55 years ago/June 10, 1967

President Gamal Abdel Nasser retracted his resignation after the National Assembly of the United Arab Republic (Egypt) refused to accept it and mass demonstrations supporting him took place in Egypt and the Arab world. On the northern front the Israeli troops fought with Syrian rear-guards. It also helped Israel that they could redeploy units from the other fronts where the ceasefire was adopted earlier. On the left wing they captured Banias without any resistance. Some troops continued advancing, they reached the border of Lebanon, approached Mt. Hermon. Other Israeli units reached Quneitra. There were sparse fight in the streets of the town, but fell within a few hours. The Israeli forces in the middle of the front advanced towards Butmiya and they were mopping up the Syrian troops East of the Sea of Galilee. On the right wing Israeli troops captured Fiq, al-Al and met the other Israeli units at Butmiya. Until evening the Israeli forces reached their targets, only the Syrian second defence line were between them and Damascus. Most probably, it wouldn’t have meant a serious object for them, however it wouldn’t have had too much sense. This situation already showed the problem of the Israeli military superiority: they can beat armies and occupy lands, but it doesn’t bring them peace and safety. At 16:30 GMT (18:30 local time) the cease-fire went into effect, the Six-Day War ended. In the morning (local time) the Soviet Union sends a message through the Moscow-Washington hotline to President Lyndon B. Johnson. They accused Israel of not stopping the military operations. They stated in case Israel wouldn’t do it in the next couple of hours they would do the necessary measures, even military if needed. After they checked the translation, Johnson ordered the US 6th Fleet closer to the Syrian shores. At the same time he informed Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union that General Odd Bull, the Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) was near to achieve that the cease-fire going into effect, and that they also urged Israel to do so. During the morning the messages were calming down, and before noon they stated that military activities were stopped. The Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. The Soviet decision tactically could be useful by making them more popular in the Arab world and the Third World, but strategically it was a mistake, because Moscow excluded themselves a possible peace process by not having diplomatic relations with one party concerned.