Yom Kippur War Cease-Fire Lines: October 24, 1973

The Yom Kippur War began on October 6, 1973 when the combined armies of Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in the Suez Canal area and the Golan Heights. After a few days of hard fighting in which Egypt established itself on the eastern side of the Suez Canal and the Syrians captured a large portion of the Golan Heights, the attack was halted and a counter-attack by IDF forces succeeded in pushing back some of the Egyptian forces, crossing the Canal and reaching within 101 kilometers of Cairo. On the Golan Heights, the Syrian forces were repulsed completely and IDF forces captured an enclave in the northern Heights deep in Syrian territory, as well as recapturing Mount Hermon.

A cease-fire agreement between Israel and Egypt was reached on October 24, 1973. A separation-of-forces agreement was signed with Egypt on January 13, 1974 in which the sides agreed to observe the cease-fire, made arrangements for the reduction of forces and established the [Second] UN emergency force (UNEF) in the demilitarized zone. Israeli forces withdrew to a distance of 20 kilometers east of the Suez Canal, and the Egyptian army withdrew most of its forces to the west of the Canal.

A disengagement agreement with Syria was signed in Geneva on May 31, 1974, and included, inter alia, the establishment of UN observers in the demilitarized zone, arrangements for an exchange of prisoners of war, and IDF evacuation of the territory it took in the Yom Kippur War as well as the city of Kuneitra, which was captured in the Six-Day War.

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