Imminence

• Author: Craig Forcese
• Pages: 221-231

221

Chapter 28

Imminence

We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.

— us national seCurity advisor Condoleezza riCe (2002)1

I 1967,  based in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan

mounted raids into Israel. These were followed by Israeli sor-

ties into Jordan and Syria. The Soviets supplied suspect intelli-

gence to the Arabs suggesting that Israel planned a broader campaign

against Syria. Egypt, then in a short-lived confederation with Syria,

indicated it would defend the Arab nation by all measures. Egyptian

president Gamal Abdel Nasser massed his forces on the Israeli bor-

der in May, formally requesting the exit of UN peacekeepers sta-

tioned in the Sinai Peninsula since the Suez Crisis. He closed the Gulf

of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, blockading the Israeli port city of Elat.

Later in May, Jordan and then Iraq entered a mutual defence pact,

swelling the troops under Egyptian command.

Then, on 5 June 1967, an Israeli surprise attack destroyed 90 per-

cent of the Egyptian air force on the ground, and incapacitated the

Syrian air force. Without air cover, the Egyptian army was defeated in

three days, and Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip. To

the east, Israel responded to Jordanian shelling by capturing the West

Bank, and to the north, it seized the Golan Heights from Syria. The UN

Security Council called for a ceasef‌ire. This was eventually accepted by