The History of War in the Middle East
The Israeli-Arab conflict 40 million Arabs, 2.7 million Israelis
Conflicts between Arab states
Radical – conservative the Ba´ath Party 1963 Iraq 1966 Syria criticized Egypt (the Palest.)
Sunni Muslims – Shi-ites Iran versus Saudi Arabia
The Cold War US-USSR
Israel’s First War
The conflict is about Jewish and Arab land.
It was not a struggle between the superpowers.
It is not a fight for Arab unity.
1917 85 000 Jews lived in Palestine.
1947 the numbers were 600 000 Jews and 1000 000 Arabs.
1922 the British set up the autonomous Transjordan.
In consisted of 4/5 of Palestine including the west bank of the River Jordan.
1937 the British suggested a partition of Palestine
The Arabs were offered Transjordan.
A new Jewish state was to be set up.
Jerusalem was to stay under British rule and be kept open for visitors of all religions.
The Arabs turned this down.
After WW II Britain tried to maintain its position in the region
The Suez Canal was still the lifeline of the Empire
Cheap oil could be paid for in sterling
Jewish immigration to Palestine was restricted
1947 the British handed over the problem to the UN.
The UN partied Palestine into one Jewish and three Arab areas.
This disfavoured the Arabs.
The US, the USSR and the Jewish Agency supported the partition, the Palestinians did not
The British mandate expired at midnight on 13-14 May 1948
On 14 May the state of Israel was proclaimed
On 15 May troops from Transjordan , Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq attacked
The fighting started as a civil war before the British had left Palestine.
The conflict was two-folded:
Israel versus the Arab states
Israel versus the Palestinians
The Arab states were not totally committed to the Palestinians cause
The kept the conflict alive for propaganda reasons
If the had won the probably had not set up a Palestinian state
The Arabs set up a joint task force to prevent Transjordan from gaining too much land.
The Arab forces had 30 000 man at it’s disposal.
The Jews fielded 12 000 men and women and 30 000 half-timers.
Weapons available rather than suitable poured in to the region.
The Israelis dissolved Irgund and the Stern Gang and set up the IDF.
The war had six phases with truces in between.
The Arabs left Jewish areas fearing Jewish terror.
Arab religious leaders encouraged this.
The massacre at Deir Yassin created exaggerated rumours.
The Arab exodus created a homogeneous Jewish state.
The IDF had showed it’s battle worthiness.
The IDF operated on brigade level.
The war created 800 000 Jewish and 800 000 Arab refugees
The Arabs had to stay in refugee camps and were promised to return home.
The armistice 1949
The cease-fire lines became the new borders
The war ended with an enlargement of the Israeli territory.
Trans Jordan annexed the West Bank and was renamed Jordan.
Fedayeen attacks and Israeli retaliations continued.
Israel’s right to exist was not recognized.
Both the US and the USSR accepted the set-up of Israel
The Middle East was not a theatre of the Cold War in the opening phase of the conflict
The IDF
Had good middle-ranking officers but poor generals during the war.
Was based informality and efficiency.
Numerical inferiority made the IDF give priority to innovation and flexibility.
The US supported Saudi Arabia and Israel at the same time
The American oil company Amraco divided its profits 50-50 between the US and the Saudis
Similar deals followed in Kuwait 1951 and Iraq 1952
The Iranian premier Mossadeq demanded nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
Two years later 1953 the CIA organized a coup to overthrow Mossadeq
1954 the National Iranian Oil Company was granted the ownership of the oil fields
The A-I O C renamed British Petroleum handled purchase, marketing of Iranian oil.
The US strengthened its position
Suez and Sinai 1956
1956 Britain and France withdrew
their financial support for the building of the Aswan dam
Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.
The revenues for the Canal was to finance the building of the dam
Nasser wanted to strengthen his position in the Arab world.
Avenge for the Arab humiliation 1948/49.
The British
The canal was regarded as a main artery in the British Empire.
Britain saw its position as a great power threatened
Transjordan had to be protected according to a treaty.
Anthony Eden compared Nasser to Hitler and the French agreed
The French
The canal was a major mean of communication to Indo-China.
Nasser sided with the Algerian Arabs and the French wanted to punish him for that.
Informal negotiations with the Israelis in private houses.
Israel
Disliked Nasser’s strengthened position in the Arab world.
Benefited from improved relations with Britain and France.
It became easier to by military equipment.
Thought that the Fedayeen attacks were inspired by Nasser.
Wanted access to the Gulf of Aqaba through the Straights of Tiran.
The War
The Israelis were to launch a major attack on Egypt.
The British and French should demand the belligerents to retreat 15 miles
The Egyptian were assumed to refuse.
This would justify an intervention in the Canal Zone.
The British wanted an excuse which looked good in the media
The Israelis acted swiftly and secured the Mitla Pass.
Then they wiped out the Egyptian HQ at Ismailia.
Finally the Israelis conquered Sharm el Sheikh and thereby opened up the Gulf of Aqaba.
The British and the French landed airborne troops and launched a D-day styled invasion.
That happened when the war was almost over.
The Great Powers could not stop the Egyptians from blocking the canal.
The Peace
The US and the USSR presented a resolution in the UN demanding an Israeli retreat
The Americans threatened to cut of Britain’s and France’s oil supply
Shortage of oil and petrol rationing made the British accept the American demands.
Sharm el Sheikh was handed over to the UN.
The British never again challenged the US
The French blamed the US for the failure and pressed ahead for an European integration
France developed nuclear weapons
Japan started to build super tankers
Regrouping and Rearmament
1956-67
Egypt
Nasser’s regime represented Arab-radicalism and anti-Westernism.
The fight against the British and French was successful 1956.
This overshadowed the shortcomings against Israel and improvements were nor undertaken.
The Egyptians overestimated the inflow of military equipment to Israel from the West.
Economically and socially the Egyptian society was not capable of fielding a modern army
People not used to use machines could not man battle tanks and howitzers.
Egypt had to rely on supply of war equipment from outside.
The Soviets promised to replace the losses in the war 1956.
This partly caused the war 1967.
The Egyptian officer’s corpse was trained by the British.
The Soviet instructors introduced the Soviet military doctrine – the clash was inevitable.
Neither of these two doctrines of large scale warfare suited the Egyptians.
The Egyptian army planned carefully and had difficulties to cope with surprises.
The Israelis were aware of this and took advantage of it.
Israel
The Israelis emphasized flexibility.
Officers were encouraged to not act according to orders if necessary.
The American M-48 Patton and the British Centurion were superior to Soviet T 54 and T 55.
The Israelis thought that the West would stand by and watch I Israel was to be wiped out 1967
Iraq
1958 the monarchy was overthrown and a republic was set up.
Iraq joined the radical Arab states.
Lebanon an Jordan
The Americans intervened and preserved status que in Lebanon.
The British did a similar thing in Jordan
Syria
The pro-Nasser Baath Party came to power’
Syria and Egypt formed the United Arab Republic for a couple of years.
Gradually Syria took over Jordan’s role as a base for Fedayeen attacks.
Syria started to divert the River Baines from the River Jordan to the River Yarmuk in Jordan.
This meant that the Israelis would lose 2/3 of their water supply.
The canal work was bombed by the Israelis and the project was abandoned.
PLO
Was set up 1965 to unite the Palestinians.
A Palestine state were to be established in Gaza or on the West Bank.
PLO got money from wealthy oil producing states.
The Soviet Union
The Soviets main aim was to avoid a war with the US.
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and later republican Libya were regarded as radical states and supported.
Israel was seen as USA’s agent in the Middle East.
The traditional Arab states were regarded as most offensive.
Egypt and the radical states should be strong enough to resist an attack from US-backed Israel
These states were not to be strong enough to wipe out Israel. This meant a war with the US.
Soviet instructors emphasised fixed lines of defence and a rigid military doctrine.
They thought that the Egyptian forces were incapable of implementing a more refined tactic.
The Soviets did not provide the Egyptians with enough bombers to destroy Israeli cities.
Khrushchev denied the Egyptians surface-to-surface missiles which to use against cities.
The Six Days War 5-10 June
1967
Nasser ordered the UN to leave
Sinai
The
Syrians criticized him for doing too little for the Palestinians
The Soviet Intelligence Service
claimed incorrectly that an Israeli attack was imminent
Nasser
moved troops into Sinai And closed the Straits of Tiran
Jordan placed its armed forces
under Egyptian command
Israel mobilized and had to act
quickly for economical reasons
Lightening war against Egypt,
Sinai was conquered
An attack on Jordan almost without
air support, the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem were conquered
Syria was attacked and the Golan
Heights were conquered
Nasser was worried of losing his leading role in the Arab world and grabbed the initiative.
Egyptian troops were sent to Sinai.
The UN was requested to leave Sinai including Sharm-el-Sheikh.
The Straights of Tiran was blocked once again.
The Arabs seemed so superior that even Jordan joined the coalition.
Israel’s motives for a pre-emptive attack were
The blockade.
The offensive Arab military alliance
Nasser’s publicly declared intention to destroy Israel.
The war in the air
The Israeli Air Force wiped out all Egyptian bombers on the ground.
300 out of 500 fighters were destroyed on the ground as well.
The USSR refused to replace the lost aircrafts.
The Egyptians had not dispersed their aircrafts on the bases.
Nor had they moved any aircrafts out of reach for the Israelis.
Only twelve air planes defended Israel during this operation.
Later the Syrian and Jordanian Air Forces were wiped out the same way.
Israel no longer had to bother about air strikes at Israeli cities.
The Israeli Air Force could concentrate on supporting the ground troops.
Moreover the Arab air forces could not inflict damages on Israeli ground forces
The war on the ground
The Israelis attacked on three fronts.
The aim was to break through and reach the Suez Canal.
This would force the Egyptians to fight in an unfavourable position.
Sharm-el-Sheikh was captured by paratroopers and the navy.
The Egyptians had abandoned their positions.
The Egyptian HQ did not report about the disasters.
Nasser told his allies about glorious Egyptian victories.
The Egyptian army lost four-fifths of it’s equipment.
Israel captured so many tanks that they had a net gain after the war.
The war on the Central Front
Israel offered the Jordanians peace, but the Jordanians launched air raid instead.
Even Tel Aviv was shelled by ground forces.
The Jordanian Air Force was destroyed on the ground.
The Israeli army attacked Samaria from the North and the South.
Paratroopers were dropped outside Jerusalem.
The war on the Northern Front
The Israelis could not fight the Syrians and the Egyptians at full strength at the same time.
Initial Syrian passivity suited the Israelis perfectly.
The Israeli air strikes were heavier in Syria than in Sinai.
The decisive offensive started the 9th of June – the day before the war ended.
Ending the war
The US and USSR played a passive role bud did not forbid there allies to act
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq Libya and Algeria prohibited export of oil to the US and UK
This policy was ended before the oil weapon took effect
Effects of the war
The USSR provided Egypt with SAM-3 surface-to-air missiles.
These had never before been deployed outside the Soviet bloc
15 000-20 000 military advisors
The Egyptians were encouraged to attack over the Suez Canal
1968 Yassir Arafat became chairman of the PLO
PLO formed a state within the state in Jordan
1970 king Hussein proclaimed martial law and the PLO was kicked out
Syria assisted the PLO with tanks bur withdrew almost immediately
The PLO settled down in Lebanon
The PLO turned to act of terror: Hi-jacking and the attack in Munich 1972
The Black September
Confrontation and Attrition
The war 1967 was not decided by Israeli skill, but rather by Arab incompetence.
The victory made the Israelis take military superiority for granted.
The defeat made Nasser realize that something was fundamentally wrong in his forces.
The modernization of the Egyptian Army
The old officer class was abolished.
Competent men of humble background were granted promotion.
The relationship between the officers and enlisted men became closer.
The officers responsible for the disaster 1967 were court-marshaled
Soviet instructors and more modern equipment poured into Egypt.
The fighting continued after the ceasefire 1967
The Israeli destroyer Eilat was knocked out by a missile from an Egyptian ship
This marks the beginning of the use of missiles at sea.
Fedayeen attacks an Egyptian shelling was retaliated with Israeli counter strikes.
Even Egyptian cities were bombed.
The Russians provided Egypt with modern SAM-3 surface-to-surface missiles.
Nasser’s regime would never have survived if it would have been unable to protect people
The missiles were manned by Soviet crews
Over 100 fighter plans were sent to Egypt to protect the missiles.
The Israelis built fixed fortifications along the Suez Canal. The Bar Lev Line
1970 the Israelis launched a major strike at the PLO I Jordan.
The PLO moved east and was later fought by the Jordan army.
The PLO moved to Lebanon.
1970 Nasser died from a heart attack.
His supporter Anwar Sadat succeeded him.
Sadat threw out the Russian military men when the shipping of arms was delayed.
The shipping continued though.
The Russian sent Scud surface-to-surface missiles to prevent Israeli air strikes.
The October War 1973
The Egyptians and Syrians stroke at 1400 hours.
The Egyptians wanted to have the sun in their back.
An attack on Jom Kippur eased the Israeli mobilization when everybody was at home.
The Israeli intelligence thought that the Arabs not were able to wage a full-scale war.
Main differences compared to the Six Day War.
The Egyptian infantry had a lot of anti-tank missiles.
The Egyptians had plenty of anti-aircraft missiles.
The Egyptian Air Force had it’s planes in concrete hangars.
The Israelis never got complete air superiority.
The Israelis had to fight the Egyptians and the Syrians at the same time.
The Egyptians crossed the Suez Canal and broke through the Bar Lev Line on the first day.
An anticipated Israeli armoured counter strike was stopped.
The Egyptian ground troops went beyond the firing range of their anti-aircraft missiles.
The Israelis got air support and defeated the Egyptians.
The Israelis crossed the Suez Canal and advanced along the poorly defended west bank.
The Egyptian army in Sinai was about to be surrounded by the Israelis.
The Syrians ran out of ammunition which encouraged an Israeli counter strike
Lack of anti-aircraft missiles made it possible for the Israeli Air Force to operate.
The Russians replaced lost Syrian and Egyptian tanks.
Otherwise the two countries would have to surrender within a week
Crisis in the Lebanon
After the October War
The Israeli Military Intelligence was enlarged.
The IDF was strengthened and more units were maintained at full strength.
The Merkova tank and the Kfir aircraft were developed.
The Spirit of Israel changed and military rather than humanitarian solutions were sought.
1977 Anwar Sadat went to Israel.
Israel left the Sinai Peninsula in return for a peace-treaty with Egypt.
Israel lost the oil in El Tur but saved money on cuts in the military expenses.
Sadat became unpopular in Syria and Jordan.
He was assassinated 1981 by a domestic fanatic.
Egypt broke with the Soviets and approached the Western Powers.
The Egyptian armed forces now got their equipment from the West.
In the late 60s acts of terrorism were directed at Israeli targets outside Israel.
The Israelis refused all demands and then tracked down the terrorist for retribution.
1978 Israel invaded Lebanon to stop terrorist attacks from the north.
1981 an Iraqi nuclear reactor was destroyed by Israeli aircrafts.
Israel in Difficulty
In the 80s many acts of terrorism took place in Lebanon.
The Israelis withdrew finally 2000.
1987 the Intifada started
A true grass-roots movement
Little influence by ideology and existing Palestine organizations.
A never-ceasing rebellion.
The First Gulf War
Iran – 41 million inhabitants
The Shah wanted to establish military dominance in the region.
Modern weapons were bought from the West.
The Shah tried to westernize the Iranian society.
The Shah supported the Kurds in Iraq to destabilize the country.
There was an old boarder dispute in the south.
The attempts to westernize Iran turned the country into a police state.
The Shah was overthrown and replaced by Khomeiny.
The Islamic Republic was established.
The priests purged the army and set up the Revolutionary Guard.
This was a parallel politically reliable army.
Iraq – 14 million inhabitants.
The Baath Party established absolute power 1968.
The War 1980-88
The Iranian army could man only half of it’s tanks and aircrafts due to the purges.
The Iraqis had initial success, but the offensive was stopped later.
It was regarded as too risk and the Iraqis wanted to negotiate.
The Iranian priests needed the war to unite the people
The Revolutionary Guard fought gallantly in the cities.
The Iranians launched attacks towards Basra and Kirkuk.
The Second Gulf War 1991
The peace treaty with Iran enabled the Iraqis to attack Kuwait.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia demanded repayment of the loans given to Iraq during the war.
The Iraqi concentration of troops on the Kuwaiti border was seen as pure saber-rattling.
The US saw Saddam Hussein as mean of keeping Iran at bay.
Kuwait was occupied within hours and Arafat supported Saddam Hussein.
The US immediately sent troops to Saudi Arabia to “protect it from Iraqi aggression”.
The Iraqis launched missiles at Israel to shatter the coalition.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria would never fight on the same side as Israel.
Iraq had Soviet equipment but acted more defensive and immobile the Soviet doctrine said
The Iraqis hid behind a fixed fortified line and kept back their tanks in reserve.
The Iraqi air force was hidden, destroyed or went to Iran. It played a minor part.
The end of the Cold war changed the situation in the Middle East.
The Oslo Accord 1994
Israel recognized the PLO as representing the Palestinian people.
The PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist.
Iraq bordered two anti-American states: Syria and Iran, and was important to the US.
Iraq was partly a modern state.
The priests were preoccupied with spiritual matters only.
A modern education system and health system existed.
New Kinds of Conflicts
1993 the first attack on World Trade Center September 11 2001.
During the Gulf War ten percent of the bombs were smart.
The smart bombs inflicted 75 percent of the damages on the targets.
Saddam allowed Western journalists to work within Iraq during the war.
The revealed the civilian casualties and suffering.
Simultaneously the effects of the attacks were shown to Western intelligence officers.
Holy Land, Holy War
Terrorism in the Middle East has tree audiences
The home population: sees terrorism as faire avenge fore injustices inflicted on them.
The target population: should bee kept in constant fear of new attacks.
The world opinion: should be remembered of the terrorist’s cause.
Palestine Islamic Jihad
Wants an Islamic Palestine state without Israel’s destruction.
Shia-Muslims funded by Iran.
Is strongly religious and emphasizes martyrdom
Charity.
Hamas
Wants an Islamic Palestine state without Israel’s destruction.
Sunni-Muslims sided with Iraq.
2002 the Israelis destroyed the Palestinian authority on the West Bank.
Israel needs a certain amount of terrorism to get popular support of it’s hard line.
Terrorism must not go to far so that the Israeli government seems to be out of control.
Israeli organizations to secure the state of Israel
Mossad. Operates worldwide.
Shin Bet. Operates domestically.
Aman. The IDF’s organization for strategic organizations
The IDF’s Field Intelligence Corps
Was set up 2000 to organize counter terrorist attacks.
The strike against the refugee camp in Jenin is the most well known example.
Was counterproductive.
Encouraged more young men to become terrorists.
Have a lot of informers among the Palestinians.
High tech devices along the sealed off border to the West Bank