Ferocious tank battles in Sinai

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33360, 19 October 1973, Page 11

Ferocious tank battles in Sinai

( N .Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, October 18. . Hundreds of tanks are today reported to be fighting ferociously for the third successive day over a strip of wasteland seen as the gateway to the heart of the binai Peninsula.

c' • , c^a * ms heavy Israeli losses in the battle, which the Ca!ro daily, “Al Ahram,” says has turned the central sector of the Sinai front into an “inferno.”

Cairo military commentators consider control of this sector vital, as it is the most suitable area in the Sinai for large troop and tank movements Latest Israeli communiques say that the Sinai, and also the Syrian front, were calm overnight. But there are signs that the focus in the war has changed to Sinai. Israeli staff officers say some of the biggest tank tattles in history are taking place in the Sinai. “The big effort at the moment is here

on the Suez Canal," said the Chief of Staff (General David Elazar) after a trip to Sinai yesterday. The Minister of Defence (General Moshe Dayan) also visited the area. Israel reported destroying 90 to 100 tanks during armoured battles on both sides of the canal. Egypt says its troops shot down 21 planes and inflicted “great osses” in armour.

Egypt describes the fighting, still going on early today, as a major Israeli offensive, but the Israelis say they are just trying to contain an Egyptian counter-attack. Israel says its Navy was

in action last night in the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez, attacking Egyptian naval and military targets. Soviet persuasion Henry Tanner, of the “New York Times” writes from Cairo (through N.Z.P.A.): The Soviet Union has begun highlevel efforts to persuade Syria and Egypt to use their military successes as a lever to bring about a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict by diplomatic means, according to informed diplomats in Cairo. The Soviet initiative was started last night in contacts between Soviet leaders and President Sadat of Egypt. The Soviet Union, diplomats say, is telling the two Arab States, in effect, that the advance of the Egyptian Army into the Sinai, and the losses inflicted on the Israeli forces by Syria, have changed the military balance in the Middle East and thus made diplomatic action possible. Before the change in the military balance occurred, the Arabs had no leverage for diplomatic action. But now, the Soviets say, the Arabs can muster enough pressure on the United States and Israel to make diplomatic action profitable. Digging in From Syria Richard Gross, of United Press International, writes (through N.Z.P.A.): Large numbers of high-rank-ing Israeli officers bouncing across the rough Syrian terrain in white staff cars yesterday produced the first strong indication that the Israelis have decided to dig in. So far, the Israelis have seized a fist-shaped piece of territory from Syria that amounts to about 300 square miles. The Israelis hold a line 15 miles long and 20 miles wide. The spearhead of that thrust was aimed north-east at Damascus, but stopped about halfway, at the town of Sasa.