Israel’s wars

2010. április 18 22:58


 
   
Israel’s War of Independence (1947 – 1949)
 
In human terms, the War of Independence was Israel’s costliest war, with over 6,000 Israelis were killed and 15,000 wounded. The war consisted of 39 separate operations, fought from the borders of Lebanon to the Sinai Peninsula and Eilat.
 
 
 
 
   
The Sinai Campaign (Operation Kadesh – 1956)
 
The Sinai Campaign was fought to put an end to to the terrorist incursions into Israel and to remove the Egyptian blockade of Eilat.
 
 
 
 
   
The Six-Day War (June 1967)
 
Within the brief span of six days, the IDF overran the Sinai peninsula; took the entire West Bank of the River Jordan; and captured a great part of the Golan Heights. The culminating event was the capture of the Old City of Jerusalem.
 
 
 
 
   
The War of Attrition (1968-70)
 
Following the Six-Day War, a static exchange of artillery fire along the entire Bar Lev line on the Suez Canal, escalated into the War of Attrition.
 
 
 
 
   
The Yom Kippur War (October 1973)
 
The war, which started on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement, was the fiercest Arab-Israeli war since the 1948 War of Independence. Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, catching Israel off guard.
 
 
 
 
   
The Lebanon War: Operation Peace for Galilee (1982)
 
A ceasefire with Palestinian terrorists in Lebanon declared in July 1981 was broken: the terrorists continued to carry out attacks against Israeli targets in Israel and abroad, and the threat to the northern settlements became unbearable. On June 6, 1982, the IDF launched Operation Peace for the Galilee.
 
 
 
 
   
The Gulf War (1991)
 
In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and threatened to attack Israel with various types of weapons, including non-conventional ordnance. For the first time in Israel’s history, the entire country faced a real threat of destruction.
 
 
 
 
   
The Second Lebanon War (2006)
 
On July 12, 2006 eight IDF soldiers were killed and two kidnapped on the border with Lebanon, in an attack by the Hizbullah terror organization. The remains of Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Ehud Goldwasser and 1st Sgt.(res.) Eldad Regev, abducted in the attack on the IDF patrol jeep, were returned to Israel on July 16, 2008.