Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Libyan–Egyptian War

Article promoted by Gog the Mild (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 11:20, 10 December 2019 (UTC) &laquo; Return to A-Class review list

Libyan–Egyptian War
Instructions for nominators and reviewers
 * Nominator(s): 

The Libyan–Egyptian War was a short border conflict that occurred over four days in July 1977. Twas a relatively minor chapter in world and military history, but it represents the much larger fissure between Muammar Gaddafi and Anwar Sadat in the late 1970s. This just passed a GAn, and incorporates material from American, British, and Egyptian sources. Comment away. -Indy beetle (talk) 22:47, 15 October 2019 (UTC)

Comments Support by PM
This article is in great shape. I have some comments: That's me done. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 09:40, 18 October 2019 (UTC)
 * link battalion in the lead and at first mention in the body
 * Done.
 * suggest "Under significant pressure from the United States to end the attacks, and attempts from the President of Algeria, Houari Boumediène, and the Palestine Liberation Organisation leader, Yasser Arafat, to mediate a solution, Sadat suddenly declared a ceasefire."
 * Done.
 * suggest "acquiring a significant amount s of weapons"
 * Done.
 * suggest "anti-Libyan groups in neighboring Chad"
 * Done.
 * suggest "determined to occupy the Libyan capital Tripoli"
 * Done.
 * "continued to stockpile s supplies"
 * Done.
 * specify that the Su-20 and Su-7 were fighter-bombers and link, and that the Mirage 5 was a strike aircraft and link
 * Done.
 * "Libyan forces got engaged in a drawn out firefight"
 * Done.
 * suggest "Having participated in the Yom Kippur War, Egyptian forces also had a fair amount of combat experience, maintained a high level of professionalism, and were led by a skilled group of generals."
 * Done.
 * "The Egyptian s forces also struggled" or "their equipment"
 * Done.
 * Libyan Arab Republic Air Force (LARAF)
 * Done.
 * specify that the MiG-23 is a fighter aircraft and link
 * Done.
 * specify that the MiG-21 is a fighter aircraft
 * Done.
 * the composition of the force that hit the Nasser airbase is odd. The Mirages and Su-7s would have been flying the strike mission and the MiG-21s flying cover
 * Ah yes my mistake, your surmise is correct. Fixed.
 * "primary interceptor site airbase"
 * Done.
 * the "commando battalions" airborne raids are a bit unclear, were these paradrops or helicopter-borne attacks?
 * Helicopter. I've specified.
 * same for the "Commando attacks on Libyan logistics depots"
 * The sources don't specify, but they were almost certainly also helicopter attacks.
 * specify that the G-2 Galeb and Jastreb are ground attack aircraft. Odd that the narrative doesn't mention them, were they destroyed on the ground?
 * That's what it seems, but Cooper et. al. doesn't specify how or where they were destroyed. My guess is that they were lost during the raids on Nasser Air Base.
 * who is Mayada El Gohary? historian, author etc?
 * Specified as journalist.
 * "Over the course of the border war the Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader, Yasser Arafat,"
 * Done.
 * "Shortly before the end of fighting, the Algerian President, Houari Boumediène,"
 * Done.
 * "However, several diplomatic sources" "However" seems editorialising here. Perhaps just state what sources say?
 * Removed "however".
 * "in reaching Egyptian peace with Israel"→"in Egypt achieving peace with Israel"
 * Done.
 * in Effects of the war, perhaps mention and link the Arab Cold War, as the infobox links it but it is otherwise not referred to
 * I've removed it from the infobox, as that had more to do with rivalries between the Arab republics and the Arab monarchies, and largely faded after Nasser's death.
 * I've responded to your comments. -Indy beetle (talk) 04:14, 24 October 2019 (UTC)
 * All good, I made one tweak which was a miscommunication. Supporting. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 05:34, 24 October 2019 (UTC)

Image review


 * File:Libya-Egypt.png: what is the source of the data underlying this map? Nikkimaria (talk) 21:41, 19 October 2019 (UTC)
 * It's not clear, the image has been on commons for a long time. -Indy beetle (talk) 04:14, 24 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Can you locate sources to verify it, even if they aren't the original? Nikkimaria (talk) 11:21, 24 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Do those sources have to be PD? -Indy beetle (talk) 22:46, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Source review
 * No - you're using them essentially as citations. Nikkimaria (talk) 23:33, 28 October 2019 (UTC)
 * CIA Map of Libya, CIA Map of Egypt Does this suffice? -Indy beetle (talk) 23:57, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, that's fine. Nikkimaria (talk) 00:45, 31 October 2019 (UTC)
 * aldefaaalarabi—I was not able to find any information about this source. What makes it an RS?
 * Aldefaaalarabi.com lists their editorial staff here, and it seems to be just another Egyptian daily newspaper. The article also shows a picture of an old Egyptian newspaper from the time of the war, which means that the author had access to those materials, and thus this is probably the source of its information. Since we have one of the probable sources of its information, and the website has listed an editorial staff (a key component to being a quality secondary news source and not, say, a blog) and no other reason to doubt its authenticity, I think its fine to use. -Indy beetle (talk) 20:57, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Seems alright for what it is used for, that "12 Libyan soldiers were captured". Fiamh (talk, contribs) 21:02, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Other sources are reliable. There's a good balance between news and later historical coverage.
 * No additional sources found on a search of Google Books and Google Scholar. Fiamh (talk, contribs) 04:14, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Everything OK. Pass. Fiamh (talk, contribs) 21:02, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

Support by Nick-D
I've wanted to learn about this little war for some time, and am not sure how I missed that this was at ACR for a month! I'd like to offer the following comments:
 * "a short border war between Libya and Egypt" - I'd suggest linking border war
 * Done
 * "was the elimination of Israel, a Jewish-majority state" - does the religion of most of Israel's inhabitants need to be noted here? This suggests it's the only reason for the Arab-Israeli conflicts, when of course there are others.
 * I wasn't sure if there was really a better way to put it. Metz, who I'm using as the source, talks of "the Arab struggle against Israel", which comes close to racializing the dispute. It also fits in with the context of Gaddafi's plan to sink the boat with the Jewish tourist (the ship was British, and Metz only identifies the people as Jewish, not as Israeli, which implies that Gaddafi's reasoning for such an assault was anti-Jewish sentiment).
 * The motives for the Arab-Israeli conflict are famously complex, so nominating religious differences as being the only factor is an over-simplification. Nick-D (talk) 02:30, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
 * I've removed the mention of Jewish majority. Arab-Israeli conflict is linked to, and I think it's best left to that article to explain the reasons behind the animosity rather than hash them all out here.
 * That sounds like the best approach here. Nick-D (talk) 22:59, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
 * "Though an Israeli counter-attack eliminated Egyptian territorial gains in the early stages of the war, Sadat agreed to open negotiations with Israel, seeking the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in exchange for a guarantee to not engage in further attacks on the country." - it's obviously absurdly difficult to summarise a major war and its aftermath in a sentence, but I'm not sure this quite pulls it off: while Egypt was soundly defeated, its initial successes seem to have led the Israelis to also seek peace. A second sentence might help here!
 * A second sentence explaining what, exactly?
 * On reflection, I think this is OK for A-class. For FAC, I'd suggest somehow noting that the war also made the Israelis more keen to cut a deal with Egypt (e.g., to pull out of Sinai in exchange for commitments from Egypt and the US). Nick-D (talk) 04:47, 7 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Did the Libyan attacks on Egyptian border guards lead to any casualties?
 * Yes, as is already stated the pre-war attacks caused the deaths of 9 border guards, according to the Egyptian government. No info on Libyan casualties.
 * "In May 1977 the Soviets told Libya and other Arab countries that they had evidence that Egypt was planning launch an invasion" - do we know what the source of this intelligence was?
 * Nope.
 * "By the early summer Egypt had completed its preparations for war, and the Egyptian Air Force transferred Su-20 and Su-7 fighter-bombers of the No. 55 Squadron and Mirage 5 strike aircraft of the No. 69 Squadron to Marsa Matruh Airbase and nearby installations in anticipation of conflict" - the 'and' here sounds odd, given that the transfer of these units would have formed part of the preparations for war
 * Broken into two sentences.
 * Note d doesn't seem to align with the text its placed with, and the apparent lack of civilian casualties should be noted in the body of the article
 * Moved to text which discusses military casualties
 * "The Security Council declined to discuss the matter" - do we know why not? Presumably one or more of the permanent members used its veto? Nick-D (talk) 08:31, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
 * The reason is not given. The Los Angeles Times only says "U.N. officials said no Security Council meeting on the war was planned" and obviously, one never materialised. I presume it probably had to do with the fact that the truce was in effect and world leaders thus had little interest in litigating the issue.


 * Hi, do you feel in a position to give a verdict on this one yet? Gog the Mild (talk) 18:53, 5 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, I'm now happy to support this nomination. Nick-D (talk) 04:47, 7 December 2019 (UTC)

Comments by AustralianRupert
Support: I reviewed this for GAN, and I believe it has been improved further since then. I have a few minor comments/suggestions: AustralianRupert (talk) 09:03, 20 November 2019 (UTC)


 * in the References, endash for the title of the Cooper work
 * Done.
 * this provides Havertown as the location for the Cooper work:
 * Changed.
 * "File:Libya-Egypt.png": did you get any joy with trying to get an English version of this one created?
 * I've put in a request to a Commons user, hopefully it will lead to some joy.
 * No worries, good luck. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 07:39, 2 December 2019 (UTC)
 * New map now uploaded. -Indy beetle (talk) 08:01, 7 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Looks good, thanks for following this up. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 09:02, 7 December 2019 (UTC)
 * regarding translation of the title for the El Gohary source, you might be able to get assistance from someone listed here: Translators available
 * I've had a look at the Arabic translators; they seem mostly inactive. The most recent edit by one was over a month ago, and most of the rest haven't edited in three or more. -Indy beetle (talk) 05:25, 9 December 2019 (UTC)
 * OK. AustralianRupert (talk) 07:17, 9 December 2019 (UTC)
 * "agreement agreement" -- duplicate word
 * Fixed.
 * there appears to be some mixture of US and British English variation, for instance "defense" and "traveled" (US) but "mechanised" and "realised" (British)
 * Should all be Anglicanized.