...In September 1970, the Syrian army invaded Jordan for the purpose of supporting the Palestinian insurrection, which began earlier that month. At first, the United States was unsure about the extent of the invasion. Was it merely a border raid or something more? Yet after a phone call to the U.S. Ambassador from King Hussein confirming that the city of Irbid had fallen to the Syrians and his observation that, "air strikes were imperative to save his country," the United States decided to act to preserve Jordanian independence. The United States did not want to stand by idly while yet another pro-Western nation fell into the orbit of the Soviet Union. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger asked Israel to fly reconnaissance over the battle area and report back the extent of the incursion. Reconnaissance confirmed that the Syrians had invaded in force. At that point, President Nixon made the decision that if conditions deteriorated further, he would request that Israel intervene with air strikes against Syrian forces in Jordan and be prepared to attack Syrian forces with ground troops.

Israel responded by immediately sending two brigades onto the Golan Heights threatening Syria's flank in Jordan. Israel also began a limited mobilization of its reserve units in preparation for action in Jordan. The combination of the threat of Israeli intervention and successful Jordanian airstrikes against Syrian forces near Irbid helped convince Syria that it was advisable to withdraw its invasion forces.

This episode is striking for several reasons. First, at American request, Israel was prepared to expend its blood and treasure to support a country with which it had been at war just three years prior. Second, unlike the threat to Jordan 12 years earlier, the United States did not turn to Britain for help in saving the Jordanian regime but instead reached out to Israel. Last, the approach of some of America's other "allies" during this crisis is instructive. French President Pompidou sent a message to President Nixon expressing his "great concern" about possible American intervention and urged Nixon to weigh his decisions with care. Henry Kissinger noted that, "The message was not especially helpful, nor did we fail to notice France's attempt to dissociate from us in the midst of a crisis."[18] Israeli willingness to intervene had preserved the balance of power in the region. Future and more dramatic Israeli actions would have the same effect.

Nine months prior to the Jordanian crisis, the Soviet Union had provided Egypt with an advanced radar station. Such an advanced radar had never been deployed outside of the Warsaw Pact. Egypt immediately installed the radar near the Suez Canal. The extent of this radar's capabilities was unknown to the West and to Israel. In late 1969, Israel decided that it was imperative to learn the full capabilities of this radar. Therefore, Israel decided to embark on a mission never before attempted. It planned to land commandos near the unit and airlift the entire radar back to Israel for study rather than merely destroy it. The raid was successful and within two weeks after being brought to Israel, the radar unit was shipped to the United States for further evaluation.[19] At the time, this was an enormous intelligence coup for the United States as its aircraft had proven vulnerable to Soviet supplied radars over Vietnam. In addition, it is likely that possession and testing of this intact advanced radar aided the United States in developing stealth technology used in designing the first U.S. stealth aircraft in the 1970s...