Defence of the East Bank

By 8 June 1967 most elements of the Jordanian army stationed on the West Bank had retreated across the bridges of the River Jordan. Shattered and having suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of their enemy, their war was over. For their commanders at GHQs, including Riad, the next urgent task was to deal with the threat that the Israeli army would continue its offensive to Amman. The remaining forces under Riad's command were redeployed on the East Bank. On 7 June the only forces left to defend Jordan were the Eastern Command troops (the Al-Hussein and Yarmouk brigades), the Royal Guard brigade, the Iraqi forces (the 8th mechanized brigade and the 1st infantry brigade) and a Syrian mechanized infantry brigade which had arrived at 2.00 p.m. that day. These forces were concentrated in the areas of Naur and As-Salt, west of Amman, with the purpose of preventing an advance of Israeli troops to the capital.

By 12 June the situation had improved. All the Iraqi forces promised to Jordan had arrived. These Iraqi troops (the Salahudin Forces) were composed of Iraq's 1st infantry, 8th mechanized, 6th armoured and 27th infantry brigades. Three Jordanian brigades which had been stationed on the West Bank had also regrouped on the East Bank. Two of these brigades, the Qadisiyeh (stationed in the Jordan Valley) and Hittin (stationed in the areas of Hebron), had escaped heavy fighting and suffered limited losses. They had withdrawn to the East Bank ready to occupy new defensive positions. What was left of the 60th armoured brigade had also succeeded in crossing the River Jordan and elements of it were still functional.