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The Arab-Israeli Wars were a series of wars between Israel and various Arab states in the Middle East since the founding of the state of Israel 1948. The first Arab-Israeli War occurred between the 15th of May 1948 and March 1949. As soon as the independent state of Israel had been proclaimed by the Jews, it was invaded by combined Arab forces. The Israelis defeated them and went on to annex territory until they controlled 75% of what had been Palestine under British mandate. The second Arab-Israeli War broke out on the 29th of October 1956 and lasted until the 4th of November. After Egypt had taken control of the Suez Canal and blockaded the Straits of Tiran, Israel, with British and French support, invaded and captured Sinai and the Gaza Strip, from which it withdrew under heavy US pressure after the entry of a United Nations force.
The third Arab-Israeli War (known as the Six Day War) occurred between the 5th and the 10th of June 1967. It resulted in the Israeli capture of the Golan Heights from Syria; the eastern half of Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan; and, in the south, the Gaza Strip and Sinai peninsula as far as the Suez Canal.
The fourth Arab-Israeli War (known as the 'October War' or Yom Kippur War, so called because the Israeli forces were taken by surprise on the Day of Atonement, a Jewish holy day) took place from the 6th to the 24th of October 1973. It started with the re-crossing of the Suez Canal by Egyptian forces who made initial gains, though there was some later loss of ground by the Syrians in the north. The war had 19,000 casualties.
From 1978 the presence of Palestinian guerrillas in Lebanon led to Arab raids on Israel and Israeli retaliatory incursions, hostilities which are known as the fifth Arab-Israeli War, but on the 6th of June 1982 Israel launched a full-scale invasion. By the 14th of June Beirut was encircled, and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Syrian forces were evacuated (mainly to Syria) during August, but in February 1985 there was a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the country without any gain or losses incurred. Israel maintains a 'security zone' in southern Lebanon and supports the South Lebanese Army militia as a buffer against Palestinian guerrilla incursions.
 Research Arab-Israeli Wars
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Abbreviations
Warfare
