Prelude to war

An aerial dogfight between Syria and Israel in early April further divided the Arab world as well as increasing Arab–Israeli tension. It began with Israel's attempts to cultivate land in the Demilitarized Zone bordering Syria. The Syrians responded by firing on an Israeli tractor. This was answered by fire from the Israeli forces. Soon artillery, tanks and aircraft joined in. Six Syrian aircraft were shot down by Israeli fighter-planes, one of which went on to sweep over Damascus, triumphantly driving home Israel's victory over the Syrians.

The ease with which the Israelis had defeated the Syrians aroused grave concern in Jordan. It revealed the extent of Syria's military weakness and emphasized how hollow was its claim to be ready to fight a war of liberation on behalf of the Palestinian people.

At the same time, the Jordanians realized that the incident provided them with valuable ammunition against Egypt. They immediately grasped the opportunity to highlight what they saw as the hypocrisy of Egypt in failing to come to the aid of its ally, Syria. Radio Jordan condemned Nasser and pointed out that his boasts about the strength of his forces and his readiness to defend his Arab brethren were meaningless. The fight between the Syrians and the Israelis had lasted several hours yet Nasser had done nothing to help his ally. Even the Syrians accused him of failing to come to their aid. The Jordanians argued that for all his ranting Nasser was doing very little against his enemy.