War of Attrition

Lexicon of Terms

War of Attrition

The War of Attrition, from mid-1968 and until August 1970, was continuous, static, local fighting along the ceasefire borders of the Six Day War, focused around the Suez Canal. Its name was established by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who stated on June 23rd 1969: “I cannot take over Sinai, but I can break the spirit of Israel by attrition.” Egypt had superiority in strength, and Nasser, relying on weapon supply from the Soviet Union to deter Israel from a massive reciprocal attack, had hoped Israel will ultimately withdraw from the Suez Canal. When escalation of the war was noticed at the Egyptian front in October 1968 – the Bar Lev Line was installed.

In October 1968, the IDF attacked for the first time in Upper Egypt and destroyed the power station in Nag Hammadi. In March 1969 the Egyptians opened heavy artillery fire towards Israeli targets by the Canal. The Israeli Air Force began attacking Egyptian settlements along the Canal in July 1969, causing heavy damage and the flight of approximately 750,000 Egyptian citizens. The Soviet Union shipped masses of weapons and operating technicians to Egypt in late January 1970, including rockets, anti-aircraft warfare and a radar. In addition, intercepting aircrafts were delivered to Egypt with 15,000 Soviet military men, among them pilots.

The first encounter between Israeli aircrafts and the Russian MiGs took place in April 1970. In July, following Egypt’s acceptance of the Rogers Plan, Israeli pilots shot down five of these planes. Following these incidents, Moscow applied pressure on Egypt to agree to a ceasefire. After its acceptance – on August 7th 1970, with the mediation of the United States – the Egyptians violated the agreement by moving a missile battery within close proximity to the Canal. Israel, in return, temporarily suspended the mission of UN envoy Jarring.

The War of Attrition on the Jordanian border was mainly conducted by the PLO, with passive support from Jordan. The attacks on this front ended following the “Black September” events in 1970, after which the PLO was banished from Jordan by King Hussein.

721 Israeli citizens (594 of which in military service) were killed within state borders during the War of Attrition.