The Yom Kippur War was fought in 1973 between Israel and its Egyptian and Syrian allies. The war ended a ceasefire that had existed since 1970. Egypt and Syria were fighting to regain territory lost in the 1967 Six-Day War against Israel. Israel won the war in 19 days, but faced negative effects afterwards. The conflict heightened international desire for subsequent Egyptian-Israeli peace. The UN peace deal did not address the status of the Palestinian people living in the Israeli-occupied territories.
The Yom Kippur War was a 1973 war fought between Israel and its Egyptian and Syrian allies. The war ended a ceasefire in the Middle East that had existed since 1970 when Egyptian and Syrian militaries surprised Israeli forces on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. Egypt and Syria were fighting to regain territory they had lost as a result of their defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War against Israel. While Israel won the Yom Kippur War in 19 days, it faced domestic and international negative effects afterwards. The Cold War overtones of the conflict may have heightened international desire for subsequent Egyptian-Israeli peace.
Israel has taken new territories since its victory in the Six-Day War, including the Golan Heights that had once belonged to Syria and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The leaders of Egypt and Syria joined forces shortly before the war, but for different reasons. Egypt hoped to make Israel recognize her strength to force a peace deal. The Syrian president sought political prestige at home by retaking the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Yom Kippur War began when the armies of the two countries attacked under joint command on October 6, 1973.
During the early days of the Yom Kippur War, the Arab armies of Egypt and Syria appeared to have won quick victories with their rapid advances. Indeed, Israel had been caught off guard by automatically assuming its military superiority. Thus, billions of dollars of US military aid soon strengthened the position of the Israel Defense Forces and held back further Arab advances. Despite Soviet aid given to Egypt, an Israeli counterattack drove back both the Egyptian and Syrian armies. As the Yom Kippur War threatened to become a conflict between the nuclear powers of the United States and the Soviet Union, the two powers pressed for a new ceasefire at the United Nations (UN).
United Nations Security Council Resolution 338 formally ended the Yom Kippur War on October 22, 1973. U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger later helped negotiate military disengagement between Israel and Syria. While Israel had won by driving back both armies, the high cost of the war caused economic turmoil in that country and Israel faced international isolation. Political parties in Israel also went through a period of infighting after the war. Also, the UN peace deal did not address the status of the Palestinian people living in the Israeli-occupied territories, which has become a more contentious issue since the war.
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