Although there was never an overt war between Israel and the Soviet Union, the secret military battle between the two sides lasted for decades.
The Soviet Union and Israel originally had a very strong relationship, and in 1948 the State of Israel established the Soviet Union, which was one of the first countries to recognize Israel's independence. But the situation in the Middle East was too complicated, the honeymoon between the two sides ended quickly, after the war between Israel and the Arab countries, the Soviet Union chose to support the Arab countries, and Israel could only seek help from the United States.
Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet Union provided Arab countries with a large amount of money, new weapons and military advisers and even combatants. Although Israel and the Soviet Union never declared war on each other, soldiers from both countries fought each other on more than one occasion on the battlefields of the Middle East.
Soviet soldiers and Israeli soldiers
< H1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Israel hunted down the Soviet Air Force</h1>
During the 1967-1970 war between Israel and Egypt, the Egyptian Air Force was quickly crippled by the Israeli Air Force, and Egypt's industrial targets and power facilities were bombed by the Israeli Air Force. As an ally of Egypt at that time, the Soviet Union said that it could not bear it at all, and decided to personally help Egypt get out of the predicament.
Soviet air defense units and S-75 surface-to-air missiles secretly came to Egypt and deployed in the Alexandria, Cairo and Aswan regions, respectively. The Soviet fighter jets were disassembled and airlifted to Egypt by the large transport aircraft An-12, where they were reassembled, assembled, and then sprayed with the livery of the Egyptian Air Force. The Soviet fighter pilots took off their nameplates and changed into Egyptian uniforms, and before leaving for Egypt, their commanders informed them: Comrades, remember that if you die on the other side of the Suez Canal, the Soviet Union will not recognize your existence.
Egyptian warplanes
Israeli secret service organization Mossa agents soon discovered the arrival of Soviet pilots, at first, the two sides did not break out of direct conflict, Soviet fighters only scanned and locked Israeli fighters, did not launch missiles, hoping to play a role in deterring the Israeli Air Force, in the face of the powerful Soviet army, but Israel did not reduce the frequency of bombing egypt, Soviet fighters finally went to war with Israel, shooting down several Israeli Air Eagle fighters.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the Israeli Army's Limon 20 plan</h1>
Israel decided to lure the enemy into battle to hurt the Soviets at once. On July 30, 1970, a flight team of 12 Mirage fighters and 4 phantoms entered Egyptian airspace under the control of experienced Israeli ace pilots.
An Egyptian warplane shot down
After entering Egyptian airspace, Israeli fighters kept flying at ultra-low altitudes and as close to each other as possible, a tactic that could blind enemy forces and thus mask the true number of their own aircraft. Egyptian radar showed that the Israeli army had arrived with only a few fighters. The Soviet army's 24 MiG-21S fighters immediately stepped forward to meet the enemy, and after the radar of the fighters showed that the Soviet planes were hooked, they immediately entered the pre-designed combat position, and the 24 MiG fighters were suddenly packed by Israeli fighters from all directions, and the Israeli army quickly took down four MiGs in a quick and decisive manner and immediately withdrew from the battlefield.
After the news of MiG's shooting down by the Israeli army reached Moscow, the Soviet Union decided to immediately stop the pilots' military operations in Egypt and withdraw them to the country, the Israeli Air Force still dominated Egypt's airspace, and the helpless Egyptians could only sign an armistice treaty with Israel.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the Defense of Syria</h1>
In the face of the powerful Israeli Air Force, Syria, another ally of the Soviet Union, was equally powerless, and like Egypt, Syria urgently needed the Soviet umbrella.
In 1982, after defeating the Syrian Air Force, the Israeli Air Force had no opponents over the Syrian border, and the Syrian troops and military facilities deployed on the Syrian border were indiscriminately bombed by Israel. In order to suppress the Israeli Air Force, the Soviet Union once again attacked the Middle East, and the Soviet Union's latest development of the S-200 surface-to-air missile defense system was shipped to Syria, which can identify enemy aircraft 180 kilometers away and carry out accurate strikes.
In September 1983, the Israeli E2 Hawkeye AWACS aircraft, escorted by a group of fighter jets, came to the Syrian border again, and the S-200 air defense system identified the aircraft as a rapid missile firing down by a military AWACS aircraft.
Soviet soldiers in Syria
In addition to the battles between Israeli and Soviet military personnel in the air, there were many exchanges of fire on the ground. On July 20, 1982, on the side of the road from Damascus to Beirut, the base where the Soviet and Syrian signal technicians were located was attacked by the Israeli army, and the two sides exchanged fire, during which two Syrian officers and two Soviet military advisers were killed by the Israeli army.