Battle of Latakia

The Battle of Latakia occurred on the night of October 6, 1973, the first day of the Yom Kippur War. The naval engagement takes it s name from Syria’s chief seaport on the Mediterranean Sea. It was fought between Israel and Syrian missile boats, the first battle between missile-firing ships in naval history.

Syrian had a reasonably strong navy, including several missile boats. These were considered the greatest danger to opposing forces.

The Egyptian and Syrian attack against Israel on October 6, 1973, caught Israel forces by surprise. Israel Navy missile boats (Saar and Reshef-class missile boats) put to sea that very evening to carry out a long-planned attack against units of the Syrian Navy.

Syrian missile boats engaged the attackers, in the first naval battle in history between missile-firing-ships, the Israelis defeated the incoming Syrian fire-and-forget Styx missiles.

The Israelis used jamming systems to confuse the Syrian’s Styx missiles and fired chaff (airborne debris) designed to set the missiles off prematurely (the missiles would hit the chaff instead of the Israel shisp and would blow up while still a safe distance away).

Israelis using their radar-guided Gabriel ship-to-ship missiles to destroy one Osa and two Komar class missile boats and a minesweeper. No Israel vessels were lost. The Syrian Navy then remained in port for the rest of the war.
Battle of Latakia

Battle of Ain-Jalut 1260 AD

The Mongol army of Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, pressed westward into Syria and Palestine after tis crushing victory over the Muslims of Baghdad.

With an army numbering around three hundred thousand men, Hulagu had been advancing across the Middle East since 1253.

In Persian he had destroyed the castles of the Ismailis sect, who had attempted to assassinate Great Khan Mongke, Hulagu cousin.

Then, he turned against the Abbasid caliphate, razed Baghdad, massacring 200,000 of its inhabitants and executing the caliph.

The Ayyubid caliph was also captured and the city of Aleppo conquered in 1260.

A Muslim Mamluks army of Egypt, which had been preparing to resist the Mongol advance, now swung over to the offensive.

The Sultan of Egypt, Sultan al-Muzaffar Sayf ad-Din Qutuz, strengthening the defenses of Cairo, preparing the city and its inhabitants to defend themselves to the death.

In July 1260, the Egyptian army marched north to confront the Mongols and Sultan Qutuz sent a message to the Franks in Care requesting safe passage and the provision of food.

Franks decided to side with Mamluks in this showdown between two heavyweight powers of the region and agreed to Qutuz’s request.

The battle of Ain-Jalut took place Friday 3 September 1260. The Mamluks approached from the north-west and the Mongols charged into them, destroying the Mamluk left plank.

But Qutuz rallied his troops and launched a counterattack that shook the Mongols. He then launched a frontal attack that led to a complete Mamluk victory.

The battle of Ain-Jalut, the first Mongol defeat in the West ended Hulagu’s invasion.

After the battle of Ain-Jalut, Mongol made only a few small invasions into Syria and never again threatened the Mamluks, who would continue to rule Egypt until eighteenth century.
Battle of Ain-Jalut 1260 AD

The defeat of Egyptian in the Battle of Carchemish

After the destruction of Nineveh in 612 by a combined Babylonian and Median army lead by Nabopolassar, the Assyrian dynast, Ashuruballit II, moved his capital to Haran.

This stronghold was then captured in 610. Ashuruballit was able to secure an alliance with Necho II of Egypt and continued to claim territory along the Upper Euphrates for the next several years. In 609 BC Necho II, grew fearful of the increasing threat of the Babylonians and moved up the coast of Palestine and Syria toward the site of Carchemish to assist the Assyrians.

Carchemish was located on the west bank of the Euphrates River in north Syria at the north end of a plain that ran the Euphrates. As the Assyrian empire declined, the Egyptians took control of Carchemish in 609 BC and made the city a base for launching raids against the Babylonians.

With the Egyptians moving to join the confrontation, Josiah, the pro-Babylonian king of Judah, attempted to intercept Necho II at Megiddo and was killed in the ensuing battle. Necho then continued on to Carchemish.

In the late spring of 605 BC, a surprise attack by Nebuchadnezzar II penetrated the city’s defense. The ensuing battle involved fierce hand-to-hand combat and the Egyptians were utterly routed.

In the May 605 BC, the remnants of the once ‘invisible’ Assyrian army were defeated. Necho’s, army included a large contingent of mercenary soldiers made up of Ethiopians, Libyans, and Lydian, but Necho’s efforts were not enough.

After heavy losses on both sides, the Egyptians army hastily retreated in disarray. The victory was achieved under the leadership of the crown prince, Nebuchadnezzar.

That battle marked the end of an era and signaled a major change on the political scene of the ancient Near East, a change that drastically altered the course of history for the kingdom of Judah.

In addition it also set the stage for an even larger Persian empire that will be succeed the short Neo-Babylonian period.
The defeat of Egyptian in the Battle of Carchemish

Battle of Carchemish

Carchemish means the city of Chemosh. Being a city named after or dedicated to a good, it was a holy city (Kadesh).

After the destruction of Nineveh in 612 BC by a combined Babylonian and Median army lead by Nabopolassar, the last Assyrian dynast, Ashuruballit II moved his capital to Haran. Haran stronghold was then captured in 610 BC.

In 609 BC the Egyptian pharaoh Neco II, fearful of the rapid advance of the Babylonians, moved up the Palestine coast and eastward toward Carchemish to assist the Assyrians.

The great struggle between the Egyptians and the Babylonians for the control of the wealth of the Jewish State of Judah eventually led to the war between two giants.

In a fierce battle at Carchemish, Neco and Assyrian face the Babylonians.

In 605 BC The Egyptians and Assyrians were defeated at the battle of Carchemish. The victory achieved under the leadership of the crown prince, Nebuchadnezzar.

Carchemish may be considered a major turning point in ancient Near Eastern history. It was after Egypt’s defeat at this famous battle of Carchemish that the Babylonians were established as the next world power to succeed the Assyrians that rule the whole of the Middle East.
Battle of Carchemish

Egyptians Soldier: Careers for Boys (1300 BC)

Egyptians Soldier: Careers for Boys (1300 BC)
The high spirited young man of Ancient Egypt had an outlet for his energies that promised excitement and a path for advancement.

For the Egypt of New Kingdom times had a large and well-trained army, which protected the frontiers and patrolled the pharaoh’s outlying lands. The King was the army’s commander in chief and often took to the field in person, with a bodyguard of chosen men, and officials to advise him.

Each division of the Egyptian army consisted of about 5000men. Four thousand of them were infantry troops who were subdivided into companies of 200 men. Companies, with names such as ‘Bull in Nubia’ and ‘Manifest in Justice’, were divided into unit of 50 soldiers.

The division’s remaining 1000 men formed a chariot wing of two man teams. They were also foreign mercenaries, often lightly armed skirmishers, who were particularly useful on frontier and desert patrol. Because of the good prospects it offered, the army was not usually short of volunteers.

In emergency however men could be conscripted and then one in a hundred were usually called up. New recruits had their hair cropped, and were issued with leather body armour, helmets and shields. They learned it use all the army’s weapon, but tended to specialize in one in particular, so that there were companies of spearmen, companies of the bowmen and so on.
Egyptians Soldier: Careers for Boys (1300 BC)