WEBVTT 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:17.550 In one of our previous videos on modern warfare, we covered the Six-Day War between Israeli 00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:22.080 and the Arab States surrounding it, but this wasn’t the first time the adversaries had 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:26.679 clashed. In the aftermath of World War II, British withdrawal 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:33.259 from its Mandate in Palestine split open a power vacuum into Palestinian and Jewish interests 00:00:33.259 --> 00:00:38.750 flowed. This eventually resulted in the dawn of Jewish statehood in the Middle-East and 00:00:38.750 --> 00:00:43.060 the First Arab-Israeli War.  Welcome to our series on 00:00:43.060 --> 00:00:47.359 the modern warfare! If you are interested in the history of this era, don’t forget 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:50.780 to check out our second channel – The Cold War – the link 00:00:52.561 --> 00:00:57.911 Tensions between Arab Palestinian and Jewish communities in the British Mandate of Palestine 00:00:57.911 --> 00:01:02.891 had been increasing ever since the end of the First World War, heightened with broken 00:01:02.890 --> 00:01:07.030 Imperial promises to both sides. This state of affairs 00:01:07.031 --> 00:01:10.831 finally exploded into civil war following the UN vote 00:01:10.831 --> 00:01:18.281 for a partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states on November 29th 1947, a solution 00:01:18.281 --> 00:01:22.331 which the Palestinians and the Arab League refused. 00:01:22.331 --> 00:01:29.751 As small-scale skirmishes gradually escalated throughout late 1947 and early 1948, Palestinian 00:01:29.751 --> 00:01:35.481 Arab group - the Arab Liberation Army proved incapable of defeating their better organised 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.950 opponents. Due to the chaos, tens of thousands of 00:01:38.950 --> 00:01:44.230 Palestinian refugees fled into neighboring Arab states, further enflaming the public 00:01:44.230 --> 00:01:48.580 of those countries to demand war. A full-scale conflict 00:01:48.581 --> 00:01:52.421 was prevented until in May of 1948, as the area 00:01:52.421 --> 00:01:58.731 was still a British Mandate, but this state of affairs was set to expire on the 15th. 00:01:58.730 --> 00:02:03.870 At 4PM on the afternoon of May 14th 1948, eight hours before 00:02:03.870 --> 00:02:09.270 British sovereignty dissolved, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State 00:02:09.270 --> 00:02:13.900 of Israel, becoming its first prime minister. That night, 00:02:13.901 --> 00:02:19.311 armies of five Arab nations surrounding Israel attacked the newly created state, starting 00:02:19.311 --> 00:02:24.491 the First Arab-Israeli War. 00:02:24.491 --> 00:02:29.211 While it has been popular to tout the phrase ‘one army against seven’ to describe the 00:02:29.211 --> 00:02:32.151 military situation, it gives off an impression which 00:02:32.151 --> 00:02:38.511 is incorrect - that the combined Arab nations drastically outnumbered their enemy. A breakdown 00:02:38.510 --> 00:02:44.930 instead shows that the total strength of about 23,500 soldiers, 10,000 of which were from 00:02:44.931 --> 00:02:50.931 the Egyptian army. Egypt possessed the most extensive military establishment in the region 00:02:50.931 --> 00:02:56.320 which had also been supplied and trained by Britain. Their ground forces were organised 00:02:56.320 --> 00:03:03.020 into three infantry brigades, one tank brigade comprising 50 tanks and three artillery battalions 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:06.941 armed with 65 howitzer artillery pieces. In the 00:03:06.941 --> 00:03:14.390 air, Egypt could field five squadrons of 18 fighting aircraft each and one transport squadron. 00:03:14.389 --> 00:03:15.389 Iraq 00:03:15.389 --> 00:03:20.840 appeared similarly powerful on the surface, but only sent 3,000 men in the initial attack. 00:03:20.841 --> 00:03:23.280 The bulk of Iraqi ground forces were structured 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.800 in three divisions - two infantry and one ‘training’ 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:33.389 division, supported by an armoured battalion of 15 to 20 tanks and 70 to 80 artillery pieces. 00:03:33.389 --> 00:03:37.400 The Iraqi airforce consisted of 80 aircraft overall, 00:03:37.401 --> 00:03:39.880 but only half of these were fully operational and 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:46.370 combat ready. In addition, the relatively elite Arab Legion 00:03:46.371 --> 00:03:50.432 of Transjordan supplied 4,500 well trained, British- 00:03:50.431 --> 00:03:57.379 led soldiers. 3,000 more came from Lebanon, 3,000 from Syria and a token contingent from 00:03:57.379 --> 00:04:03.530 Saudi Arabia. In comparison to the efforts of their Arab enemies, the Israelis had mobilised 00:04:03.530 --> 00:04:09.229 almost their entire resource base and able-bodied population for the conflict, having, according 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:17.331 to Ben-Gurion’s diary, 29,677 troops at the outbreak of the war. Israel had only 00:04:17.331 --> 00:04:23.100 3 Sherman tanks at the start of the conflict. 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:27.961 On the southern front, Egyptian forces launched thrusts across the border from eastern Sinai 00:04:27.961 --> 00:04:32.121 in a three-pronged assault. The Egyptian command, 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:36.800 under the authority of General Ahmed Ali al- Muwawi, believed it necessary to capture a 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:39.830 number of strongpoints in order to secure the rear 00:04:39.831 --> 00:04:44.980 lines. To this end, forces were committed to assault and capture a number of Jewish 00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:48.379 communities in the northern Negev region, known plurally 00:04:48.379 --> 00:04:52.589 as kibbutzim. The first target was Kfar-Darom, a 00:04:52.589 --> 00:04:58.589 religious 10 kilometres to the south of Gaza. This settlement had already withstood an attack 00:04:58.589 --> 00:05:01.389 by fighters of the Muslim Brothers group, and 00:05:01.389 --> 00:05:05.190 it now came under attack from the Egyptian army. 00:05:05.190 --> 00:05:10.369 After an initial artillery barrage, eight tanks followed by infantry approached Kfar-Darom, 00:05:10.370 --> 00:05:13.819 but retreated in short order after suffering repeated 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:20.980 direct hits from the settlement’s only PIAT projector and being pelted with molotov cocktails. Similar 00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:25.181 stiff resistance was faced at the neighboring kibbutz of Nirim, where around 00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:28.009 40 entrenched Israeli defenders managed to repel 00:05:28.009 --> 00:05:34.360 sustained assaults from a thousand Egyptian troops supported by artillery and mortar fire. 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:36.889 Both settlements were eventually bypassed for fear 00:05:36.889 --> 00:05:41.069 of stalling the main thrust. As these initial ground 00:05:41.069 --> 00:05:47.129 attacks were going on, airfields around Tel-Aviv were attacked by Egyptian Spitfires, causing 00:05:47.129 --> 00:05:53.089 heavy economic damage and moral damage. However, the fortune of Egypt’s pilots soon turned 00:05:53.089 --> 00:05:58.550 due to improving Israeli air defence and an accidental strike on the British held Ramat 00:05:58.550 --> 00:06:01.461 David Airfield, which led to heavy losses at the 00:06:01.461 --> 00:06:05.449 hands of British fighter aircraft. By the end of May, 00:06:05.449 --> 00:06:10.089 almost all of the Spitfire squadron’s planes and a significant number of its best pilots 00:06:10.089 --> 00:06:14.369 were lost. On land, a meticulously planned offensive 00:06:14.370 --> 00:06:19.521 was launched against the kibbutz of Yad-Moerdechai, which was situated atop a hill which held 00:06:19.521 --> 00:06:23.689 a dominating position over the main coastal road. Its 00:06:23.689 --> 00:06:31.300 defenders held out for five days and inflicted heavy casualties before falling back. 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:36.560 The advancing Egyptian column aiming for Tel-Aviv came to a halt around 30 kilometres south 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:43.180 of the city at a place called Isdud, where it dug in. Just before sunset on May 29th, 00:06:43.180 --> 00:06:46.259 the newly formed Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation 00:06:46.259 --> 00:06:52.009 Pleshet, beginning with an air attack by a squadron of four recently imported Czech Avia 00:06:52.009 --> 00:06:58.480 S-199. They strafed Isdud in an assault which, while being ineffective conventionally, had 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:02.319 a drastic impact on morale. The Israelis were elated 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:08.069 that they now had air capability, while the Egyptians were extremely unnerved of future 00:07:08.069 --> 00:07:11.879 attacks from above. The next blow was struck on the 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:17.540 ground. Israel feared that the Egyptians would resume their advance on Tel-Aviv, and ordered 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:20.320 the Giv’ati and Negev Brigades to assault and 00:07:20.321 --> 00:07:27.040 destroy the enemy vanguard. 2,000 Israelis fought a 2,500 strong force of entrenched 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:30.131 Egyptian troops, suffering heavy casualties after only 00:07:30.130 --> 00:07:34.600 making slight gains. Nevertheless, Operation Pleshet 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:39.550 panicked the Egyptian command, with General Al-Muwawi informing Cairo that he ‘could 00:07:39.550 --> 00:07:42.360 not advance one step further’ without risking 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:46.350 total disaster. Any plans of advancing on Tel-Aviv 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:52.649 were cancelled, and the Southern front bogged down. 00:07:52.649 --> 00:07:58.540 On the Jordanian front, ‘Etzioni, Palmah Harel and Alexandroni Brigades each responsible 00:07:58.540 --> 00:08:01.370 for defending different areas were facing the 00:08:01.370 --> 00:08:04.370 Arab Legion. The Legion’s push into the West Bank 00:08:04.370 --> 00:08:10.230 was initially relatively unopposed, with many left-behind Legion units in Palestine facilitating 00:08:10.230 --> 00:08:16.029 easy progress, While the First Brigade advanced towards Nablus and fanned out around the 00:08:16.029 --> 00:08:22.230 town, the Third Brigade headed north from Jericho and then west, deploying around Ramallah. 00:08:22.230 --> 00:08:27.550 Two days later, the Third Brigade’s Fourth Regiment was ordered to the critical fort 00:08:27.550 --> 00:08:30.810 of Latrun - located right on top of the western approach 00:08:30.810 --> 00:08:34.480 to Jerusalem. This key point had switched hands 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:40.500 between Arab forces and Jews multiple times just before the Mandate expired, but was occupied 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:46.149 by the Fourth Regiment without any trouble. So, on May 18th, the road from the coastal 00:08:46.149 --> 00:08:49.461 plain to Jerusalem was severed, preventing the Israelis 00:08:49.461 --> 00:08:52.120 from reinforcing or resupplying their troops in 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:57.941 besieged Jerusalem. Around the city itself to north and south, fighting was extremely 00:08:57.941 --> 00:09:04.259 fierce.  Jewish forces successfully repelled Jordanian 00:09:04.259 --> 00:09:09.230 assaults at the Notre Dame Cathedral on the northern approaches, while a combined Arab 00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:11.990 force - assisted by an Egyptian contingent of 00:09:11.990 --> 00:09:17.912 several hundred, attacked the Ramat Rachel kibbutz from the south on May 21st. The settlement 00:09:17.912 --> 00:09:24.571 was taken and retaken until it was eventually secured by the defenders on May 25th. While 00:09:24.571 --> 00:09:29.681 Jewish Jerusalem held its ground against the persistent Legion attacks, the Jewish Quarter 00:09:29.681 --> 00:09:33.280 of the Old City surrendered on May 28th, with only 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:39.870 36 of its 300 fighters still capable of fighting. Under the terms of surrender, civilians were 00:09:39.870 --> 00:09:45.540 allowed to leave for Israeli-held West Jerusalem, while soldiers and men of fighting age would 00:09:45.541 --> 00:09:51.051 become prisoners of war. The professional Legionnaires protected them against the locals, 00:09:51.051 --> 00:09:57.140 even using the lethal force, escorting their defeated foe to safety. Realising the situation 00:09:57.139 --> 00:10:02.691 in the Holy City was worsening, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion ordered Israeli forces to assault 00:10:02.691 --> 00:10:05.590 the Legion-garrisoned Latrun fort and break through 00:10:05.590 --> 00:10:14.350 to Jerusalem. On May 25th, May 30th and June 9 th IDF launched ultimately disastrous assaults, 00:10:14.350 --> 00:10:20.701 often by untrained troops against entrenched Jordanian fighters. By June 10th, an alternative 00:10:20.701 --> 00:10:25.931 route to West Jerusalem had been opened which was dubbed the ‘Burma Road’, nicknamed 00:10:25.931 --> 00:10:28.271 after the British World War II supply route against 00:10:28.270 --> 00:10:35.100 the Japanese. In Galilee, the first phase of the war saw 00:10:35.100 --> 00:10:38.600 Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese forces launching attacks into 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:44.061 the former Mandate. After suffering some heavy casualties advancing through the upper Jordan 00:10:44.061 --> 00:10:49.541 Valley, an Iraqi army of one armoured and two infantry brigades set up in the Samaria 00:10:49.541 --> 00:10:54.081 region, between the towns of Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm. 00:10:54.081 --> 00:10:59.149 This force launched an assault towards Natanya from these positions on May 25 th 00:10:59.149 --> 00:11:02.129 ended in defeat, but the prospect that an Iraqi 00:11:02.129 --> 00:11:07.200 breakthrough could slice the Jewish state in two worried high command so much that it 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:11.070 ordered a counterattack on May 29th, aimed at occupying 00:11:11.070 --> 00:11:14.951 strong defensive positions opposite the Iraqis. In 00:11:14.951 --> 00:11:20.210 the Battle of Jenin, Israeli forces occupied the city, but were subsequently dislodged 00:11:20.210 --> 00:11:24.120 after three days of heavy fighting. Similarly, to their 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:27.110 Egyptian allies, this pyrrhic victory panicked the Iraqi 00:11:27.110 --> 00:11:34.340 forces and dissuaded them from attacking again. Even further north, a Syrian force comprising 00:11:34.340 --> 00:11:39.960 an infantry brigade, a mechanised battalion, an artillery regiment and a company of tanks 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:43.421 crossed into Israel on May 15th, seeking to storm 00:11:43.421 --> 00:11:46.561 a cluster of kibbutzim around the Sea of Galilee before 00:11:46.561 --> 00:11:52.791 pushing into the Jewish heartland. The kibbutzim resisted far longer than anticipated and the 00:11:52.791 --> 00:11:59.090 Syrians captured Zemakh only on the 18 th . Despite this success, the Syrians failed 00:11:59.090 --> 00:12:02.509 to occupy Degania, and this setback eventually forced 00:12:02.509 --> 00:12:09.620 a withdrawal from Zemakh. They subsequently redeployed in the hills to the east. Finally, 00:12:09.620 --> 00:12:15.490 Lebanese forces crossed the border and captured Malkiya on May 15th, lost it on the 18th, 00:12:15.490 --> 00:12:18.790 and then finally recaptured it on June 6th, only four 00:12:18.791 --> 00:12:24.121 days before the first truce began. 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:30.319 The four-week UN backed truce started on June 11th was beneficial for both sides, which 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:34.181 began to break the terms immediately. The Arab armies 00:12:34.181 --> 00:12:39.121 were in desperate need of reorganisation and replenishment, but their efforts in bolstering 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.061 the war effort was nothing compared to that of the 00:12:42.061 --> 00:12:47.671 Israelis. What had previously been the semi-legal Haganah concluded its transformation from 00:12:47.671 --> 00:12:50.431 an underground militia into a fully-fledged army 00:12:50.431 --> 00:12:56.871 during the truce in terms of command and control capacity, manpower potential and weaponry. 00:12:56.870 --> 00:13:04.399 The IDF doubled its numbers from around 35,000 to 65,000. More crucial, however, were the 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:07.279 massive quantities of badly-needed armament which 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:14.899 reached Israeli shores. 25,000 rifles, 5,000 machine guns and more than 50 million rounds 00:13:14.899 --> 00:13:18.020 of ammunition from Czechoslovakia, in addition 00:13:18.020 --> 00:13:20.990 to heavier equipment such as tanks, heavy artillery 00:13:20.990 --> 00:13:26.980 and armoured cars. Because of this transformation, the army facing the Arabs after the truce 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:29.389 was massively different from the force they had 00:13:29.389 --> 00:13:32.960 met on May 15th. One British official stated that 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:38.091 “The Arabs lost the initiative in Palestine during the four weeks, and the Jews were able 00:13:38.091 --> 00:13:41.411 to re- equip themselves.”. This fact allowed the 00:13:41.410 --> 00:13:44.550 IDF to subsequently seize the initiative as the first 00:13:44.551 --> 00:13:51.541 truce ended. The day before hostilities were due to resume, 00:13:51.541 --> 00:13:53.780 Egyptian forces in the south launched a series of 00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:59.370 attacks to solidify their stranglehold on the Negev region. However, they were quickly 00:13:59.370 --> 00:14:06.280 counterattacked by the IDF and spent the subsequent 8 days in heavy fighting for the region. Just 00:14:06.280 --> 00:14:12.149 before the second truce on the 18th, the Israeli forces managed to break through Egyptian lines, 00:14:12.149 --> 00:14:18.000 tenuously linking the isolated Jewish Negev settlements with the heartland. Nevertheless, 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:21.660 attacks on Jewish convoys were quite frequent. In 00:14:21.660 --> 00:14:24.930 the north, Israeli armies launched an assault on Syrian 00:14:24.931 --> 00:14:30.051 positions near Mishmar-Hayarden in an attempt to push the enemy back over the Jordan River 00:14:30.051 --> 00:14:33.751 on the 9th. This failed, but a subsequent offensive 00:14:33.750 --> 00:14:39.009 dubbed Operation Dekel brought Lower Galilee under control from Haifa Bay to the Sea of 00:14:39.009 --> 00:14:43.471 Galilee. The main IDF offensive, known as Operation 00:14:43.471 --> 00:14:49.620 Danny, was directed against the Arab Legion on the Jordanian front. Israeli forces, led 00:14:49.620 --> 00:14:52.471 by General Yigal Allon, launched a pincer maneuver 00:14:52.471 --> 00:14:59.370 from southwest and northwest, occupying Lydda, then Ramle and the springs at Ras el-Ein. 00:14:59.370 --> 00:15:05.990 When the second UN organised truth went into effect on July 18th, the IDF had gained 1,000 00:15:05.990 --> 00:15:08.949 square kilometres of territory and Arab pressure on 00:15:08.950 --> 00:15:16.700 Jerusalem had been reduced.  After UN attempts at negotiating a peace settlement 00:15:16.700 --> 00:15:21.501 during the second truce failed, the war entered its most intense phase on October 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:25.721 15th. Despite Egyptian weakness and overextension on 00:15:25.721 --> 00:15:30.681 the southern front, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion realised that he needed to seize the sparsely 00:15:30.681 --> 00:15:36.971 populated Negev region if his Jewish State was to be secure in the long term. As things 00:15:36.971 --> 00:15:40.100 stood, the frontline was far too close to Israel’s 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:43.791 core on the Mediterranean coast. Under the command of 00:15:43.791 --> 00:15:49.151 General Yigal Allon, Operation Yoav was planned, comprising three infantry brigades with 00:15:49.150 --> 00:15:55.660 artillery and air support. Facing them was a 15,000 strong, well-fortified Egyptian army 00:15:55.660 --> 00:15:59.401 which possessed heavy firepower. Nevertheless, despite 00:15:59.402 --> 00:16:06.421 its good position, the lack of the defensive depth was a vulnerability. At 6PM on the 15th, 00:16:06.421 --> 00:16:11.211 the Israeli airforce of 4 Czech Avia S-199s, 7 00:16:11.211 --> 00:16:17.411 Spitfires and 3 B-17 bombers hit the Egyptian airfield at El’Arish and key targets in 00:16:17.410 --> 00:16:21.310 Gaza and Majdal from above. This air attack achieved 00:16:21.311 --> 00:16:27.411 complete surprise, and the IAFs superior airmen would subsequently ensure superiority in the 00:16:27.410 --> 00:16:31.200 skies through the operation. Unfortunately, some of 00:16:31.201 --> 00:16:36.451 the bombing runs were off-target and many refugees were accidentally killed at the village 00:16:36.451 --> 00:16:39.541 of al- Jura, one of many occasions civilians would 00:16:39.541 --> 00:16:43.551 become unintentional casualties during this war. 00:16:43.551 --> 00:16:49.661 The ground attack of Yoav began in the evening, with multiple thrusts into Israeli lines. 00:16:49.660 --> 00:16:52.220 Fighting continued for around a week, and by the time 00:16:52.221 --> 00:16:58.311 it was over on the 22nd, had driven the Egyptians from their coastal positions from Isdud to 00:16:58.311 --> 00:17:02.091 Gaza and expelled them from the Judean and Hebron 00:17:02.091 --> 00:17:08.171 hills. Their extended line of defence had been shattered and the capital of Negev - Beersheba 00:17:08.171 --> 00:17:09.171 fell 00:17:09.171 --> 00:17:15.221 to the IDF. To make the Egyptian situation worse, an entire 4,000 strong brigade had 00:17:15.221 --> 00:17:17.401 been trapped in what would come to be known as 00:17:17.401 --> 00:17:20.541 the Faluja pocket. They would stay trapped for the 00:17:20.540 --> 00:17:27.650 remainder of the war.  On the seas, minor battles took place between 00:17:27.651 --> 00:17:33.510 Israeli and Egyptian corvettes near Majdal. However, a more significant operation on the 00:17:33.510 --> 00:17:39.620 22nd saw an IDF commando group use explosive- packed boats to ram the Egyptian flagship 00:17:39.621 --> 00:17:45.511 Emir Farouk, sinking it and damaging its minesweeper escort. Buoyed by their successes 00:17:45.510 --> 00:17:48.120 in the south, Operation Hiram was launched in 00:17:48.121 --> 00:17:55.151 Galilee by four infantry brigades led by General Moshe Carmel. In some 60 hours of fighting, 00:17:55.151 --> 00:18:01.161 800 Arab fighters were and taken Prisoner. Israeli troops managed to expel the ALA and 00:18:01.161 --> 00:18:04.030 a Syrian battalion from Upper Galilee and also 00:18:04.030 --> 00:18:07.681 drove all Lebanese soldiers out of Israel. They 00:18:07.681 --> 00:18:13.270 subsequently thrust 5 miles into Lebanon, capturing numerous border villages and reaching 00:18:13.270 --> 00:18:16.540 as far as the Litani River before coming to a halt 00:18:16.540 --> 00:18:20.560 when yet another UN ceasefire came into effect. The 00:18:20.560 --> 00:18:25.880 fronts largely quietened down at this point as the two sides once again stopped to catch 00:18:25.881 --> 00:18:29.771 their breath. In Operations Hiram and Yoav, the 00:18:29.770 --> 00:18:32.320 IDF had expanded Israel’s holdings, demolished the 00:18:32.320 --> 00:18:38.442 ALA, badly blasted apart the Egyptians and had linked the Negev settlements with the 00:18:38.442 --> 00:18:41.901 Jewish heartland. It was a positive turn, but there 00:18:41.901 --> 00:18:48.961 was still work to do.  The strains of extensive Israeli mobilisation 00:18:48.961 --> 00:18:52.341 was becoming economically untenable. The war had 00:18:52.340 --> 00:18:57.800 to be ended, but the status quo, especially on the southern front, was still unacceptable 00:18:57.800 --> 00:19:01.790 to Jewish leaders. Egypt remained in control of the 00:19:01.790 --> 00:19:07.520 Gaza strip and Faluja pocket areas of Mandatory Palestine, fortified in a chain of strong 00:19:07.520 --> 00:19:11.070 points between 'Auja al-Hafir and Bir Aslug - just south 00:19:11.070 --> 00:19:16.750 of Beersheba. However, its army was on the verge of collapse, and realistically had to 00:19:16.750 --> 00:19:19.770 either withdraw from Palestine completely or conclude 00:19:19.770 --> 00:19:26.240 a peace with Israel. Neither of these methods succeeded due to political pressures. So, 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:29.040 hoping to push the Arab enemy off the soil Israel 00:19:29.040 --> 00:19:35.560 viewed as its own, Operation Horev began on December 22nd. It was initiated by air and 00:19:35.560 --> 00:19:38.180 artillery strikes on positions along the Mediterranean 00:19:38.181 --> 00:19:41.571 coast and Gaza strip, followed by initial ground 00:19:41.570 --> 00:19:47.050 attacks on the northern part of the front. Fighting at locations such as Hill 86 and 00:19:47.050 --> 00:19:50.490 ‘Abasan was inconclusive due to strong Egyptian defences, 00:19:50.490 --> 00:19:54.310 but it didn’t matter - these attacks were a 00:19:54.310 --> 00:20:00.300 diversion. Egyptian commanders had concentrated its forces just where the IDF wanted them 00:20:00.300 --> 00:20:04.530 to.  Israel’s main thrust was to be made against 00:20:04.530 --> 00:20:11.060 fortifications at Bir Tamila and ‘Auja al-Hafir. Despite initial problems due to inclement 00:20:11.060 --> 00:20:13.990 weather, the highly mobile Eighth and Negev Brigades 00:20:13.990 --> 00:20:19.800 penetrated thin Egyptian lines with relative ease. Aiming to execute a vast encirclement 00:20:19.800 --> 00:20:24.830 maneuver which would either trap the enemy armies or force them to retreat, IDF units 00:20:24.830 --> 00:20:27.830 pushed towards el-Arish and launched raids deep into 00:20:27.830 --> 00:20:34.170 the Sinai Peninsula. This was a stunning success and Egypt’s defeated army was made to retreat 00:20:34.171 --> 00:20:36.901 into their own lands as far as Abu Ageila in the 00:20:36.901 --> 00:20:42.801 centre and el-Arish in the north, else it risked being cut off. 00:20:42.800 --> 00:20:48.840 However, diplomatic pressure from Britain forced a withdrawal from Egyptian territory 00:20:48.840 --> 00:20:52.370 after one final attack against Rafah, bottling the Egyptian 00:20:52.371 --> 00:20:59.201 army inside the Gaza Strip and capturing the high ground around the town. By now, the Egyptian 00:20:59.201 --> 00:21:04.641 government had realised the threat its forces faced and, on the 6th of January, announced 00:21:04.641 --> 00:21:07.990 its intention to enter peace negotiations. On the 00:21:07.990 --> 00:21:14.911 following day, the guns on Israel’s southern front fell silent. On February 24th, Israeli 00:21:14.911 --> 00:21:17.760 signed a treaty ending hostilities, granting Egypt 00:21:17.760 --> 00:21:22.230 the Gaza Strip and Israel the Negev region. Now the 00:21:22.230 --> 00:21:28.020 largest Arab nation had come to the table, the others soon followed. Negotiations with 00:21:28.020 --> 00:21:31.721 Lebanon began on March 3rd and were successfully concluded 00:21:31.721 --> 00:21:36.971 in three weeks - the international border was respected and Israel would withdraw from 00:21:36.971 --> 00:21:40.921 any occupied Lebanese territory. Jordanian talks 00:21:40.921 --> 00:21:46.101 concluded on April 3rd, with King Abdullah retaining control of the West Bank and East 00:21:46.101 --> 00:21:52.301 Jerusalem. Finally, after some difficulties due to internal strife, Syria signed an armistice 00:21:52.300 --> 00:21:56.902 on July 20th. This peace was tenuous, and the Israeli 00:21:56.902 --> 00:22:00.181 victory made future conflict in the region inevitable. 00:22:00.181 --> 00:22:06.841 We are planning to cover more modern conflicts both on the Kings and Generals and our second 00:22:06.840 --> 00:22:10.630 channel The Cold War – the link to which you can find in the description or in the 00:22:10.631 --> 00:22:13.651 top right corner, so make sure you are subscribed to 00:22:13.651 --> 00:22:16.721 both. We would like to express our gratitude to our 00:22:16.721 --> 00:22:21.290 Patreon supporters and channel members, who make the creation of our videos possible. 00:22:21.290 --> 00:22:24.790 Now, you can also support us by buying our merchandise 00:22:24.790 --> 00:22:29.721 via the link in the description. This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch 00:22:29.721 --> 00:22:30.820 you on the next one.