Yesterday was, and is still, a very remarkable day in the modern حديث history of Egypt. On Saturday the 6th of October, 1973 Egypt and Syria launched a massive surprise attack هجوم on the Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. The war is also known as the Ramadan War as it took place on the 10th of Ramadan, the holy month in the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast. In Israel, it is called the Yom Kippur War because it happened on the Kippur Day; the holiest day in Judaism اليهودية. It is the fourth Arab-Israeli war in their sixty years of conflict صراع .
Egyptian and Syrian armed forces crossed the ceasefire lines to enter the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights respectively, which had been captured and occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War. The conflict led to a near-confrontation between the two superpowers; the United States and the Soviet Union, who both initiated a massive re-supply efforts to their allies حُلفاء during the war. Egypt and Syria also had a great support and backing from a coalition of the Arab States.
The war began with a massive and successful ناجح Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal under heavy cover of air and missile strikes. The Syrians coordinated their attack on the Golan Heights to coincide with the Egyptian offensive. The two Arab armies initially made threatening gains against the greatly outnumbered Israelis. Within a week, Israel recovered and launched a four-day counter-attack هُجوم مُضاد driving deep into Syria. To relieve that pressure ضغط , the Egyptians decided to go back on the offensive but were unsuccessful because they went farther than the limits of their air and missile cover. Some Israeli unit used a gap ثغرة between the Egyptian armies and crossed the Suez Canal to the west bank near Suez. The Israeli crossing led the Egyptian Third Army الجيش الثالث to be cut of supplies and be trapped in Sinai; a thing which complicated the situation and provoked the Soviets. As a result of this development and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, the United Nations الأمم المتحدة imposed a ceasefire on 25th October to end the war and to start direct negotiations مُفاوضات .
The war had far reaching implications. The Arabs were psychologically satisfied after their victory in 1973. The United States initiated new efforts at mediation and peacemaking. President Sadaat took a historical step and decided to visit Israel. All these changes paved the way for the subsequent peace process عملية السلام . The Camp-David Accords اتفاقية كامب ديفيد that followed led to the return of all the Sinai land to Egypt and normalized relations. Israel gained the first peaceful recognition اعتراف by an Arab country. The 6th of October was declared an Egyptian national holiday and is celebrated every year by the Egyptian Armed Forces and people.
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– Adapted and translated from Wikipedia.
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