Nasser had apparently come to believe that the state of alert publicly declared after the Tawafiq incident had succeeded in deterring Israel from attacking Syria. Now that Israel was allegedly deploying its forces again, Nasser (probably on February 16) ordered the Egyptian army into the Sinai. Advanced detachments of the Egyptian army began crossing the Suez Canal on February 17 and between February 22 and 24 both the 2nd Infantry Division and 4th Armored Division moved into Sinai in radio silence.