War of Attrition 1967-1970: Egypt and Israel on the Suez Canal

The War of Attrition was a limited but costly conflict fought mainly between Egypt and Israel along the Suez Canal from July 1967 to August 1970. Following Egypt’s defeat in the Six-Day War, it consisted of artillery duels, commando raids and air battles, and drew the Soviet Union directly into the fighting before a US-brokered ceasefire ended it.

Background

The Six-Day War left Israeli forces on the east bank of the Suez Canal, facing Egyptian troops on the west bank. The canal itself was closed to shipping, as it had been briefly after the Suez Crisis. Egypt’s president Gamal Abdel Nasser refused to negotiate directly with Israel and rejected a settlement that left Sinai occupied.

The Soviet Union quickly rebuilt Egypt’s shattered armed forces. Nasser’s strategy was to use Egypt’s advantage in artillery and manpower to inflict a steady stream of casualties on Israel, which was far more sensitive to losses, and so force it to withdraw or accept international pressure.

Early clashes, 1967–1968

Fighting began within weeks of the June ceasefire. In July 1967 Egyptian and Israeli forces clashed at Ras al-Ush near Port Fuad. On 21 October 1967 Egyptian missile boats sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat off Port Said, killing 47 sailors, the first sinking of a warship by ship-to-ship missiles. Israel responded by shelling the oil refineries at Suez.

Major artillery barrages in September and October 1968 caused heavy Israeli casualties. Israel answered with a commando raid deep inside Egypt and then built the Bar Lev Line, a series of fortified strongpoints along the canal named after chief of staff Haim Bar-Lev, completed in early 1969.

Full-scale attrition, 1969

On 8 March 1969 Egypt opened a massive artillery bombardment along the canal. The next day the Egyptian chief of staff, General Abdul Munim Riad, was killed by Israeli fire while visiting the front. Nasser publicly declared that a war of attrition had begun.

Israel used its air force as “flying artillery” from July 1969, attacking Egyptian gun positions, anti-aircraft batteries and radar sites along the canal. Israeli commandos raided Green Island in the Gulf of Suez in July 1969, and in September an Israeli armoured force landed on the Egyptian shore of the Gulf of Suez for a day-long raid. In December 1969 Israeli troops carried off an entire Soviet-made radar station by helicopter.

Deep raids and Soviet intervention, 1970

From January 1970 Israel began deep-penetration air raids against military targets in the Egyptian heartland, including near Cairo. On 8 April 1970 a bombing raid hit a school at Bahr el-Baqar in the Nile Delta, killing dozens of children; Israel said it had believed the site was military.

Nasser travelled secretly to Moscow and secured direct Soviet help. Soviet air-defence units with advanced SA-3 missiles and fighter squadrons flown by Soviet pilots deployed to Egypt, and Israel halted the deep raids in April. On 30 July 1970, in an ambush known as Operation Rimon 20, Israeli pilots shot down several Soviet-flown MiG-21s, usually given as five, without losses of their own.

Ceasefire

The United States, fearing a superpower clash, pressed both sides to accept an initiative by Secretary of State William Rogers. A 90-day ceasefire took effect at midnight on 7–8 August 1970. Almost immediately Egypt, with Soviet help, moved surface-to-air missile batteries forward into the canal zone, in violation of the standstill terms, according to Israel and the United States.

Nasser died on 28 September 1970 and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. The canal front remained quiet but heavily armed until October 1973.

By the numbers

Consequences

The war ended without territorial change, and both sides claimed success. Israel had held its line and inflicted heavier losses, but the strain of continuous casualties was felt deeply at home. Egypt had rebuilt its army’s morale and, crucially, extended its missile umbrella over the canal.

That umbrella allowed Egyptian forces to cross the canal in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, when the Bar Lev Line was overrun in the first hours. The War of Attrition also showed how deeply the superpowers had become entangled in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Timeline

• 1967, 1 July: Clash at Ras al-Ush near Port Fuad.
• 1967, 21 October: Egyptian missile boats sink the Israeli destroyer Eilat.
• 1968, autumn: Heavy Egyptian bombardments; construction of the Bar Lev Line begins.
• 1969, 8–9 March: Egypt opens a major barrage; General Riad is killed.
• 1969, July: Israel begins large-scale air attacks along the canal.
• 1970, January: Israeli deep-penetration raids begin.
• 1970, 30 July: Israeli pilots shoot down Soviet-flown MiG-21s.
• 1970, 7–8 August: A US-brokered ceasefire takes effect.

Why it matters

The War of Attrition kept the Arab-Israeli conflict burning between the wars of 1967 and 1973. It brought Soviet forces into direct combat with Israel and gave Egypt the air-defence shield that made its 1973 offensive possible.