to a change of Egyptian and Soviet calculations Jump up ^ William B. Quandt ( 2005 ). Peace Process : American Diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict Since 1967. 116. University of California Press. p. 112. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 24631 - 7. it was of prime importance that the fighting should be ended... when all parties could still emerge from the conflict with their vital interests and self esteem intact... the airlift... the Soviets must see that the united states could deliver more than they could ; p. 123 the U.S. would not permit the destruction of the 3rd army corps. Jump up ^ Shazly, pp. 224 -- 225. Jump up ^ Shazly, pp. 225 -- 226. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 189. Jump up ^ Shazly, pp. 55 -- 56. Jump up ^ Garwych, p. 28. ^ Jump up to : Abouseada, Hamdy Sobhy. `` The Crossing of the Suez Canal, October 6, 1973 ( The Ramadan War ) '' ( PDF ). USAWC strategy research project. U.S. Army War College : 9. OCLC 45004992. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 232 Jump up ^ Hammad, pp. 90 -- 92, 108. Jump up ^ McGregor, Andrew ( 2006 ). A Military History of Modern Egypt : From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War. Westport, Conn : Praeger Security International. ISBN 978 - 0 - 275 - 98601 - 8., p. 278. Jump up ^ Arabs at War : Military Effectiveness ( Pollack ), p. 108. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, p. 115. Jump up ^ Pollack, p. 125. Jump up ^ Gawrych, p. 81. Jump up ^ The Yom Kippur War 1973 : The Sinai -- Simon Dunstan and Kevin Lyles. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 228. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 229. Jump up ^ Nassar, Galal ( October 8 -- 14, 1998 ). `` Into the breach, dear friends ''. Al - Ahram Weekly ( 398 ). Cairo. para. 10. Archived from the original on May 6, 2003. Jump up ^ Cohen, Israel 's Best Defense, p. 354. Jump up ^ Pollack, p. 11. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 233. Jump up ^ Haber & Schiff, p. 32. Jump up ^ Schiff, p. 294. Jump up ^ Herzog, The War of Atonement, Little, Brown and Company, 1975, p. 156. Jump up ^ Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, pp. 169, 170. Jump up ^ Pollack, Arabs at War : Military Effectiveness 1948 -- 1991, University of Nebraska Press, p. 110 Jump up ^ `` Israel Air Force ''. Iaf.org.il. Retrieved March 28, 2010. Jump up ^ Pollack, Arabs at War : Military Effectiveness 1948 -- 1991, University of Nebraska Press, p. 108. Jump up ^ Hammad, p. 133. Jump up ^ Nicolle & Cooper p. 40. Jump up ^ Pollack, p. 112. Jump up ^ Hammad, pp. 712 -- 714. Jump up ^ Hammad, pp. 717 -- 722 Jump up ^ Gawrych 1996, p. 38. In his memoirs, Adan, commenting on one of the commando operations in the north, noted that `` Natke 's experience fighting the stubborn Egyptian commandos who tried to cut off the road around Romani showed again that this was not the Egyptian Army we had crushed in four days in 1967. We were now dealing with a well - trained enemy, fighting with skill and dedication. '' Jump up ^ Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, pp. 169 -- 170. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 354. Jump up ^ Gawrych 1996, pp. 41 -- 42. ^ Jump up to : Dunstan and Lyles, p. 64. ^ Jump up to : ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Gawrych, 1996, pp. 43 -- 44. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 234. ^ Jump up to : Gawrych 1996, pp. 44 -- 52. Jump up ^ Gawrych 2000, pp. 192, 208. Jump up ^ Herzog, 1982, pp. 255 -- 256. ^ Jump up to : Shazly, p. 241. Jump up ^ Herzog 1982, p. 256. Jump up ^ Herzog, 1982, p. 258. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 317. ^ Jump up to : Schiff, A History of the Israeli Army, p. 310. ^ Jump up to : Zabecki, David T. ( December 3, 2008 ). `` Arab -- Israeli Wars : 60 Years of Conflict ''. Historyandtheheadlines.abc-clio.com. Chinese Farm, Battle of The. Retrieved March 28, 2010. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 353. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 355. Jump up ^ Haber & Schiff, p. 144. ^ Jump up to : Pollack, p. 117. Jump up ^ Van Creveld, Martin ( 1975 ). Military Lessons of the Yom Kippur War : Historical Perspectives ( PDF ). Sage. p. 17. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8039 - 0562 - 7. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 13, 2014. ^ Jump up to : Herzog, The Arab -- Israeli Wars, Random House, p. 260. ^ Jump up to : John Pike. `` Operation Valiant : Turning the Tide in the Sinai 1973 Arab -- Israeli War CSC 1984 ''. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved March 28, 2010. Jump up ^ Yom Kippur War : Embattled Israeli Bridgehead at Chinese Farm Jump up ^ Pollack, Kenneth, Arabs at War : Military Effectiveness 1948 -- 91, University of Nebraska Press, pp. 116, 126 & 129. Jump up ^ El - Gamasy, p. 276. Jump up ^ Herzog, 1982, pp. 257 -- 258. Jump up ^ Pollack, p. 118. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, pp. 374 -- 375. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, pp. 389 -- 391. Jump up ^ Pollack, p. 511. Jump up ^ Pollack, pp. 124 -- 25 Jump up ^ Rabinovich, pp. 393 -- 393. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 425. Jump up ^ Sharon, Gilad : Sharon : The Life of A Leader ( 2011 ) Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 427. Jump up ^ Pollack, pp. 118 -- 19. Jump up ^ Hammad ( 2002 ), pp. 335 -- 408. Jump up ^ Gawrych ( 1996 ), pp. 62 -- 64. Jump up ^ Pollack, p. 129 Jump up ^ Pollack, p. 119. ^ Jump up to : Pollack, pp. 119 -- 20. Jump up ^ Boyne, p. 181 ^ Jump up to : Pollack, p. 120. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 401. Jump up ^ Dunstan, p. 107. ^ Jump up to : Gawrych, p. 223 Jump up ^ Herzog, The War of Atonement, Little, Brown and Company ( 1975 ), pp. 236 -- 7. Jump up ^ Pollack, p. 122. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, pp. 428 -- 429. Jump up ^ O'Ballance, p. 120. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 445. Jump up ^ O'Ballance, p. 121. Jump up ^ O'Ballance, p. 122. Jump up ^ The Leader - Post, October 25, 1973, issue. Jump up ^ Boyne, p. 183. Jump up ^ Hoyne, p. 205. Jump up ^ Boyne, p. 214 Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 452. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 458. Jump up ^ `` 22 October Memorandum of Conversation between Meir and Kissinger '' ( PDF ). Retrieved March 28, 2010. Jump up ^ Adan, p. 284. Jump up ^ Gawrych, pp. 73 -- 74. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 463. ^ Jump up to : The October War and U.S. Policy, Collapse of the Ceasefire. Jump up ^ William B. Quandt, Peace Process, p. 120. Jump up ^ Piccirilli, Major Steven J ( 1989 ). `` The 1973 Arab Israeli war ''. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved September 29, 2011. ^ Jump up to : Gawrych, 1996, p. 73. Jump up ^ Hammad, pp. 483, 487 -- 490. ^ Jump up to : Nicolle, David & Cooper, Tom : Arab MiG - 19 and MiG - 21 units in combat. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, pp. 466 -- 475. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 465 Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 487. Jump up ^ Gawrych, p. 74 Jump up ^ Dupuy, pp. 543 -- 545, 589. ^ Jump up to : David T. Buckwalter, The 1973 Arab -- Israeli War. Jump up ^ Seale, Patrick ; McConville, Maureen ( 1988 ). The Struggle for the Middle East ( Revision 1995 ed. ). USA : University of California Press. p. 227. ISBN 0520069765. Retrieved 14 January 2017. Jump up ^ Kumaraswamy, P.R. ( 2000 ). Revisiting the Yom Kippur War. Psychology Press. p. 1. ISBN 0 - 313 - 31302 - 4. Retrieved 14 January 20017. Check date values in : access - date = ( help ) Jump up ^ Herzog, Arab -- Israeli Wars, p. 283. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 293. ^ Jump up to : Shazly, p. 323. ^ Jump up to : http://www.inss.org.il/upload/(FILE)1308129507.pdf Jump up ^ `` Department of State Operations Center, Situation Report in the Middle East as of 10 / 26 / 73 '' ( PDF ). Retrieved October 22, 2011. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 486 Jump up ^ Dayan, Moshe ( 1992 ). Story of My Life. Da Capo. p. 568. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 493. ^ Jump up to : Aloni, Shlomo : Arab -- Israeli Air Wars, 1947 -- 82. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 477. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, p. 467. Jump up ^ Neff, p. 306. Jump up ^ Johnson and Tierney, p. 176. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 295. Jump up ^ El - Gamasy, p. 302. Jump up ^ Morris, 2011, Righteous Victims, p. 436 Jump up ^ Kenneth W. Stein ( 1999 ). Heroic Diplomacy : Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin, and the Quest for Arab -- Israeli Peace. Psychology Press. p. 87. ISBN 978 - 0 - 415 - 92155 - 8. By putting a territorial noose around the Third army and sitting about sixty miles from Cairo, Israeli forces had open terrain and no opposition to move on Cairo ; had they done so Sadat 's rule might have ended. ^ Jump up to : Rashba, Gary ( October 1998 ). `` Yom Kippur War : Sacrificial Stand in the Golan Heights ''. Military History magazine via HISTORYnet. Jump up ^ Peter Caddick - Adams, `` Golan Heights, battles of '', The Oxford Companion to Military History, ed. Richard Holmes. Oxford University Press, 2001. ^ Jump up to : O'Ballance ( 1978 ). Chapter 7 : `` The Syrians attack '', pp. 119 -- 146. Jump up ^ Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, pp. 291 -- 293. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, Abraham ( September 25, 1998 ). `` Shattered Heights : Part 1 ''. The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on March 11, 2005. Retrieved June 9, 2005. Jump up ^ `` The Air Raid on the Syrian General Command ''. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved October 22, 2011. Jump up ^ The Daily Telegraph, October 9, 1973 issue, page 2 ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, p. 304. Jump up ^ המלחמה שלי רב - אלוף שאול מופז ( מיל ) : 300 קילומטר בעומק סוריה ( in Hebrew ). Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 433. ^ Jump up to : Hussain, Hamid ( November 2002 ). `` Opinion : The Fourth round -- A Critical Review of 1973 Arab -- Israeli War ''. Defence Journal. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Jump up ^ Pollack, Arabs at War, 2002, p. 167, gives total numbers for the Iraqi force by the end of the conflict as 60,000 men, more than 700 T - 55 tanks, 500 APCs, more than 200 artillery pieces, two armoured divisions, two infantry brigades, twelve artillery battalions, and a special forces brigade. ^ Jump up to : Dunstan, Simon : The Yom Kippur War : The Arab -- Israeli War of 1973 Jump up ^ Situation Report in the Middle East as of 1200 EDT, October 23, 1973, Department of State Operations Center Jump up ^ Ophir, Noam ( October 2006 ). צילו הארוך של הסקאד ( The Long Shadow of the Scud ) ( in Hebrew ). Israeli Air Force Official Website. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 450 Jump up ^ Rabinovich, pp. 450 -- 451. Jump up ^ Jonathan B.A. Bailey. Field Artillery and Firepower. Naval Institute Press, 2004, p. 398. ISBN 1 - 59114 - 029 - 3. Jump up ^ William B. Quandt ( 2005 ). Peace Process : American Diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict Since 1967. 114. University of California Press. p. 112. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 24631 - 7. The U.S. influence with king Hussein had helped keep Jordan out of the war. Jump up ^ David Rodman, `` Friendly Enemies : Israel and Jordan in the 1973 Yom Kuppur War '', The Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, Vol. 6 No. 1 ( January 2012 ), pp. 95 -- 96. ^ Jump up to : Ofer Aderet ( September 12, 2013 ). `` Jordan and Israel cooperated during Yom Kippur War, documents reveal ''. Haaretz. ^ Jump up to : Hammad, pp. 100 -- 101. Jump up ^ Almog, `` Israel 's Navy beat the odds '', United States Naval Institute -- Proceedings ( March 1997 ), Vol. 123, Iss. 3 ; p. 106. ^ Jump up to : Dunstan, The Yom Kippur War, p. 114. ^ Jump up to : Bolia, Overreliance on Technology : Yom Kippur Case Study Archived September 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Rabonovich, The Boats of Cherbourg, pp. 256 -- 262. Jump up ^ Dupuy, Elusive Victory, pp. 562 -- 563. Jump up ^ Herzog, The Arab -- Israeli Wars, p. 312. Jump up ^ Vego, Naval Strategy and Operations in Narrow Seas ( Routledge : 1999 ), at p. 151. Jump up ^ Almog, Ze'ev ( March 1997 ). `` Israel 's Navy beat the odds '' -- United States Naval Institute -- Proceedings ( Annapolis : United States Naval Institute ) Jump up ^ `` Shayetet 13 ''. Zionism-israel.com. Retrieved October 22, 2011. ^ Jump up to : O'Ballance, p. 157. ^ Jump up to : `` How did the U.S.S. Little Rock and her Crew Participate in the Arab -- Israeli Yom Kippur War ? ''. USS Little Rock Association. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Jump up ^ Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, pp. 212 -- 213. Jump up ^ Safran, Nadav : Israel -- The Embattled Ally, p. 312 Jump up ^ El Gammasy, The October War, 1973 pp. 215 -- 216. Jump up ^ Shazly, p. 287. Jump up ^ O'Ballance, p. 160. 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Jump up ^ William Burr ( ed. ), `` State Department Intelligence and Research Predicted 1973 Arab -- Israeli War '', The National Security Archive at George Washington University. Jump up ^ October 6 conversation between Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and Chinese Ambassador to the United States Huan Chen. Transcript. George Washington University National Security Archive. Jump up ^ George Lenczowski, American Presidents and the Middle East ( 1990 ), p. 129. Jump up ^ William B. Quandt, Peace Process, p. 109. ^ Jump up to : `` Violent Week : The Politics of Death ''. Time. April 12, 1976. Retrieved March 4, 2011. ^ Jump up to : Farr, Warner D. `` The Third Temple 's Holy of Holies : Israel 's Nuclear Weapons ''. Counterproliferation Paper No. 2, USAF Counterproliferation Center, Air War College, September 1999. Jump up ^ October 9, 1973, conversation ( 8 : 20 -- 8 : 40 am ) between Israeli Ambassador to the United States Simcha Dinitz, military attaché General Mordechai Gur, Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, and Peter Rodman. Transcript George Washington University National Security Archive. ^ Jump up to : Cohen, Avner. `` The Last Nuclear Moment '' The New York Times, October 6, 2003. Jump up ^ October 9, 1973, conversation ( 6 : 10 -- 6 : 35 pm ) between Israeli Ambassador to the United States Simcha Dinitz, Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, and Peter Rodman. Transcript George Washington University National Security Archive. Jump up ^ Colby, Elbridge ; Cohen, Avner ; McCants, William ; Morris, Bradley ; Rosenau, William ( April 2013 ). `` The Israeli ' Nuclear Alert ' of 1973 : Deterrence and Signaling in Crisis '' ( PDF ). CNA. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on October 23, 2014. Jump up ^ `` A tale of two fleets : a Russian perspective on the 1973 Naval standoff in the Mediterranean ''. Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved May 31, 2012. Jump up ^ ( 2 ) Archived April 3, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Krisinger, Chris J. `` Operation Nickel Grass -- Airlift in Support of National Policy '', Aerospace Power Journal, Spring 1989. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 491. ^ Jump up to : Haber & Schiff, p. 382. Jump up ^ John Lacomia. `` Remember When... Operation Nickel Grass ''. Travis : Air Force. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2010. ^ Jump up to : Shazli p. 275 -- 276 ^ Jump up to : Haber & Schiff, p. 282. Jump up ^ Shazly. p. 276... the USA mounted a seaborne resupply operation of 33,210 tons by October 30 Missing or empty title = ( help ) Jump up ^ Gawrych 1996, p. 56. Jump up ^ `` McDonnell F - 4 Phantom : Essential Aircraft in the Air Warfare in the Middle East ''. Historynet.com. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 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Retrieved March 28, 2010. Jump up ^ Boyne, Walter J. ( 2002 ). The Yom Kippur War : And the Airlift Strike That Saved Israel. Macmillan. pp. Insert 6. ISBN 9780312320423. Retrieved June 3, 2016. ^ Jump up to : William B Quandt, Peace Process, p. 121. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 479. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, p. 480. Jump up ^ `` Effects - Based Operations : the Yom Kippur War Case Study '' ( PDF ). Retrieved March 28, 2010. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 484. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, p. 485. ^ Jump up to : Shazly, pp. 277 -- 278. ^ Jump up to : Kuwaraswamy. p. 60. `` On the Egyptian front, the Libyan ( manned by Egyptians ), Algerian and Iraqi squadrons took part in bombing Israeli targets and providing air assistance to ground operations. Additional Arab forces operating on the Egyptian front were a Libyan armored brigade and a Kuwaiti infantry battalion which had been deployed in Egypt before the war, and an Algerian armoured brigade which arrived on 17 October. 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Jump up ^ Lindsey Hilsum ( 27 June 2015 ). Sandstorm. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978 - 0 - 571 - 28806 - 9. Retrieved 27 June 2015. ^ Jump up to : Rabinovich, p. 464. Jump up ^ List of Arab contributions by country ; Kuwait Defense Minister, His Highness Sheikh Saad Al - Salim Al - Sabah visiting Egyptian front in 1972 and issues war operation order 3967 to enact Al - Jahra Force Jump up ^ Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense Archived October 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` The Yom Kippur War ''. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. October 6, 1973. Retrieved October 22, 2011. Jump up ^ Rabinovich, I. The War for Lebanon, 1970 -- 1985. p. 105. `` Lebanon was perceived as Israel 's one harmless neighbour, a state that since 1949 had not taken part in the Arab -- Israeli wars... '' Jump up ^ Smith, Terence ( 1973 - 10 - 18 ). `` Hundreds of Tanks Clash in a Struggle for Suez Area ''. The New York Times. North Korea has decided to give military assistance to Egypt and Syria, its press agency (... ) said today. Jump up ^ Smith, Hedrick ( 1973 - 10 - 19 ). `` Flow of Soviet Jews Is Undimished ''. The New York Times. (... ) Premier Kim Il Sung of North Korea had met with the Egyptian and Syrian ambassadors in Pyonyang to inform them of his Government 's decision ' to give material assistance including military aid to Syria and Egypt. ' (... ) ( This ) lends credence to the ( US ) Defence Department 's report that North Korean pilots were flying missions for Cairo. Jump up ^ Wallach, Jehuda ( 1983 ). Carta 's Atlas of Israel : The Third Decade 1971 -- 1981 ( in Hebrew ). Carta, Jerusalem, Israel. p. 68. ISBN 965 - 220 - 060 - 3. Jump up ^ Dunstan, Simon ( 2009 ). Centurion Vs T - 55 : Yom Kippur War 1973. Osprey. pp. 28, 69. ISBN 978 - 1 - 84603 - 369 - 8. Jump up ^ `` Smith ( US Interest Section in Cairo ) to Department of State, October 11, 1973 ''. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 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Jump up ^ Anatoly Chernyaev. `` Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, 1973 '' ( PDF ). National Security Archive. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 430. p. 69. Jump up ^ Smith, Charles D. ( 2006 ), Palestine and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict, New York : Bedford, p. 329. Jump up ^ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs : Interim Agreement with Egypt : 1975. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2008. Jump up ^ Friedman, George : `` Israeli -- Palestinian peace talks ; again. '' Stratfor, August 23, 2010. Jump up ^ Shipler, David : `` Israel Completes Pullout, Leaving Sinai to Egypt ''. The New York Times, 25 April 1982 : A1. Jump up ^ Karsh, p. 86. Jump up ^ Doing Business in Syria : 2010 Country Commercial Guide for U.S. Companies Archived October 16, 2015, at the Wayback Machine., U.S. Commercial Service, United States of America Department of Commerce, retrieved May 21, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Mubarak reflects on 1973 Yom Kippur War ''. UPI. October 6, 2008. Retrieved April 20, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Egypt State Information Service ''. Archived from the original on May 22, 2009. Retrieved June 19, 2009. Jump up ^ `` Lonely Planet ''. Jump up ^ `` Yad Lashiryon, Armored Corps Museum ''. Yadlashiryon.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2012. Jump up ^ Author : Розин Александр. Title : Советский флот в войнах и конфликтах `` холодной войны ''. Это -- персональная страница Александра Розина > > Война `` Судного дня '' 1973 г. Противостояние флотов СССР и США на море. > > Chapter 9 : Корабли эскадры конвоируют транспорты. Bibliography el Badri, Hassan ( 1979 ). The Ramadan War, 1973. Fairfax, Va : T.N. Dupuy Associates Books. ISBN 0 - 88244 - 600 - 2. Bregman, Ahron ( 2002 ). Israel 's Wars : A History Since 1947. London : Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 28716 - 2. Brook, Itzhak ( 2011 ). In the Sands of Sinai : a Physician 's Account of the Yom Kippur War. Charleston : CreateSpace. ISBN 1 - 4663 - 8544 - 8. Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt ( 1978 ). Elusive victory : The Arab -- Israeli Wars, 1947 -- 1974. San Francisco : Harper & Row. ISBN 0 - 06 - 011112 - 7. Gawrych, George ( 2000 ). The Albatross of Decisive Victory : War and Policy Between Egypt and Israel in the 1967 and 1973 Arab - Israeli Wars. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0 - 313 - 31302 - 4. Gawrych, Dr. George W. ( 1996 ). The 1973 Arab - Israeli War : The Albatross of Decisive Victory. Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. `` Intro '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on June 10, 2007., `` Part I '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 7, 2011., `` Part II '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 7, 2011., `` Part III '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 7, 2011., `` Part IV '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 7, 2011., `` Part V '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 7, 2011., `` Part VI '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 7, 2011., `` Part VII '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 7, 2011., `` Notes '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on March 19, 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2015. Haber, Eitan ; Schiff, Ze'ev ( 2003 ). Yom Kippur War Lexicon ( in Hebrew ). Or - Yehuda, Israel : Zmora - Bitan - Dvir. ISBN 978 - 965 - 517 - 124 - 2. Hammad, Gamal ( 2002 ). al - Maʻārik al - ḥarbīyah ʻalá al - jabhah al - Miṣrīyah : ( Ḥarb Uktūbar 1973, al - ʻĀshir min Ramaḍān ) ( Military Battles on the Egyptian Front ) ( in Arabic ) ( First ed. ). Dār al - Shurūq. Heikal, Mohamed ( 1975 ). The Road to Ramadan. London : Collins. ISBN 0 - 8129 - 0567 - 9. Herzog, Chaim ( 2003 ) ( 1975 ). The War of Atonement : The Inside Story of the Yom Kippur War. London : Greenhill Books. ISBN 978 - 1 - 85367 - 569 - 0. Herzog, Chaim ( 1982 ). the Arab - Israeli Wars. Random House. ISBN 978 - 0 - 394 - 50379 - 0. Herzog, Chaim ( 1989 ). Heroes of Israel. 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ISBN 0 - 19 - 828018 - 1. Neff, Donald ( 1988 ). Warriors against Israel. Brattleboro, Vermont : Amana Books. ISBN 978 - 0 - 915597 - 59 - 8. Nicolle, David ; Cooper, Tom ( May 25, 2004 ). Arab MiG - 19 and MiG - 21 units in combat. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1 - 84176 - 655 - 0. Edgar O'Ballance. No Victor, No Vanquished : The Yom Kippur War ( 1979 ed. ). Barrie & Jenkins Publishing. pp. 28 -- 370. ISBN 978 - 0214206702. Pape, Robert A ( Fall 1997 ). `` Why Economic Sanctions Do Not Work ''. International Security. 22 ( 2 ) : 90. JSTOR 2539368. OCLC 482431341. doi : 10.2307 / 2539368. Quandt, William ( 2005 ). Peace Process : American diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli conflict since 1967. Washington, DC : Brookings Institution / Univ. of California Press. ISBN 0 - 520 - 22374 - 8. Quandt, William B ( May 1976 ). `` Soviet Policy in the October 1973 War '' ( PDF ). Rand Corp. R - 1864 - ISA. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on October 2, 2012. Rabinovich, Abraham ( 2005 ) ( 2004 ). The Yom Kippur War : The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East. New York, NY : Schocken Books. ISBN 0 - 8052 - 4176 - 0. al Sadat, Muhammad Anwar ( 1978 ). In Search of Identity : An Autobiography. London : Collins. ISBN 0 - 00 - 216344 - 6. Shazly, Lieutenant General Saad el ( 2003 ). The Crossing of the Suez, Revised Edition ( Revised ed. ). American Mideast Research. ISBN 0 - 9604562 - 2 - 8. Shlaim, Avi ( 2001 ). The Iron Wall : Israel and the Arab World. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0 - 393 - 32112 - 6. Rodman, David ( 2013 ). `` The Impact of American Arms Transfers to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War '' ( PDF ). Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, VII :3. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on May 26, 2015. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yom Kippur War. CIA Symposium on the Role of Intelligence in the 1973 Arab -- Israeli War, held oh January 30, 2013 President Nixon and the Role of Intelligence in the 1973 Arab -- Israeli War, collection of primary documents at the CIA website Hourly U.S. diplomatic reporting on the war WikiLeaks A second look, 40 years after the war and The downfall of the Hermon fortification. Israeli TV documentaries broadcast in October 2013 featuring original video footage filmed during the war, interviews with combatants during the war and decades later, etc. Posted on the official YouTube channel of the Israel Broadcasting Authority Israeli Air Force Wing 115 -- experiences during the war, and insights 40 years later. Documentary film released in October 2013 featuring interviews with air force pilots. Posted on the official YouTube channel of the Fisher Institute for the Strategic Study of Air and Space Israeli wars and conflicts Arab -- Israeli War ( 1948 -- 49 ) Reprisal operations ( 1951 -- 56 ) Suez Crisis ( 1956 ) Six - Day War ( 1967 ) War of Attrition ( 1967 -- 70 ) Yom Kippur War ( 1973 ) Operation Litani ( 1978 ) First Lebanon War ( 1982 -- 85 ) South Lebanon conflict ( 1985 -- 2000 ) First Intifada ( 1987 -- 93 ) Second Intifada ( 2000 -- 05 ) Second Lebanon War ( 2006 ) Gaza War ( 2008 -- 09 ) Operation Pillar of Defense ( 2012 ) Israel -- Gaza conflict ( 2014 ) Arab -- Israeli conflict Countries Authorities Organizations Primary countries and authorities All - Palestine Egypt Hamas Gaza Iraq Kuwait Israel Jordan Lebanon Palestinian National Authority Saudi Arabia Syria Organizations Active Abu Nidal Organization Amal al - Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigades Syrian Social Nationalist Party Arab League Arab Liberation Front Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Fatah Guardians of the Cedars Hamas Hezbollah Jaish al - Islam Kataeb Lebanese Forces al - Mourabitoun Muslim Brotherhood Palestinian Islamic Jihad Palestine Liberation Front Palestine Liberation Organization Palestinian Popular Struggle Front Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command Popular Resistance Committees as - Sa'iqa Inactive or former Arab Higher Committee Arab Liberation Army Black Hand Black September Haganah Holy War Army Irgun ( Etzel ) Japanese Red Army Lehi Palmach Revolutionary Cells South Lebanon Army Other countries Algeria China Cuba France Iran Kuwait Libya Morocco North Korea Norway Pakistan Russia Sudan Tunisia Turkey Uganda United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Venezuela Yemen Transnational European Union United Nations Former states Mandatory Palestine Soviet Union United Arab Republic People Lester B. Pearson Abd al - Hakim Amer Hosni Mubarak Gamal Abdel Nasser Anwar Sadat Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Ali Khamenei Ruhollah Khomeini Faisal I Saddam Hussein Ehud Barak Menachem Begin David Ben - Gurion Moshe Dayan Levi Eshkol Golda Meir Benjamin Netanyahu Ehud Olmert Shimon Peres Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Shamir Ariel Sharon Chaim Weizmann King Abdullah I of Jordan King Abdullah II of Jordan King Hussein of Jordan Émile Lahoud Hassan Nasrallah Fouad Siniora Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Mona Juul Johan Jørgen Holst Terje Rød - Larsen Mahmoud Abbas Yasser Arafat Marwan Barghouti George Habash Ismail Haniyeh Haj Amin al - Husseini Khaled Mashal Abdel Aziz al - Rantisi Ahmad Shukeiri Ahmed Yassin King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia King Fahd of Saudi Arabia King Faisal of Saudi Arabia Folke Bernadotte Hafez al - Assad Bashar al - Assad Shukri al - Quwatli Salah Jadid Ernest Bevin Arthur Balfour Tony Blair Richard Crossman Madeleine Albright Ralph Bunche George H.W. Bush George W. Bush Jimmy Carter Bill Clinton Henry Kissinger Ronald Reagan Condoleezza Rice Dennis Ross Ramadan Shalah Harry S. Truman Cyrus Vance Armed engagements Background 1920 Battle of Tel Hai 1936 -- 39 Arab revolt 1944 Operation ATLAS 1947 -- 1950s 1947 -- 48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine 1948 -- 49 Arab -- Israeli War 1950s Palestinian Fedayeen attacks ( Reprisal operations ) 1956 Suez Crisis 1960s 1966 Operation Shredder 1967 Six - Day War 1967 -- 70 War of Attrition 1968 Battle of Karameh Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon 1968 Operation Gift 1970s -- 1980 1973 Yom Kippur War Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon 1972 Operation Isotope / Lod Airport massacre / Munich Olympics massacre 1972 -- 79 Operation Wrath of God ( Airstrike, Spring of Youth ) 1973 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 1974 Ma'alot massacre 1975 Savoy Operation 1976 Operation Entebbe 1978 Coastal Road massacre / Operation Litani 1980 Misgav Am hostage crisis 1980s 1981 Operation Opera 1982 Lebanon War 1982 -- 2000 South Lebanon conflict 1984 Bus 300 affair 1985 Operation Wooden Leg 1987 -- 93 First Intifada 1988 Mothers ' Bus rescue / Tunis raid 1990s 1992 Operation Bramble Bush 1993 -- 2008 Palestinian suicide attacks 1993 Operation Accountability 1996 Operation Grapes of Wrath 2000s 2000 -- 05 Al - Aqsa Intifada ( Second Intifada ) 2000 -- 06 Shebaa Farms conflict 2001 -- present Rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel 2003 Ain es Saheb airstrike 2006 Operation Bringing Home the Goods / Operation Summer Rains / Operation Autumn Clouds / Lebanon War 2006 -- present Gaza -- Israel conflict 2007 -- 08 Operation Hot Winter 2008 -- 09 Gaza War 2007 Operation Orchard 2007 -- present Lebanese rocket attacks 2010s 2010 Adaisseh skirmish / Palestinian militancy campaign Gaza -- Israel conflict 2011 Southern Israel cross-border attacks 2012 Operation Returning Echo / Operation Pillar of Defense 2014 2014 Israel -- Gaza conflict 2015 Israeli -- Palestinian conflict ( 2015 -- 2016 ) Diplomacy and peace proposals To 1948 1914 Damascus Protocol 1915 McMahon -- Hussein Correspondence 1916 Sykes -- Picot Agreement 1917 Balfour Declaration 1918 Declaration to the Seven / Anglo - French Declaration 1919 Faisal -- Weizmann Agreement 1920 San Remo conference 1922 Churchill White Paper 1937 Peel Commission 1939 White Paper 1947 UN Partition Plan 1948 American trusteeship proposal 1948 -- 91 1948 UN General Assembly ( UNGA ) Resolution 194 1949 Armistice agreements / Lausanne Conference 1950 Tripartite Declaration 1964 Palestinian National Covenant 1967 Khartoum Resolution / UN Security Council ( UNSC ) Resolution 242 1973 UNSC Resolution 338 / UNSC Resolution 339 1974 Israel -- Syria disengagement agreement / UNSC Resolution 350 1978 UNSC Resolution 425 / Camp David Accords 1979 UNSC Resolution 446 / Egypt -- Israel Peace Treaty / UNSC Resolution 452 1980 UNSC Resolution 478 1981 UNSC Resolution 497 1983 Israel -- Lebanon agreement 1991 -- present 1991 Madrid Conference 1993 Oslo Accords 1994 Gaza -- Jericho Agreement / Israel -- Jordan peace treaty 1995 Beilin - Abu Mazen agreement 1998 Wye River Memorandum 1999 Sharm el - Sheikh Memorandum 2000 Camp David Summit / Clinton Parameters 2001 Taba Summit 2002 Beirut Summit and peace initiative / Road map 2003 Geneva Initiative 2004 UNSC Resolution 1559 / UNSC Resolution 1566 2005 UNSC Resolution 1583 / Sharm el - Sheikh Summit / Israeli disengagement from Gaza / Agreement on Movement and Access 2006 UNSC Resolution 1701 2007 Annapolis Conference 2010 Israeli -- Palestinian peace talks 2013 Israeli -- Palestinian peace talks Cold War USA USSR ANZUS NATO Non-Aligned Movement SEATO Warsaw Pact 1940s Hukbalahap Rebellion Dekemvriana Yalta Conference Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Forest Brothers Operation Priboi Operation Jungle Occupation of the Baltic states Cursed soldiers Operation Unthinkable Potsdam Conference Gouzenko Affair Operation Masterdom Operation Beleaguer Operation Blacklist Forty Iran crisis of 1946 Greek Civil War Corfu Channel incident Turkish Straits crisis Restatement of Policy on Germany First Indochina War Truman Doctrine Asian Relations Conference Marshall Plan 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Tito -- Stalin Split Berlin Blockade Western betrayal Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Chinese Civil War ( Second round ) Malayan Emergency Albanian Subversion 1950s Bamboo Curtain Korean War 1953 Iranian coup d'état Uprising of 1953 in East Germany 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Partition of Vietnam First Taiwan Strait Crisis Geneva Summit ( 1955 ) Poznań 1956 protests Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Suez Crisis Syrian Crisis of 1957 Sputnik crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis Cuban Revolution Kitchen Debate Bandung Conference Bricker Amendment McCarthyism Operation Gladio Iraqi 14 July Revolution `` We will bury you '' 1960s Congo Crisis Sino - Soviet split 1960 U-2 incident Bay of Pigs Invasion 1960 Turkish coup d'état Soviet -- Albanian split Berlin Wall Portuguese Colonial War Angolan War of Independence Guinea - Bissau War of Independence Mozambican War of Independence Cuban Missile Crisis Sino - Indian War Communist insurgency in Sarawak Iraqi Ramadan Revolution 1963 Syrian coup d'état Vietnam War 1964 Brazilian coup d'état United States occupation of the Dominican Republic ( 1965 -- 66 ) South African Border War Transition to the New Order Domino theory ASEAN Declaration Laotian Civil War 1966 Syrian coup d'état Argentine Revolution Korean DMZ Conflict Greek military junta of 1967 -- 74 USS Pueblo incident Six - Day War War of Attrition Dhofar Rebellion Protests of 1968 French May Cultural Revolution Prague Spring Communist insurgency in Malaysia Invasion of Czechoslovakia Iraqi Ba'athist Revolution Goulash Communism Sino - Soviet border conflict CPP -- NPA -- NDF rebellion Corrective Move 1970s Détente Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Black September in Jordan Corrective Movement ( Syria ) Cambodian Civil War Realpolitik Ping - pong diplomacy 1971 Turkish military memorandum Corrective Revolution ( Egypt ) Four Power Agreement on Berlin Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 Nixon visit to China North Yemen - South Yemen Border Conflict 1973 Chilean coup d'état Yom Kippur War Carnation Revolution Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Rhodesian Bush War Angolan Civil War Mozambican Civil War Ogaden War Ethiopian Civil War Lebanese Civil War Sino - Albanian split Cambodian -- Vietnamese War Sino - Vietnamese War Iranian Revolution Operation Condor Dirty War Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Saur Revolution New Jewel Movement 1979 Herat uprising Seven Days to the River Rhine Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union 1980s Soviet -- Afghan War 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts 1980 Turkish coup d'état Invasion of Grenada 1986 Black Sea incident 1988 Black Sea bumping incident Solidarity Soviet reaction Contras Central American crisis RYAN Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Able Archer 83 Star Wars People Power Revolution Nagorno - Karabakh War Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall Revolutions of 1989 Glasnost Perestroika 1990s Mongolian Revolution of 1990 German reunification Yemeni unification Fall of communism in Albania Breakup of Yugoslavia Dissolution of the Soviet Union Dissolution of Czechoslovakia Frozen conflicts Abkhazia China Korea Nagorno - Karabakh South Ossetia Transnistria Sino - Indian border dispute North Borneo dispute Foreign policy Truman Doctrine Containment Eisenhower Doctrine Domino theory Hallstein Doctrine Kennedy Doctrine Peaceful coexistence Ostpolitik Johnson Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine Nixon Doctrine Ulbricht Doctrine Carter Doctrine Reagan Doctrine Rollback Sovereignty of Puerto Rico during the Cold War Ideologies Capitalism Chicago school Keynesianism Monetarism Neoclassical economics Reaganomics Supply - side economics Thatcherism Communism Marxism -- Leninism Castroism Eurocommunism Guevarism Hoxhaism Juche Maoism Naxalism Stalinism Titoism Other Liberal democracy Social democracy White supremacy Organizations ASEAN CIA Comecon EEC KGB MI6 Non-Aligned Movement SAARC Safari Club Stasi Propaganda Active measures Crusade for Freedom Izvestia Pravda Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Red Scare TASS Voice of America Voice of Russia Races Arms race Nuclear arms race Space Race See also Soviet espionage in the United States Soviet Union -- United States relations Soviet -- US summits Russian espionage in the United States American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation NATO -- Russia relations Brinkmanship CIA and the Cultural Cold War Cold War II Commons Portal Timeline List of conflicts GND : 4190425 - 4 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yom_Kippur_War&oldid=801315165 '' Categories : Yom Kippur War 1973 in Egypt Conflicts in 1973 Cold War conflicts 1973 in Israel 1973 in Syria DEFCON 3 Conflicts October 1973 events Hidden categories : Pages with citations lacking titles Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from September 2012 CS1 errors : dates Webarchive template wayback links Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from January 2012 CS1 Hebrew - language sources ( he ) All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from May 2016 Articles with dead external links from February 2016 CS1 uses Hebrew - language script ( he ) All articles lacking reliable references Articles lacking reliable references from November 2011 Wikipedia pages under 30 - 500 editing restriction Use mdy dates from February 2012 Articles containing Hebrew - language text Articles containing Arabic - language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July 2012 All articles with specifically marked weasel - 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Question: who was involved in the yom kippur war
Answer: a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel