most sophisticated weapon the Soviets had supplied Egypt. As a result, in the hours before the ceasefire took into effect, the Soviet ambassador to Egypt called the Soviet foreign minister and asked for his permission to launch missile strikes against Israel. Unable to reach him, he turned to the Soviet minister of defence, who approved the attack. In the last few minutes before the ceasefire took into effect, the Soviet teams managed to fire three missiles, without Egyptian knowledge or approval. Each of the three Scud missiles carried 2 tons of explosives. One of the missiles exploded near Arish, from which Israel received its aid from the United States. The other two were fired at the Israeli bridgehead at Deversoir, one hitting on the western side of the Suez Canal, the other striking on the eastern side, killing seven soldiers from the 410th battalion of the 600th armored brigade. The explosion left a crater of 15 meter in diameter and a depth of four meters. Later on, Sadat claimed in his book that he commanded the forces to fire the Scuds at the Israeli bridgehead: "I wanted Israel to know that we have such weapons and that we would be able to use them later on in the war". Some additional memories were published in Russian in the Vremya Novostei newspaper at the 30th anniversary of the launch of October 22, 1973. Aftermath As a result of the knowledge about the Egyptian Scuds able to hit deep inside Israel, Israel avoided attacking strategic targets deep inside Egypt throughout the entire war. This fear was raised by military intelligence chief Eli Zeira at a situation assessment with the Chief of Staff on October 9. This avoidance is more noticeable when compared to the significant Israeli strikes which were conducted during the 1967-70 War of Attrition. These strikes caused significant damage to the Egyptian military and forced it to defend the Egyptian front, therefore weakening its offensive capabilities. On the Syrian front, however, Israel struck deep inside Syria, damaging the Syrian war effort and even disrupting normal life in the country, attacking important power plants, petrol supplies, bridges and main roads. References External links Noam Ophir, the long shadow of the Scud, the Israeli Air Force website, October 2006 Description of the attack at the 600nd brigade's site Battles of the Yom Kippur War Israel–Soviet Union relations Egypt–Soviet Union relations