Six days that shook the Middle East
In June 1967, catastrophic brinkmanship between Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Israel – with Moscow manoeuvring behind the scenes – saw local tensions escalate into all-out conflict. Matthew Hughes details day by day how the Six-Day War unfolded...
The countdown to war
On 7 April 1967, Israeli Mirage warplanes shot down six Syrian air force MiGs in a dogfight over southern Syria, one downed jet falling onto the Syrian capital, Damascus.
This was the latest escalation along Israel’s borders with its Arab neighbours, where there had been cross-border skirmishes ever since Israel’s formation in 1948. The humiliating loss of the Syrian jets would escalate to another Arab-Israeli conflict: the Six-Day War of June 1967.