In summer 1948, at the height of the War of Independence, a combined attempt of the Syrian army and Qawuqji's Arab Liberation Army was made to cut the Galilee panhandle from the rest of Israel. Desperate for a victory after the debacle at the Deganias, the Syrians targeted the eastern finger of galilee and the village of Mishmar Hayrden. This old village was ill prepared for the attack. The recent raw Haganah reinforcements from the Oded Brigade did little to improve the situation. The Syrians forded the river on June 6th and launched an assault.
