Yom Kippur War at 50: Castro deployed Cuban troops to invade and destroy Israel in October 1973.

Hundreds of Cuban tank crews took part in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

On October 6, 1973, the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Egyptian battalions and Syrian tank columns launched a surprise offensive on two fronts against Israel.

During the course of the Yom Kippur War that lasted twenty days, 2,656 Israelis were killed and 7,200 wounded.

 Fidel Castro sent thousands of Cuban troops to fight on the Syrian side in the surprise attack to destroy Israel.

Syria's dictator Hafez al-Assad and Fidel Castro

Havana maintained diplomatic relations with Israel from 1959 through 1973, even as it fully embraced terrorism against the Jewish nation. 

Fidel Castro broke relations with Israel on the eve of the Yom Kippur War. This was required for all Soviet-aligned regimes, as the international communist line defined Israel as a colonial state and an arm of U.S. imperialism.  Noticias de Israel (News of Israel) provided a more in-depth description of what took place.

From the highest levels of power in Havana, a secret operation was orchestrated to send military support to Syria. A tank brigade, helicopter pilots, communications agents, and intelligence and counterintelligence officers were meticulously selected for this mission. It was imperative that these men did not arouse suspicion and that they were perfectly prepared for the task entrusted to them.

The Military Brigade of Senén Casas Regueiro was mobilized, and under the command of General Leopoldo Cintra Frías, a recognized name in military circles, this surreptitious plan was put into action. In a carefully planned diversionary maneuver, the soldiers left Cuba dressed in civilian clothes, with forged passports that identified them as university students. They traveled on separate flights to East Germany, where they made a technical stopover, before reaching their final destination: Syria.  

Once on Syrian territory, Soviet military equipment, including modern T-62 tanks and SAM rocket artillery, was ready for operation. Figures vary, but it is estimated that between 1,800 and 4,000 Cubans were present in Syria during the 1973 confrontation.

The surprise of this operation resulted in a series of significant losses for Israel, both in human lives and military equipment. Some civilian areas were also hit during the clash. 

On March 31, 1974, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan announced on US television that 3,000 Cuban troops had been dispatched to support Syria during the Yom Kippur War. The Economist published two articles in its Foreign Report in 1978 that highlighted Cuba's role in Syria beginning shortly after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Cuban tank crews fought with Syrian troops. According to Foreign Report, 180 Cubans were killed and 250 were injured.  

Cuban combat troops remained in Syria until 1975. 

Below is the documentary in Spanish by Abraham Rivera from 2020 on the Yom Kippur War.

 

The lies and secrecy surrounding the role of Cubans in this war of aggression against Israel in 1973 should inform those inquiring about the presence of Cuban soldiers in the Russian army today fighting in another war of aggression, but this time in Ukraine. Below is the 2023 documentary, War of Deception, by Casto Ocando on this topic.

Castro regime one of five against holding Assad regime accountable for atrocities in Syria

 “Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres”. ["Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are."] - Spanish proverb

Bashar Hafez al-Assad and Raul Castro

 The Associated Press reported that the U.N. Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly on Thursday, September 25, 2014, to share its evidence of Syrian atrocities in hopes it will be forwarded to the world's war crimes tribunal. By a vote of 32-5, with 10 abstentions, the 47-nation council adopted the resolution condemning the lack of cooperation by President Bashar Assad's government with a U.N. commission investigating rights violations since March 2011 in Syria, whether by the government or the opposition or the Islamic State group that controls broad areas along the Syria-Iraq border. 

Vote today on sharing evidence of Syrian atrocities with war crimes tribunal

 The five countries who voted against sharing evidence of gross and systematic human rights violations in Syria are: Algeria, China, Cuba, Russia, and Venezuela. The Castro regime that has ruled Cuba for the past 55 years has close ties with the Assad regime that goes back decades and since 2011 has repeatedly backed the Syrian government in what has been described as an "unholy alliance" ignoring evidence of torture and mass killings. This has raised questions as to why these countries are on the Human Rights Council.

Hafez al-Assad and Fidel Castro

On September 16, 2014 addressing the UN Human Rights Council I stated that "the disaster in Syria did not arise yesterday but is the long term result of the failure to have human rights respected there" and should also have added along with the failure of the international community for too many years to denounce the atrocities committed there."

At the same time the belief now that the situation has deteriorated that an expanded military response will solve the problems there is at best fool hardy if not just plain stupid.  There is another alternative between waging war and looking the other way as Syria burns and that is nonviolent resistance and solidarity.

The Castro Regime at the United Nations voted twice to back the Assad Regime on Friday

Venezuela's strong man Nicolas Maduro follows instructions from Havana

This was my immediate reaction on reading UNWatch's Hillel Neuer's list of shame tweet listing countries that backed the Assad regime on an important vote on June 27, 2014. Out of the five countries in the world who voted for the genocidal regime, the Castro regime in Havana had control of two votes: Cuba and Venezuela. This vote took place on the final day of the 26th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

That Raul and Fidel Castro would support Assad's regime in Syria is no surprise they have done it for decades and have also collaborated, and even violated international United Nations sanctions to smuggle arms to North Korea.

The "voting twice"observation  on the surface would be considered a joke, but unfortunately its only funny because it has a serious undercurrent of just so happening to be a factual observation.

That two out of the five country votes backing Syria are under the Castro brother's control may be a surprise to some, but it shouldn't be. Moisés Naím in April 2014 explained how the Cubans came to gain control of Venezuela.

It is ironic that the Castro dictatorship that has made a career out of exploiting anti-imperialist rhetoric has succeeded in turning Venezuela into a colony of its regime, leading to the phenomenon of Venezuelans burning Cuban flags in protest of the Castro regime's undue control of their homeland.