ABSTRACT
The Iraqi armed forces took part in most of the wars against Israel in the past: 1948, 1967, the 1970 War of Attrition, and 1973. The Israel Air Force did not attack Iraqi forces on their way from Iraq to the Golan front in Syria. The Iraqi force, two and a half divisions strong, helped the Syrians stop the Israeli advance toward Damascus, thereby affecting the war's outcome. The rivalry and subsequent alignment between Nasser's Egypt and Jordan in 1967 and between Egypt and Syria in 1990 illustrate this point. The Iraqi threat to Israel is of a totally different order of magnitude than half a year before the Gulf War. It is virtually impossible to assess accurately the likelihood that Iraq will join a future Arab armed conflict with Israel, as confrontations, conflicts and accommodation among Israel's Arab neighbors may occur rapidly.
