Key Events

Events leading up to the war: Sadat declared that Egypt was prepared to "sacrifice a million Egyptian soldiers" to recover its lost territory. From the end of 1972, Egypt began a concentrated effort to build up its forces, receiving Mig-21 jet fighters, SA-2, Sa-3, Sa-6 and SA-7 antiaircraft missiles, T-55 and T-62tanks, RPG-7antitank weapons, and the AT-3 Sagger anti-tank guided missles from the Soviet Union and improving itsMilitary Tatics based on Soviet battlefield doctrines.

Surprise attack: Since they had not received MiG-23s, and Scud missiles had only arrived in Egypt from Bulgaria in late August and it would take four months to train the Egyptian ground crews, Aman predicted war with Egypt was not imminent.For the week leading up to Yom Kippur, the Egyptian army staged a week-long training exercise adjacent to the Suez Canal. Israeli intelligence, detecting large troop movements towards the canal, dismissed these movements as mere training exercises. Movements of Syrian troops towards the border were also detected, as were cancellation of leaves and a call-up of reserves in the Syrian army.

It was assumed that Israel's intelligence services would give, in the worst case, about 48 hours notice prior to an Arab attack.