Outnumbered by roughly nine to one, the two Israeli brigades on the Golan were crack units.
The 188th "Barak" (Lightning) Armored Brigade is an Israeli armored brigade, subordinate to Israel's Northern Regional Command.
By the evening of June 9, the four Israeli brigades had all broken through to the plateau, where they could be reinforced and replaced.
About 200 villagers, Israelis and foreign protesters demonstrated and began to throw stones, according to Col. Yoni Gedj, the commander of the Israeli brigade in Bilin.
The Israeli brigade, with less than 40 tanks, was facing approximately 500 Syrian tanks.
An Israeli brigade contains from 900 to 1,600 soldiers.
Rarely had an Israeli brigade reacted with such speed and ferocity.
The Israeli armored brigades, principally those of Nir, Amir and Raviv, continued engaging and attacking the 16th Brigade after the paratroopers were withdrawn.
Instead of concentrating forces of maneuvering, they had expended their tanks and armored forces in head-on attack against the waiting Israeli brigades.
The raid involved hundreds of troops and was led by an undercover Israeli brigade that specializes in plainclothes work in Arab communities.