Battles of the Kinarot Valley 1948
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1948 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | Israel | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | 1948 Arab–Israeli War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 32.6965, 35.5912 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battles of the Kinarot Valley (Hebrew: הַמַּעֲרָכָה בְּבִקְעַת כִּנָּרוֹת, romanized: HaMa'arakha BeBik'at Kinarot), is a collective name for a series of military engagements between the Haganah and the Syrian army during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, fought between 15–22 May 1948 in the Kinarot Valley. It includes two main sites: the Battle of Degania–Samakh (Tzemah), and battles near Masada–Sha'ar HaGolan. The engagements were part of the battles of the Jordan Valley, which also saw fighting against Transjordan in the area of Gesher.
The battles took place approximately 24 hours after the Israeli declaration of independence, when Syria shelled Ein Gev on the night of 15–16 May. This was the first military engagement between Israel and Syria. On 18 May, Syria attacked the Israeli forward position in Samakh (Tzemah), and on 20 May attacked Degania Alef and occupied Masada and Sha'ar HaGolan. The attack on Degania Alef was a failure, after which the Syrian forces attempted to capture Degania Bet. After reaching a stalemate, they retreated to their initial position in Tel al-Qasr, where they remained until the end of the war.
The campaign was perceived as a decisive Israeli victory, causing reorganizations in the Syrian high command and the birth of heroic tales in Israel.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battles of the Kinarot Valley (revision 1373488223), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Samakh 1918 · 1 km
- Battle of al-Sannabra 1113 · 3 km
- Battle of Gesher 1948 · 6 km
- Battle of Belvoir Castle 1182 · 13 km
- Sieges of Tiberias (1742–1743) 1742 · 14 km
- Battle of Hattin 1187 · 17 km
Other battles of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
- Battle of 'Auja 1948
- Battle of Be'erot Yitzhak 1948
- Battle of Beersheba (1948) 1948
- Battle of Gesher 1948
- Battle of Hill 86 1948
- Battle of Jenin (1948) 1948
- Battle of Nirim 1948
- Battle of Nitzanim 1948
- Battle of Yad Mordechai 1948
- Battles of Latrun (1948) 1948
All 14 battles of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War →
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