Israeli army Southern Command General Ariel Sharon, center, arrives by helicopter with Generals Haim Bar-Lev, second from left, and Yishayahu Gavish, second from right, at an army base just days before the June 5 start of the Six-Day war in the Negev Desert in southern Israel, June 1, 1967. Israel had deployed 100,000 troops; its enemies to the north, east and south had a combined activated strength of 240,000 soldiers.