As it became clear the United Nations would soon impose a cease fire in the Yom Kippur War, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan decided the Observation Post atop Mount Hermon should be in Israel's control when the peacekeeping force arrived. The Israeli OP was lost on the first day of the war when it was overrun by Syrian commandos. The Golani Brigade was given the mission and it attacked with infantry climbing the mountain on the right flank, an armored column in the center an armored reconnaissance vehicles on the left flank. On the eve of the attack, four A-4Es from Ramat David Air Force Base attempted to clear out Syrian ambush sites on the road up to the OP.
