Operation Priha

The Priha (Blossom) Operations were a series of strikes undertaken by the Israeli Air Force during the War of Attrition. Taking place between January and April 1970, the operations consisted of 118 sorties against targets in the Egyptian heartland. The strikes were carried out almost exclusively by the F-4 Phantom II, operated at the time only by the 201 "The One" Squadron and the 69 "Hammers" Squadron. Although tactically successful, the operations failed to achieve their objective of pushing the Egyptian government to sue for a ceasefire.

By the end of 1969 Israel had achieved aerial supremacy in its battle with Egyptian air defences along the Suez Canal. Israel, however, was incapable of translating its military achievements into diplomatic gains, and the war continued. To increase Egypt's cost of maintaining the war and compel it to seek a ceasefire, the Israeli government decided to take the war deeper inside Egyptian territory. These strikes were to take place within full view of the Egyptian public, as far as 100 miles from the Canal, with the expectation that mounting public pressure would force president Nasser to seek a ceasefire.

The expanding Soviet presence in Egypt and the increased likelihood of a confrontation with Soviet forces prompted the Israeli government to call off the Priha operations. Despite inflicting considerable damage on Egypt, the bombing campaign only brought the Egyptian public together behind their government. Instead of bringing Egypt to the negotiating table, it had quite the opposite effect. Humiliated and angry, Nasser turned to Moscow for additional support and weapons, drawing the Soviet Union further into the conflict. Instead of facilitating a ceasefire, the Priha operations in fact increased tensions and led to further escalation in the War of Attrition.

In his memoirs, Yitzhak Rabin, at the time Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., reports that he urged the Israeli government to initiate Operation Priha and credits the strikes inside Egypt with fortifying the United States in their negotiations with the Soviets. He writes, "From then on, the American Administration was gradually to shake free of the depressing feeling that it was backing the loser in the Middle East".

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Wikipedia