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Jordan June 1967 War and Aftermath
At the onset of the June 1967 War, Jordan had four infantry
brigades and one armored brigade in the Jerusalem-Ram Allah-Hebron
sector, two infantry brigades reinforced by armor and artillery in
the Nabulus area, and one infantry brigade and one armored brigade
in the Jordan River valley as reserve for the Nabulus forces. After
fighting from June 5 to June 7, the overwhelmed Jordanians were
forced to abandon Jerusalem and the entire West Bank, withdrawing
across the Jordan River to prevent the annihilation of their army.
The Jordanians fought tenaciously, but the Arab air forces were
destroyed on the first day of battle by continual Israeli air
attacks, leaving the Jordanian army without air cover. Mauled by
Israeli jets, those reserve armored units from the Jordan River
valley that were able to reach the battle zone were in poor
condition to support the infantry. In the Old City of Jerusalem,
where Israeli air power could not be brought to bear, Jordan's
defense caused almost half the Israeli casualties in the war.
Confusion and discord resulted from the Jordanian army's placement
under an Egyptian commander and from false reports received from
President Nasser claiming Egyptian successes in air and land
fighting. Expected reinforcements from Syria, Iraq, and Saudi
Arabia failed to reach the battle area in time, leaving the
Jordanian army to fight almost entirely alone. Jordan suffered
7,000 killed and wounded and the destruction of its entire air
force and 80 percent of its armor.
Since the June 1967 War, the Jordanian armed forces have not
been involved in major hostilities, except for the bloody internal
battles in 1970 and 1971 that ended with the withdrawal of the
PLO's fedayeen from Jordan. The Palestinians were armed with light
modern weapons and were entrenched in central Amman and in refugee
camps surrounding the city. During three days of stiff fighting in
September 1970, one Jordanian infantry division and one armored
division gradually gained control of the core of the city. But the
course of the conflict shifted when a Syrian division reinforced
with armor and a brigade of the Palestine Liberation Army crossed
the border at Ar Ramtha. Dug-in Jordanian tanks battered about 200
advancing Syrian tanks before retiring to new positions. The next
day Hawker Hunters of the Royal Jordanian Air Force decisively
blunted the Syrian attack against a new Jordanian defensive line.
The failure of the Syrians to commit their air force enabled the
Jordanians to turn back the invasion, taking a severe toll in
destroyed Syrian armor. Iraq had deployed a 12,000-man force near
Az Zarka but began to withdraw them on September 17, 1970.
Returning its attention to the entrenched PLO militias, the
Jordanian army was able to clear Amman and the city of Irbid, which
the PLO had also occupied, within a week. A fragile cease-fire was
negotiated with the help of surrounding Arab states but
intermittent fighting continued in early 1971. The remaining
fedayeen were gradually pushed back into a mountain defensive
complex in the north. A four-day attack launched in July 1971
resulted in the dispersal of the last PLO holdouts.
Jordan was not a formal belligerent in the October 1973 War
when Syria and Egypt joined in attacking Israel. Hussein was asked
to open a third front but merely placed his army on alert,
defending his action by claiming that Jordan had few combat
aircraft and no antiaircraft missile protection. By the fifth day
of fighting, the Syrian drive had been broken and Syrian troops,
abandoning their tanks and artillery, had fallen back to their
Golan Heights defensive line. Jordanian armor was moved into
position at the southern end of the line and, along with Iraqi
forces, took part in one limited attack before a United Nations
(UN) cease-fire commenced. Jordanian losses were twenty-eight
soldiers killed and eighteen tanks destroyed. The Jordanian forces
fought well but again lacked air cover, and their actions were
poorly coordinated with the Syrians and Iraqis.
Data as of December 1989
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