What happens if the Israelis either wipe out the Third Army, go for Cairo (only 100 klicks), or assassinate Sadat? Assuming that the US turns a blind eye. Only this- no Israel-bashing please...
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What happens if the Israelis either wipe out the Third Army, go for Cairo (only 100 klicks), or assassinate Sadat? Assuming that the US turns a blind eye. Only this- no Israel-bashing please...
What happens if the Israelis either wipe out the Third Army, go for Cairo (only 100 klicks), or assassinate Sadat? Assuming that the US turns a blind eye. Only this- no Israel-bashing please...
The soviets had replaced most of the Syrian tank losses by this time, and the Iraqis had sent a division plus ,and the jordanians two brigades, the saudis and gulf states various units.
On paper the Syrians were actually stronger by Oct 22nd than they were at the start of the war. They may have done something.
Yeah but they were a beaten force already, all that required Israel to do was to mount counter attacks to seize all of the Golan. All the rearming did was to ensure the Israelis could not march on Damascus unopposed.
BTW the Iraqis at this time were next to useless.
The Syrians, with Iraqi and Jordanian support, may have been stronger on paper but Soviet resupply didn't replace everything lost, particularly the many hundreds of BMPs, and it certainly didn't replace trained manpower lost.
Also, at the start, Syria suffered a bloodbath at the hands of one complete Israeli brigade and one partial brigade so what were the chances of this force proving more effective without surprise and against an Israeli force vastly superior to that faced when the war began?
To Syria, yes, the attack would have been probably catastrophic, especially as it is extremely doubtful that the Jordanians would allow two of their finest brigades to be thrown away by a regime which had invaded Jordan only three years earlier.
And nothing short of lunacy would explain a Syrian decision to launch a weaker attack on a much stronger opponent without surprise and without the more powerful ally of Egypt.