page_title: Battles of the Kinarot Valley
section_title: Degania Alef
hierarchical_section_title: Battles of the Kinarot Valley / Battles / Degania Alef
caption_attribution_description: English: Battles and troop movements in the Battle of Degania, May 20-21, 1948. Legend: Full circle: inhabited village Full cluster: city Square: manned outpost Triangle: unmanned outpost or uninhabited notable site Blue color: Jewish Green color: Israeli Arab Red color: Syrian Mixed color indicates a captured outpost/town (outline color denotes victor) Grey line: Main road Dotted grey line: Secondary/unpaved road Artillery symbol: Artillery position 3 flame symbols: Position shelled by artillery 3 bomb symbols: Position bombed from the air Arrow: Troop movement Solid line with protruding dashes: Frontal entrenchment/position Two swords: Battle (blue indicates Israeli victory, red indicates Syrian victory, magenta indicates stalemate) Dotted troop movement indicates a major/notable retreat
context_page_description: The Battles of the Kinarot Valley, 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 May 15–22, 1948 in the Kinarot Valley. It includes two main sites: the Battle of Degania–Samakh, 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 May 15–16. This was the first military engagement between Israel and Syria. On May 18, Syria attacked the Israeli forward position in Samakh, and on May 20 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.
context_section_description: After the fall of Tzemah, the Haganah command realized the importance of the campaign in the region, and made a clear separation between the Kinarot Valley, and the Battle of Gesher fought against Transjordan and Iraq to the south. On May 18, Moshe Dayan, who had been born in Degania, was given command of all forces in the area, after having been charged with creating a commando battalion in the 8th Brigade just a day before. A company of reinforcements from the Gadna program was allocated, along with 3 PIATs. Other reinforcements came in the form of a company from the Yiftach Brigade and another company of paramilitaries from villages in the Lower Galilee and the Jezreel Valley.
  The Israelis called the reinforcements assuming this was the main Syrian thrust. The Syrians were not intending to carry out any further operation south of the Sea of Galilee and planned to make their main effort further north, near the Bnot Ya'akov bridge. On May 19, the Iraqis were about to drive west through Nablus toward Tulkarm, and asked the Syrians to make a diversion in the Degania area to protect their right flank. The Syrians complied, their main objective being to seize the bridge across the river north of Degania Alef, thus blocking any Israeli attack from Tiberias against the Iraqi line of communications.
  Heavy Syrian shelling of Degania Alef started at about 04:00 on May 20 from the Samakh police station, by means of 75 mm cannons, and 60 and 81 mm mortars. The barrage lasted about half an hour. At 04:30 on May 20, the Syrian army began its advance on the Deganias and the bridge over the Jordan River north of Degania Alef. Unlike the attack on Samakh (Tzemah), this action saw the participation of nearly all of the Syrian forces stationed at Tel al-Qasr, including infantry, armor and artillery. The Israeli defenders numbered about 70 persons (67 according to Aharon Israeli's head count), most of them not regular fighters, with some Haganah and Palmach members. Their orders were to fight to the death. They had support from three 20 mm guns at Beit Yerah, deployed along the road from Samakh to Degania Alef. They also had a Davidka mortar, which exploded during the battle, and a PIAT with fifteen projectiles.
  At night, a Syrian expeditionary force attempted to infiltrate Degania Bet, but was caught and warded off, which caused the main Syrian force to attack Degania Alef first. At 06:00, the Syrians started a frontal armored attack, consisting of 5 tanks, a number of armored vehicles and an infantry company. The Syrians pierced the Israeli defense, but their infantry was at some distance behind the tanks. The Israelis knocked out four Syrian tanks and four armored cars with 20 mm cannons, PIATs and Molotov cocktails. Meanwhile, other defenders kept small arms fire on the Syrian infantry, who stopped in citrus groves a few hundred meters from the settlements. The surviving Syrian tanks withdrew back to the Golan. At 07:45, the Syrians halted their assault and dug in, still holding most of the territory between Degania Alef's fence and Samakh's police fort. They left behind a number of lightly damaged or otherwise inoperable tanks that the Israelis managed to repair.
caption: Breakdown of the battles on May 20–22 (Battle of Degania)
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