50 years on, photos show the 19-day Arab-Israeli War that changed the course of history

Artillerymen hold their ears as 155mm guns lay down barrage on Syrian positions during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.Bettman/Getty Images.

• Fifty years and one day since the beginning of the 19-day-long Arab-Israeli War of 1973, Israel faces conflict once again.
• The war began on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur and on the 10th day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The 1973 Arab-Israeli War — also often referred to as the Yom Kippur War, the October War, or the Ramadan War — began as a concerted attack by Egypt and Syria on Israel on October 6, 1973.

The attack was a two-pronged approach by the two Arab nations to take back the lost territories in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, both of which had been captured and occupied by Israel six years earlier during the Six-Day War of 1967.

In total, the conflict lasted 19 days before ending due to a UN-backed ceasefire. During the course of those three weeks, Israel suffered thousands of casualties, Syria lost considerable land, Egypt inched closer to peace talks, and the United States and the Soviet Union headed toward potential nuclear conflict.