Tel Azaziat
Encyclopedia
Tel Azaziat is a hill in Upper Galilee
in northern Israel
, 330 m above sea level, 1.5 km east of moshav
She'ar Yashuv
, 1.5 km south east of kibbutz
Dan and 2 km west of Tel Faher
. The basalt
hill was a Syrian military outpost built within the DMZ, used to shell the Israeli villages below. It has a magnificent view of eastern Hula Valley.
spring, the history of Tel Azaziat is closely connected.
In 1916, Britain
and France
concluded the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which proposed to divide the Middle East between them into spheres of influence.
The formal objective of the League of Nations Mandate
system was to administer parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire
, which had been in control of the Middle East
since the 16th century.
The two powers had to solve the difficult task for a creation of a boundary line running from Metula
to Tel Dan until the Gulf of Eilat, after Britain had been given a League of Nations
mandate for Palestine in 1922.
was granted Independence, France
and Britain
signed an agreement to hand over control of the Banias
to the British mandate of Palestine. The Syrian government expressed wishes to leave Banias within Syrian territory and afterwards declared France's signature to be invalid. The British refused to discuss the situation.
three small areas, west of the international border, remained in Syrian hands. In the 1949 Armistice Agreements
, Syria agreed to withdraw its troops from the occupied areas and to turn them into demilitarized zones. Sovereignty in these sections was acknowledged to be Israeli, but no side was allowed to build there fortifications or keep military forces. The Syrians violated the agreement and built several purely military positions west of the border, some in the DMZs, like Tel Azaziat, which was used for unceasing attacks against Israel.
A letter dated 25 February 1960 from the representative of Israel to the President of the Security Council
claimed,
On 13 November 1964, the IAF puts Plan 'Ayit' into effect. It calls for launching attacks on Arab targets in response for the shelling of Israeli settlements. Israeli Mysteres attack the Syrian position at Tel Azaziat on the same day.
There was no common border agreement from April 1946 until the Six-day war
of June 1967.
A report filed by the UNTSO
Tiberias Control Centre describes the situation during the first hours of the break-out of the Six-day war
:
On the fifth day of the war, on 9 June 1967, Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan
reverses his stand and the decision of the cabinet, and orders attack on the Golan Heights.
On the night of June 9–10, the 8th armored brigade advanced toward the Banias region and captured it on the morning of the 10th of June. The constant shelling from Tel Azaziat during 19 years came finally to an end.
On top of Tel Azaziat are still the remains of the Syrian fortifications, as are the mines laid by the Syrian army around the hill, the only cleared sector is in direction to Tel Faher
.
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...
in northern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, 330 m above sea level, 1.5 km east of moshav
Moshav
Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...
She'ar Yashuv
She'ar Yashuv
She'ar Yashuv is a workers' moshav in the Upper Galilee in the northeastern Hula Valley in northern Israel. It belongs to the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council....
, 1.5 km south east of kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Dan and 2 km west of Tel Faher
Tel Faher
Tel Faher is a former Syrian outpost in the Golan Heights that was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.Tel Faher was the site of an intense battle between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrians which ended in the conquest of the outpost by the Golani Brigade. Tel Faher is now a park...
. The basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
hill was a Syrian military outpost built within the DMZ, used to shell the Israeli villages below. It has a magnificent view of eastern Hula Valley.
History
Due to its proximity to the BaniasBanias
Banias is an archaeological site by the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, located at the foot of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights...
spring, the history of Tel Azaziat is closely connected.
Boundary demarcation agreement 1923
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
concluded the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which proposed to divide the Middle East between them into spheres of influence.
The formal objective of the League of Nations Mandate
League of Nations mandate
A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League...
system was to administer parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, which had been in control of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
since the 16th century.
The two powers had to solve the difficult task for a creation of a boundary line running from Metula
Metula
Metula is a town in the Northern District of Israel. Metula is located between the sites of the Biblical cities of Dan, Abel Bet Maacah, and Ijon, bordering Lebanon.-Early history:...
to Tel Dan until the Gulf of Eilat, after Britain had been given a League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
mandate for Palestine in 1922.
On 23 December 1920, the two powers came to a preliminary agreement according to which a section of the boundary line would pass through a body of water, the Sea of Galilee. (..) Such a boundary line would have divided the Sea of Galilee in to two unequal parts, giving joint territorial domination over the two parts of the lake. (..) Under the influence of the actual topography as well as in response to political pressures and the desire to interfere as little as possible in everyday life in the border zone, the boundary was shifted from the location
originally agreed upon. In a boundary demarcation agreement initialled on 3 February 1922, and finally ratified a year later on 7 March 1923, the boundary line between Palestine and Syria was defined as a set of straight lines joining a number of designated points, clearly definable on the ground. (..) the intention was not to associate it [the boundaries] with the River Jordan, the Hule lake or the Sea of Galilee, but rather to distance it to the east of these water bodies and thus to avoid claims of joint sovereignty over them.
Syrian independence 1946
In April 1946, when SyriaSyria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
was granted Independence, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Britain
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
signed an agreement to hand over control of the Banias
Banias
Banias is an archaeological site by the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, located at the foot of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights...
to the British mandate of Palestine. The Syrian government expressed wishes to leave Banias within Syrian territory and afterwards declared France's signature to be invalid. The British refused to discuss the situation.
After Israeli independence 1948
On the day the British left Palestine, Syrian forces crossed the border and attacked nearby Israeli settlements. Most assaults were repulsed, but by the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
three small areas, west of the international border, remained in Syrian hands. In the 1949 Armistice Agreements
1949 Armistice Agreements
The 1949 Armistice Agreements are a set of agreements signed during 1949 between Israel and neighboring Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The agreements ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and established armistice lines between Israeli forces and the forces in...
, Syria agreed to withdraw its troops from the occupied areas and to turn them into demilitarized zones. Sovereignty in these sections was acknowledged to be Israeli, but no side was allowed to build there fortifications or keep military forces. The Syrians violated the agreement and built several purely military positions west of the border, some in the DMZs, like Tel Azaziat, which was used for unceasing attacks against Israel.
A letter dated 25 February 1960 from the representative of Israel to the President of the Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
claimed,
(..) On 11 July 1957 Israel requested the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine to establish United Nations observation posts along the Israel-Syrian border. It was hoped that they might deter the Syrian authorities from pursuing their acts of aggression. These posts still exist, but Syrian attacks across the border and penetrations into Israel territory continue. Syrian military positions still encroach on Israel territory, for instance at Darbashiya, at Tel Azaziat, and at the mouth of the Jordan on the northern shore of Lake Kinneret. The continuation of Syrian violations of the Armistice Agreement in these areas as well as in the areas of Nuqeib and El-Hamma creates a constant threat to peace. (..)
On 13 November 1964, the IAF puts Plan 'Ayit' into effect. It calls for launching attacks on Arab targets in response for the shelling of Israeli settlements. Israeli Mysteres attack the Syrian position at Tel Azaziat on the same day.
There was no common border agreement from April 1946 until the Six-day war
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
of June 1967.
The Six-Day war 1967
Syrian units designated to take part in operation Victory began assembling on the night of May 24. Troops from the Syrian 35th Division reinforced the positions at Banias and Tel Azaziat.A report filed by the UNTSO
United Nations Truce Supervision Organization
The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization is an organization founded on 29 May 1948 for peacekeeping in the Middle East. Its primary task was providing the military command structure to the peace keeping forces in the Middle East to enable the peace keepers to observe and maintain the...
Tiberias Control Centre describes the situation during the first hours of the break-out of the Six-day war
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
:
(..) 5. The UNTSO Tiberias control centre reported that heavy firing broke out at 0355 hours GMT on 6 June along almost the entire length of the Israel/Syria Armistice Demarcation Line. Artillery, tanks, aircraft and napalm were employed. The UNTSO Tiberias control centre reported that at 0528 hours GMT Syrian armed forces had launched an infantry attack from Tel Azaziat towards Shea'rShe'ar YashuvShe'ar Yashuv is a workers' moshav in the Upper Galilee in the northeastern Hula Valley in northern Israel. It belongs to the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council....
. At 0552 hours the Senior Israel Delegate informed the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission that Syrian forces had launched an armour and infantry attack towards Tel El Qadi. A cease-fire had been proposed by the Chairman of the Mixed Armistice Commission for 0600 hours GMT but the fighting continued. At 0943 hours GMT the Chairman of the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission reported that he was still in contact with both the Syrian and Israel delegations and that the bulk of his OP's continued to be manned. Two proposed cease-fires since the fighting broke out along the Israel/Syria Armistice Demarcation Line had been unsuccessful, and in his opinion a local cease-fire was not feasible in the present circumstances. (..)
On the fifth day of the war, on 9 June 1967, Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
reverses his stand and the decision of the cabinet, and orders attack on the Golan Heights.
- 11:30 Advance begins from Giv'at Ha'EmGivat HaEmGiv'at Ha'Em is a hill named for Henrietta Szold, known as the mother of Youth Aliya. The hill lies in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 196 m above sea level, 1 km east of the Route 918 and 2 km north of Kfar Szold...
towards Syrian lines in northern Golan. - 12:35 IDF conquers Tel Hallal.
- 17:00 IDF conquers Tel Azaziat.
- 18:20 IDF takes Tel FaherTel FaherTel Faher is a former Syrian outpost in the Golan Heights that was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.Tel Faher was the site of an intense battle between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrians which ended in the conquest of the outpost by the Golani Brigade. Tel Faher is now a park...
bunkers after a bloody battle. - 18:30 IDF takes Zaura - Qela compound.
- 20:00 IDF takes Rouya.
On the night of June 9–10, the 8th armored brigade advanced toward the Banias region and captured it on the morning of the 10th of June. The constant shelling from Tel Azaziat during 19 years came finally to an end.
Present
Tel Faher
Tel Faher is a former Syrian outpost in the Golan Heights that was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.Tel Faher was the site of an intense battle between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrians which ended in the conquest of the outpost by the Golani Brigade. Tel Faher is now a park...
.
External links
- www.ilpictures.net Pictures of Tel Azaziat
- www.mfa.gov.il MFA: Frontier with Syria
- http://healthissues-fightback.lefora.com/2004/03/12/soldiers-who-came-in-from-the-cold/page1/ Soldiers who came in from the cold