Syrians break through in the Yom Kippur War

What if the Syrians had broken through the Israeli defenses in the Golan heights in the Yom Kippur War and crossed the Jordan river? Would the Israelis have used nuclear weapons? If so, what would they have nuked and what would the political aftereffects of such a decision have been?
 
The Syrian army was better at politics tahn fighting so I doubt they'd get too far beyond Golan.

The Egyptians will be under much less pressure however, OTL they begged the Syrians to grow a pair of balls and help them out a little. However the Syrian's were willing to fight to the last Egyptian, and only wanted to grab Golan back while the IDF was distracted.

If Syria attacks however Eygpt is in a much better position, they did well in the Yom Kippur War, and if Isreaili losses became too high the Isrealli's goverment may sue for peace.
 

Hashasheen

Banned
If Syria attacks however Eygpt is in a much better position, they did well in the Yom Kippur War, and if Isreaili losses became too high the Isreali's goverment may sue for peace.
Hell no! Israel can't sue for peace because of the simple fact that with the Arabs at the time and even today in some groups its= "No Israel" or "We try again"
 
they effectivly did, as a matter of fact. They pinned down the 7th armored brigade and broke the Burak, and were in a more dangerous position to the Israelis than the Egyptians.
 
Hell no! Israel can't sue for peace because of the simple fact that with the Arabs at the time and even today in some groups its= "No Israel" or "We try again"

No, not in that war the Egyptian leadership were realists, they had limited objectives as they couldnt wipe out. Their goal was to retake lost territory.

Israel may have offered them their land back to end the war if things were going badly and Egypt made their objective clear.


they effectivly did, as a matter of fact. They pinned down the 7th armored brigade and broke the Burak, and were in a more dangerous position to the Israelis than the Egyptians.

I know but the Egyptians were willing to fight, the Syrians wernt they let Egypt take on the IDF alone. As I said if they'd growen a pair things may have went rather diffrently. The Syrains were likely going to get mauled either way.

Egypt may have won the war in the south however.
 
No, not in that war the Egyptian leadership were realists, they had limited objectives as they couldnt wipe out. Their goal was to retake lost territory.

Israel may have offered them their land back to end the war if things were going badly and Egypt made their objective clear.




I know but the Egyptians were willing to fight, the Syrians wernt they let Egypt take on the IDF alone. As I said if they'd growen a pair things may have went rather diffrently. The Syrains were likely going to get mauled either way.

Egypt may have won the war in the south however.
I suspect that the best case for the arabs would be for the Syrians to be that little more threatening in the north (maybe Lebanon or Jordan threaten to join the party). Israel basically throws its reserves north at the Syrians, and beats them back past the golan. They win a decisive victory in the north, but are faced witht he prospect of Egyptians almost regaining the Siani. Then Israel is faced with the prospect of a negotiated ceasefire (possible, but does Meir know that?) which probably involves giving back the Siani or a prolonged war as they try to drive the Egyptians out (Egypt was not particularly good, but they were better than the Syrians; Israel might beat them, but it would be tough, and they cannot afford the war to drag on to long).

Of course, if Israel goes with the nuclear option at some point, obviously the aftermath will be somewhat different.
 
I suspect that the best case for the arabs would be for the Syrians to be that little more threatening in the north (maybe Lebanon or Jordan threaten to join the party). Israel basically throws its reserves north at the Syrians, and beats them back past the golan. They win a decisive victory in the north, but are faced witht he prospect of Egyptians almost regaining the Siani. Then Israel is faced with the prospect of a negotiated ceasefire (possible, but does Meir know that?) which probably involves giving back the Siani or a prolonged war as they try to drive the Egyptians out (Egypt was not particularly good, but they were better than the Syrians; Israel might beat them, but it would be tough, and they cannot afford the war to drag on to long).

Of course, if Israel goes with the nuclear option at some point, obviously the aftermath will be somewhat different.

Egyptian army crossed the Suez, repelled the initial (and expected) Israeli counter attack then dug in and waited under SAM umbrella. When Syrians were getting mauled in the north Egyptians, after much Syrain proding, moved out, which was a disaster for them.

Until that time Egypt achieved their military goals, except for heliborne assault on Mitla and Klidi(?) pass which was not such a disaster after all.

After IDF initially threw their strength at Egyptians they realised that Syrians were far more dangerous, due to simple fact that Syrian breakthrough would
allow them to threaten Israel proper while Egyptian breakthrough/advance would only get them into Sinai, which was a good buffer.

Egyptian actions, most notably the digging in and waiting, also showed Israelis that Egypt had limited objectives so they knew that Egyptians could be left alone while Syrians could not.
 
True but rember this was the first time an Arab army had showed it knew what it was doing . Rember they had to cross a canal under enenmy fire and did it and did it well . There airforce new they were no match for the IDF so they were useing the sams they had to stop the IDF Air Force and they did until they went forward again out of SAM Range .
And that war was very tight for the IDF they lost a lot of Poilts and low lev officers .
I understand early the second day there was talk that the goverment was going to anunce Masada had fallen .
The Family and I were visting some friends of mine in the Goldan hights area when the War Started . And I rember how scared my wife and kids were when we came under arty attack . I got my friends wife and kids along with my family out of there that day . I ended up staying and working on IDF tanks as a mecanic and almost got court marshaled for do so while on leave . The Worst part the US Said to me was I was wereing my combat fatiges with US rank and patchs on it .
 
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