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Even as the street fighting continued in Amman, Hussein's generals turned their attention to a different kind of war in the countryside. Three days after the fighting began, a force of armored vehicles crossed the border from Syria at Ramtha, moving at night. The Syrians insisted that the force, numbering close to 5,000 men and including almost 250 tanks, belonged to the guerrillas' Palestine Liberation Army. Indeed, the vehicles did bear the red and olive-green emblems of the P.L.A. Actually, the emblems had been hastily painted, and most of the equipment and troops belonged to the Syrian army's reserve in Damascus. They were rolling into Jordan not only to help the fedayeen but also to embarrass the rival Iraqi Baathist government. Baghdad, which keeps a 12,000-man division in Jordan for the war with Israel, refused to order its troops to move against Hussein.
The Syrian tank column was challenged near Ramtha junction by a smaller force of Jordanian armor whose vehicles carried the black, white, green and red Hashemite flag along with pictures of the King. Hussein's order to his troops, the best in the Arab world, was to "stand fast and teach the heretic leaders of Syria a lesson in heroism." His 40th and 60th armored brigades did just that. First they blunted the Syrian invasion by knocking out 40 tanks. In an armored tactic known as "the loop," the 40th hit the Syrians head-on while the 60th rolled around their flank. Operating with precision, the two brigades were also supported by Hawker Hunter jets of the King's air force. The planes alone, according to Hussein, knocked out ten tanks and later harassed the Syrians as they retreated across the border after the 16-hour battle. Altogether about 100 Syrian tanks were disabled, while Hussein's army lost about 20.
The Jordanian flyers had the sky almost to themselves. The Syrian air force never showed up, probably because Damascus was worried about Israel and was also feeling pressure from Moscow to withdraw. Furthermore, once its planes entered into combat, Syria could no longer disclaim responsibility for the invasion. But from time to time a flight of eight Israeli Mirages showed up over the battlefield near Irbid. The Israeli jets took no part in the battle; they were there to take pictures of the fighting—as were a number of U.S. photo-reconnaissance planes. An Israeli source said that the Mirages were also trying to throw a scare into the Syrians. "In this kind of fight," acknowledged one Israeli air force officer, "we are with Hussein." The Israelis also helped their unusual temporary ally by massing tanks and other military equipment along the Jordan-Syria border, and by letting it be known that if they entered the war, they would need no more than four hours to reach Damascus.