Israel would have concluded its Sinai campaign according to schedule even if the Anglo-French forces had not intervened, Maj. Gen. Moshe Dayan, Israel’s Chief of Staff, declared at a press conference here today. He admitted that Anglo-French intervention had shortened the operation by a day or two and had had a major effect in keeping Israeli casualties to an extremely low figure.
He noted that except for scattered fedayeen operations, the other Arab states had failed to come to Egypt’s assistance and revealed that Israel’s army was ready to beat off-any attack from the combined forces of the neighboring Arab countries.
He said that Egypt, with about 40,000 troops in the Sinai Peninsula, had many more troops in the area of operation than did Israel. These forces were better equipped than the Israelis, he added. Asked about the relatively small number of prisoners taken by the Israelis, Gen. Dayan said that “we let them run away” because otherwise Israel would have had to take care of them for a long time.
He detailed Israel’s losses in the air as one Mystere jet, two Ouragons (an older type of French jet) and nine Mustangs (World War II American propeller driven craft.) Four of the Mustangs can be repaired, he said. The Egyptians lost five MIG’s two Vampires and two Meteors–all jet fighters.
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