Here comes another Arab-Israeli war

Anwar Sadat had a plan. He would “challenge the Israeli Security Theory by carrying out military action … aimed at inflicting the heaviest losses on the enemy ….” On October 6, 1973, a coalition of Arab armies led by Egypt and Syria attacked.

The Israelis defeated the invasion … decisively. But the 1973 war left the region unsettled, a dangerous hot spot. Henry Kissinger summarized the aftermath this way: “A stalemate in the Middle East marked by American incompetence …. Washington’s influence with Arab countries has dissipated … Egypt and Syria, in particular, became client states of the Soviet Union. The situation did not serve U.S. interests, nor ultimately those of Israel or the cause of peace in the region.”