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Six-Day War (1967) - Third Arab–Israeli War DOCUMENTARY
Kings and Generals
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May 11, 2026
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Transcript
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Ever since Israeli victory during the wars
of 1948 and 1956, the Arab coalition led by
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Egypt, Syria and Jordan was eager to change
the situation in the region by defeating Israel.
0:36
Both sides understood that the conflict was
far from over and were preparing for the next
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stage of confrontation.
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International interference and inability of
the sides to find a settlement made one of
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the most iconic conflicts of the modern era
– the Six-day War inevitable.
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On May 13, 1967 the Soviet Union falsely informed
Egypt about concentration of 11-13 brigades
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of the Israeli Defence Forces with an intent
to strike Syria.
1:10
In response Egypt started concentrating forces
along the border with Israel in Sinai and
1:16
on May 16 demanded the UN peacekeeping forces
to leave the peninsula.
1:22
At the same time, Israel refused the request
of the UN on deployment of the UNEF on their
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side of the border either.
1:30
In the next few days Egypt, Israel, Jordan
and Sudan started mobilization of their forces,
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Iraq sent expeditionary forces to Jordan,
Saudi Arabia expressed its willingness to
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participate in military actions.
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But the turning point, which made the full
scale confrontation inevitable was the decision
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of Egypt to block Israeli ships from entering
the Straits of Tiran on May 22-23.
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On June 1 Israel established a National Unity
Government, which on June 4 decided to go
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to war.
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The Arab Coalition of Egypt, Jordan and Syria
had an advantage over Israel in deployed troops
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with 240 thousand against 100 thousand, in
tanks with 2504 against 800 and in aircrafts
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with 957 against 300.
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Israel planned to strike on June 5 with the
Operation Focus, which aimed to destroy Egyptian
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air force.
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The Israeli media published false reports
claiming Israeli soldiers are on vacation,
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while their pilots were carrying out training
sorties as usual and their intelligence helped
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make these trainings as realistic as possible
and damaged the tracking antenna of the US
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Embassy to prevent the Americans finding out
about the operation before the strike took
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place.
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The Israeli pilots were informed about the
start of the operation only 5 hours in advance.
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At the same time Egyptian air defence system
was effectively off on June 5.
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Nearly 200 Israeli aircrafts attacked 14 Egyptian
airfields and caught them absolutely off guard.
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338 Egyptian aircrafts were destroyed, 100
pilots were killed within 3 hours.
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Jordanian and Syrian Airforce attacked Israel
in retaliation at 11 am June 5.
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The response of Israeli airforce was attack
on their airfields which led to destruction
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of all 28 Jordanian, 53 Syrian and 10 Iraqi
planes.
3:47
The Operation Focus was a decisive success:
Israel lost only 19 planes in this Operation
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and guaranteed its total air dominance for
the rest of the war.
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The ground war was taking place at three fronts:
the Sinai front, the Jordanian front, the
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Syrian front.
4:06
At the Sinai front the Egyptian forces consisted
of seven divisions: four armoured, two infantry,
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and one mechanized infantry.
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Egypt had 100,000 troops and 900–950 tanks
in the Sinai, so Israel concentrated three
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divisions consisting of six armoured, one
infantry, one mechanized infantry and three
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paratrooper brigades for a total of 70,000
men and 700 tanks along this front.
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Israel’s plan was to catch Egyptians off
guard by attacking simultaneously with air
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strikes, and attacking through the Northern
and Central routes in the Sinai Peninsula
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instead of the Central and Southern Routes
used during the Sinai War.
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On 5 June, at 7:50 a.m., the northernmost
Israeli division, consisting of three brigades
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and commanded by Major General Israel Tal
started its advance towards Arish through
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Gaza with an aim to encircle Khan Yunis, while
the paratroopers were ordered to take Rafah.
5:11
Initially, Egyptians offered little resistance,
since their intelligence concluded that, this
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was a diversion rather than a main attack.
5:20
However, soon resistance against the 60th
armoured brigade ramped up.
5:25
This did not stop the Israeli forces from
reaching Khan Yunis Railway junction in 4
5:31
hours.
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Afterwards IDF advanced on Sheikh Zuweid and
defeated fierce Egyptian resistance thanks
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to air domination.
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The road on Arish was open and by 8 am of
6 July elements of the 79th Armored Battalion
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and the 7th brigade entered the suspiciously
quiet city.
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Suddenly the Egyptians started firing from
the balconies, windows and there was a heavy
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battle going on for control in the city and
the IDF was only able to take full control
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of the city after reinforcements were sent.
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The northernmost division then split into
two parts.
6:10
One of them continued the advance on the Suez
channel, while the second group turned south
6:16
and captured Bir Lahfan and Jabal Libni.
6:20
Further south on 6 June, the 14 thousand men
150 tank strong Israeli 38th Armored Division
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under Major-General Ariel Sharon was confronted
by the Egyptian 2nd Infantry Division under
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Major-General Sa'adi Nagib, consisting of
16,000 troops and 90 tanks.
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Israel successfully advanced towards Abu Ageila.
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The paratroopers landed behind Egyptian positions
and sew enough confusion to weaken the artillery
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of the Egyptian defense, which opened the
way of the IDF to capture Um Katef.
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It was followed by fierce close tank battle,
which ended in an Israeli victory with 40
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Egyptian and 19 Israeli tanks destroyed.
7:07
The Egyptian forces in Sinai were still largely
intact, but their Field Marshal Abdel Hakim
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Amer panicked and ordered retreat of all units
from Sinai after hearing about the fall of
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Abu-Ageila.
7:22
This order did not elaborate on the sequence
and manner of the retreat, which only decreased
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the defensive capabilities of the Egyptian
troops.
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During the following days the IDF continued
its advance westward and inflicted heavy losses
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on the Egyptians.
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Despite episodic heavy resistance by the Egyptians
as in Bin Gafgafa, the napalm bombing by the
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Israeli aviation and uncontrolled retreat
weakened the morale of the Egyptian troops.
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Instead of catching retreating Egyptians,
the IDF decided to capture 3 passes from Sinai
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to the Egyptian mainland and face the Egyptian
troops there.
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Although IDF was not able to stop all Egyptian
troops from crossing, these passes became
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a killing ground for the Egyptian troops with
10000 being killed in one day alone.
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The capture of Sinai was completed by the
fall of Sharm El-Sheikh on June 7 and Ras
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Sudar on June 8.
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On June 9 UN Security council achieved armistice
between sides.
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Israel wanted to avoid confrontation with
Jordan and Syria before defeating Egypt, but
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the offers of neutrality to Jordan were rejected,
as the Egyptian president Nasser persuaded
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King Hussain of Jordan that, Egypt had an
advantage against Israel.
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On the morning of 5 June both sides started
the fire, but Israel attempted a last grasp
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attempt to avoid confrontation with Jordan
by passing its message of request of peace
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through the UN representative Bull.
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King Hussain countered that it was too late
and the Jordanian aviation was already on
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the way.
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Jordanian and Iraqi aviation started shelling
Israeli controlled West Jerusalem, which caused
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16, military and 20 civilian casualties, with
900 buildings damaged.
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Israel responded with its own air attack within
the Operation Focus, which damaged military
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aviation infrastructure of Jordan and secured
the Israeli air dominance.
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East Jerusalem was controlled by Jordan at
the time and the Jordanian army took position
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in the UN residency – the Government House
to fire on the Israeli sector.
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The Jerusalem Brigade's Reserve Battalion
161 of Israel took the Government house despite
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heavy losses and forced Jordanians to retreat
to Bethlehem.
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Later on that day Israel encircled Eastern
Jerusalem with the Jerusalem Brigade from
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the south, and the mechanized Harel Brigade
and 55th Paratroopers Brigade from the north.
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Fierce battle happened for the Ammunition
Hill.
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Jordanian resistance was so strong that, the
IDF lost all but two of their attacking officers
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and achieved the goal only after 4 hours.
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55th Paratroopers Brigade afterwards drove
eastwards linked up with Mount Scopus defeated
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the other Jordanian positions around the American
Colony.
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Towards the evening of June 5, the mechanized
Harel Brigade succeeded in taking Latrun and
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Ramallah.
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Also, the 163rd Infantry Battalion secured
Abu Tor and cut the Old City from Bethlehem
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and Hebron.
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On June 7 the Israeli Minister of Defence
Moshe Dayan ordered IDF to enter Old City
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despite reservations and concerns of the Israeli
Government.
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The fighting was conducted solely by the paratroopers
out of fear of destruction of holy sites.
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IDF took control of the Old City after little
resistance.
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Judea, Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus were also
captured by IDF on June 7.
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Remnants of the Jordanian army fell back into
Jordan.
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Israel was victorious on this front as well.
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Syria also believed the Nasser about Egypt’s
early success in the conflict and sent its
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aviation to attack Galilee.
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This attack was intercepted by the Israeli
aviation.
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A minor ground attack was also attempted by
the Syrians in attempt to capture the water
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plants at Tel Dan, Dan, and She'ar Yashuv.
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This was repulsed by IDF as well.
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Israeli air domination, lack of communication
by Syrian units, tanks being too wide for
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bridges were among the causes of unsuccessful
attack of the Syrians.
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This caused them to abandon any attempts to
make ground offensive on Israel and airstrikes
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were chosen as a method instead.
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However, on the evening of June 5 Israel stroke
Syrian airfields within the Operation Focus,
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destroying 2/3 of the Syrian airforce and
forcing the rest out of the conflict.
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The Israeli leadership was unsure whether
to attack Syria or not.
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On one hand Syria was using Golan Heights
to shell Israel, on the other hand it would
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have been a literally uphill battle against
a fortified enemy.
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But the intelligence about weakened positions
of Syria in general and in Golan Heights in
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particular led Dayan to order an offensive
on Golan without government authorization.
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The Israeli offensive started with air strikes
which severely damaged defensive infrastructure
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and morale of the Syrian Army.
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The 8th Armored Brigade, led by Colonel Albert
Mandler, advanced into the Golan Heights from
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Givat HaEm.
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Heavy fighting in unfavourable terrain led
to numerous casualties on both sides, but
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with the help of aviation IDF ultimately captured
Zaura, Qala and Ein Fit fortresses.
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In the central sector, the Israeli 181st Battalion
captured the strongholds of Dardara and Tel
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Hillal after fierce fighting.
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By the evening of June 9 Israel reached the
plateau, which allowed reinforcements to come.
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Israel had 8 brigades by dawn ready for an
assault on the second line of defenses..
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Soon the ceasefire was negotiated around the
so called Purple Line.
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By 11 June all military actions stopped.
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Up to 983 Israelis, 15000 Egyptians, 700 Jordanians
and 2500 Syrians were killed in action.
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Israel gained a huge victory.
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It seized the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula,
the West Bank of the Jordan River (including
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East Jerusalem), and the Golan Heights.
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About one million Arabs were placed under
Israel's direct control in the newly captured
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territories.
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The Israeli victory came as a result of more
efficient military leadership, better preparation
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of troops and intelligence.
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But the Six-Day war by no means was the last
conflict and merely 6 years later the confrontation
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escalated into another war.
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