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Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arnain.

And me, William Durimple.

Now, last time, our number one friend of the show, Eugene Rogan, the great Oxford historian and author of the Arabs, my favourite book on the modern Middle East, took us through the world

in the lead up to the June 1967 war that changed the Middle East forever.

NASA's impossible position after Suez, the Palestinian refugees, the Arab Cold War,

the United Arab Republic and its failure, the dysfunction within the heart of the Egyptian

military and political establishment, the Yemen quagma, and the spiraling crisis of May

1967, driven by the Syrian Bathis,

a bizarre piece of false Soviet intelligence, and finally the closure of the Straits of Tehran.

So today we're actually going to take it into the war itself.

Yeah, and there's no one better to lead us through this very difficult terrain than Eugene,

because you're going to be taking us, Eugene, through six days of war.

And I would love you in this episode to talk us through what this looks like from Cairo, from Amman, from Damascus,

from the Palestinian villages when the Israeli army arrives at the doors there.

So where shall we even begin? First of all,

thank you and welcome back. Take us to the morning of June 5th, 1967, because from the Arab

perspective, what exactly is happening, particularly, you know, the Egyptian air bases, first thing

in the morning, because that's really interesting. Well, first off, Anita, will, thank you so much for your invitation. As you know, the Egyptian air bases first thing in the morning, because that's really interesting.

Well, first off, Anita, Will, thank you so much for your invitation.

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