Six-Day War

==== Israelis debate whether the Golan Heights should be attacked ====
On 7 and 8 June, the Israeli leadership debated about whether to attack the Golan Heights as well. Syria had supported pre-war raids that had helped raise tensions and had routinely shelled Israel from the Heights, so some Israeli leaders wanted to see Syria punished.{{Sfnp|Oren|2002e|loc=Section "The War: Day Five, June 9"}} Military opinion was that the attack would be extremely costly since it would entail an uphill battle against a strongly fortified enemy. The western side of the Golan Heights consists of a rock escarpment that rises 500 meters (1700&nbsp;ft) from the [[Sea of Galilee]] and the [[Jordan River]], and then flattens to a gently sloping plateau. Dayan opposed the operation bitterly at first, believing such an undertaking would result in losses of {{gaps|30|000}} and might trigger Soviet intervention. Prime Minister [[Levi Eshkol|Eshkol]], on the other hand, was more open to the possibility, as was the head of the Northern Command, [[David Elazar]], whose unbridled enthusiasm for and confidence in the operation may have eroded Dayan's reluctance.{{Cn|date=June 2022}}

Eventually, the situation on the Southern and Central fronts cleared up, intelligence estimated that the likelihood of Soviet intervention had been reduced, [[reconnaissance]] showed some Syrian defences in the Golan region collapsing, and an intercepted cable revealed that Nasser was urging the President of Syria to immediately accept a cease-fire. At 3&nbsp;am on 9 June, Syria announced its acceptance of the cease-fire. Despite this announcement, Dayan became more enthusiastic about the idea and four hours later at 7&nbsp;am, "gave the order to go into action against Syria"{{Efn|Israel clearly did not want the US government to know too much about its dispositions for attacking Syria, initially planned for June 8, but postponed for 24 hours. It should be pointed out that the attack on the Liberty occurred on June 8, whereas on June 9 at 3&nbsp;am, Syria announced its acceptance of the cease-fire. Despite this, at 7&nbsp;am, that is, four hours later, Israel's minister of defense, [[Moshe Dayan]], "gave the order to go into action against Syria.<ref>{{harvp|Lenczowski|1990|pp=105–115}}, citing Moshe Dayan, ''Story of My Life'', and [[Nadav Safran]], ''From War to War: The Arab–Israeli Confrontation, 1948–1967'', p.&nbsp;375</ref>}}{{Sfnp|Oren|2002e|loc=Section "The War: Day Five, June 9"}} without consultation or government authorisation.{{Sfnp|Morris|2001|p=325}}

The Syrian army consisted of about {{gaps|75|000}} men grouped in nine brigades, supported by an adequate amount of artillery and armour. Israeli forces used in combat consisted of two brigades (the [[8th Armored Brigade (Israel)|8th Armored Brigade]] and the [[Golani Brigade]]) in the northern part of the front at [[Givat HaEm]], and another two (infantry and one of Peled's brigades summoned from Jenin) in the centre. The Golan Heights' unique terrain (mountainous slopes crossed by parallel streams every several kilometres running east to west), and the general lack of roads in the area channelled both forces along east–west axes of movement and restricted the ability of units to support those on either flank. Thus the Syrians could move north–south on the plateau itself, and the Israelis could move north–south at the base of the Golan escarpment. An advantage Israel possessed was the intelligence collected by [[Mossad]] operative [[Eli Cohen]] (who was captured and executed in Syria in 1965) regarding the Syrian battle positions. Syria had built extensive defensive fortifications in depths up to 15 kilometers.{{Sfnp|Hammel|1992|p=387}}

As opposed to all the other campaigns, IAF was only partially effective in the Golan because the fixed fortifications were so effective. However, the Syrian forces proved unable to put up effective defence largely because the officers were poor leaders and treated their soldiers badly; often officers would retreat from danger, leaving their men confused and ineffective. The Israelis also had the upper hand during close combat that took place in the numerous Syrian bunkers along the Golan Heights, as they were armed with the [[Uzi]], a [[submachine gun]] designed for close combat, while Syrian soldiers were armed with the heavier [[AK-47]] assault rifle, designed for combat in more open areas.{{cn|date=June 2022}}