July 30 1970 – 26 Tammuz 5730
In a carefully planned operation, the Israel Air Force shot down five Soviet MiG fighter planes reinforcing the Egyptian army. As Egypt’s War of Attrition against Israel escalated after the Six-Day War, the USSR had rearmed its ally with a battalion, an anti-aircraft missile system, and three flight squadrons. Operation Rimon 20 was designed to preserve Israel’s air superiority by attacking Egyptian targets, thereby drawing the Soviets into aerial dogfight from which all Israeli planes returned intact. Humiliated, the Soviet Union subsequently curtailed its involvement on the Egyptian Israeli-border.
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