June 7–8, 1967 · Southern Sinai / Red Sea Theater
June 7–8, 1967
Sharm el-Sheikh — the Egyptian position at the southern tip of the Sinai controlling the Straits of Tiran — was the geographic casus belli of the war. Nasser's closure of the straits to Israeli shipping on May 22 had triggered the crisis. Israeli forces reached Sharm el-Sheikh by a combination of land advance down the Sinai's western coast and a naval landing. The Egyptian garrison had largely withdrawn or surrendered by the time Israeli forces arrived. A small Israeli flotilla entered the straits to demonstrate freedom of navigation.
Commanders