By John Maffre

Washington Post Staff Writer

Israel and the Arab states went to war at dawn yesterday for the third time in two decades, and by nightfall both sides were claiming significant military victories.

Despite vague and contradictory reports, Israel appeared to have scored heavily over its enemies in the battle for control of the air. The Israelis also penetrated Egyptian territory in the Gaza Strip and apparently in the Sinai Peninsula as well.

The Israelis claimed in a communique early Tuesday to have captured the Egyptian base of El Arish, the gateway to the Sinai Peninsula, and to have shot down or otherwise destroyed 374 Arab planes on all fronts in an “unprecedented” military victory for the loss of 19 planes.

Egypt, claiming to have lost only two aircraft, said she and her allies had brought down 161 Israeli planes, and that her armor had thrust into Israel halfway down the Sinai border between the two countries.

Early Tuesday morning the air war began again, according to Damascus Radio, which claimed the Syrian forces downed two of four Israeli jets that hit front-line Syrian positions. It added that Syrian artillery had begun shelling Israeli defensive positions in preparation for an attack.

Israel’s Prime Minister Levi Eshkol claimed “complete air supremacy” as his French-built Mirage and Mystere jets bombed and strafed airfields in Syria, Jordan and Egypt, meeting antiaircraft fire but — except for Egypt — little air interception.

However, Egypt with its larger complement of Russian-built planes — including several squadrons of Mig-21 fighters — was said to be getting another 43 of these planes being flown in from her ally, Algeria.

The Egyptian armed forces command in a broadcast over Radio Cairo that was monitored in Beirut, claimed that American and British planes provided fighter cover over Israel during raids by Israeli aircraft on Egypt.

The announcement said the supreme command had “actual proof” that American and British aircraft carriers played a direct role” in Jordan yesterday.

On the ground, apart from indecisive skirmishes in Jerusalem, fighting was generally restricted to relatively small-scale infantry and tank battles in which Egypt and Israel sought to control invasion routes on the Gaza Strip–Sinai border. Israel captured the strategic town of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.

Original Source

June 6, 1967 | © The Washington Post

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