The Israeli forces were exhausted, some running out of ammunition. On the third day, the Syrians made another effort to break through the Israeli lines. They hit some of the Israeli vessels but did not bring them surrender or retreat.

During the second night, the Syrians deployed anti-tank missiles. The Israeli depleted forces at the northern frontier kept fighting to prevent the Syrian army from advancing. Israeli reserve forces that arrived were sent to the southern sector of the Golan Heights, where the situation was worse. On the second day the Syrians condensed the armored forces and intensified the attack. Even at night, despite the lack of night vision devices, Israeli forces managed to stop the progress of the Syrians. The assault was accompanied by heavy artillery, but despite the surprise, the Israeli ground forces managed to hold out in the first hours. Being so, the Syrian planned to make it one of the main penetration routes. The 3 miles ‘Valley of Tears’, in the northern part of the Golan, is a relatively flat terrain, a preferred landscape for armored attack. The Israeli intelligence failed to anticipate the assault, and so the forces on were depleted, also because of the holiday. The Yom Kippur war broke out towards the end of the holiday’s fast, on October 6, 1973, at 2:00 p.m.

New tank battle Syria