Chief of Staff Gen. Chaim Bar Lev asserted yesterday in a broadcast interview that the Soviet Union had taken over the entire Egyptian air-defense system in certain areas. He said the new evidence of Soviet pilot activity on Egypt’s side can be added to previously known information that includes the Soviets’ appropriation of air-defense of the Soviet-installed SAM-3 ground-to-air missiles, the anti-aircraft guns guarding those missiles, the early-warning system and the control system. Gen. Bar Lev said the Soviet pilots are operating the known version of the MIG-21, with no MIG-23 as yet noticed by Israel. He said Israel had known of the pilots’ operational activities for two weeks, noting that they had been in Egypt for a long time before this month in supposedly advisory and instructional capacities. He added that there was even a crew of Russian pilots carrying out patrol and reconnaissance flights in the Mediterranean.
This build-up, the Chief of Staff remarked, has enabled Egypt to increase its military activity against Israel, the results of which had been felt by Israel even before the disclosure of the pilot operations. He stated that as long as Egypt continued to disregard the UN cease-fire, Israel would take any steps necessary to prevent the deterioration of its front lines. He said Israel had the capability of holding fast even in light of the new Soviet pilot involvement. A senior staff officer observed that the Soviets’, going so far as to assume combat duties on Egypt’s behalf, had apparently followed an Egyptian request to that effect as an alternative to re-embracing the cease-fire. The request came after 10 months of a “war of attrition” that had brought her no favorable results, the officer said, Apparently, not wanting to resume the cease-fire, Egypt had concluded that active Soviet aid was a necessity in the continuance of an anti-Israeli fighting. He estimated that the Egyptians, with Russian aid, have massed 700 tanks and 800 long-range guns along the Suez Canal.
The officer predicted that Soviet-operated planes would eventually approach the Suez Canal zone–thus nearing Israeli lines–because such a move would permit them their desired penetration into that region and would also give the Soviets and Egyptians leverage in attempts to force a pro-Arab political solution in the Mideast. The Soviets took over Egypt’s air defenses, the Israeli officer explained, in order to blunt Israeli Air Force power while re-igniting the failed “war of attrition.” He estimated the number of Soviet pilots in Egypt at a few dozen, adding that they had not yet engaged Israeli pilots in action. He asserted that the new developments would convince President Nixon to agree to immediate jet sales to Israel.
ARABS: ISRAEL’S CLAIM IS ‘PROPAGANDA’; WASHINGTON: 10,000 RUSSIAN PERSONNEL IN EGYPT
(According to reports from London, official Egyptian sources claimed today that Israel was spreading “propaganda” when it reported Russian pilots flying Egyptian aircraft on operational missions over Egypt. They alleged that Israel’s motives were to cover up losses suffered by recent Egyptian blows, to secure more military equipment from the United States and to reverse an anti-Israel trend in world public opinion.) (A spokesman for the Israeli Mission to the United Nations said in New York today that despite the protestations by the Arabs there has been no firm denial of the role of Russian pilots.) (A Foreign Ministry official said in Moscow today, “We cannot bother formally to deny such stupidities” as Israel’s charges of direct Soviet intervention. The Soviet press ignored reports from other capitals tending to confirm the activity of Russian pilots reported by Israel.)
Dr. Esmet Abdel Meguid, official spokesman for the Egyptian government, said in Cairo that “Israel’s campaign is a continuation of her aggressive policy and is aimed at getting further support from the United States.” The semi-official Middle East News Agency (MENA) alleged that “Israeli officials have become hysterical following the latest violent blows their troops suffered at Egypt’s hands.” The semi-official Cairo daily Al Ahram said “Israel, and the United States behind her, wants to distort the nature of the Mideast crisis which is a case of Israeli occupation of Arab land, to make it a case of a clash between American and Soviet interests in the area.” (Informed sources in Washington estimated yesterday that Russia has about 10,000 advisers and technicians in Egypt now compared to about 3500 at the beginning of the year. According to these sources, 1500 Russians arrived during February and March to install and operate the SAM-3 anti-aircraft missile bases. In the last month, 4000-5000 more military personnel, including an undetermined number of pilots and ground crewmen, arrived. They are said to have assumed primary if not total responsibility for Egypt’s air defense.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
