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2. The vanguard of the Salvation Army, which had begun entering Palestine from Lebanon and reached Tarshiha and Majd al-Krum. In addition, there were local garrisons in the Arab villages, the most important of them in Lubya, which was supplied with about 300 rifles and ten machine guns, and in Tarshiha, which had one hundred rifles and two machine guns.

When the Jews sensed the entry of Salvation Army forces into Palestine from the Lebanese border, they believed that its center would be the city of Nazareth and that it would use Nazareth as a base for operations to cut the Afula–Beisan road and isolate the eastern Galilee from the rest of Palestine. The Jews therefore decided to thwart this plan at any cost. They decided to attack the village of Lubya and seize the junction of the Nazareth–‘Aylabun road in order to prevent the Salvation Army from reaching Nazareth. Lubya was strong, and most of the mujahideen there were trained soldiers. The Jews began their attack with two armored columns, one from Tiberias and the other from al-Shajara, supported by six-inch mortars from the village of Maghdal. Their attack continued for ten hours without their managing to establish supporting positions around the village. Arab reinforcements came from the villages to aid Lubya, in addition to two platoons from the Nazareth company led by Lieutenant Muhammad al-Warthani and a platoon from Saffuriyya led by Major Izz Mahmud. The battle ended in the evening, and the Jews withdrew. The mujahideen captured three armored vehicles from them and handed them over to the Salvation Army. That day, a Salvation Army company led by Major Samandun arrived and pursued the withdrawing Jewish remnants as far as the settlement of al-Shajara. It could have entered it, but an order was issued to stop because the truce was announced that same evening.

On the morning of the first day of the truce, Salvation Army forces advanced to Nazareth, which was later considered the headquarters of the southern Galilee sector. The command of the Third Regiment was stationed there under the Iraqi Major Madlul Abbas, assisted by Major Kamal Abdallah. The regiment’s staff officer was First Lieutenant Akram al-Dayri of the Syrian army. The military situation required the Holy Jihad company to be operationally attached to the Third Regiment’s command while remaining administratively independent. Its headquarters was to be the German Schneller School opposite the Jewish settlement of Kafr al-Harash, to prevent Jews from infiltrating from there into Nazareth. Major Madlul became responsible for protecting the Nazareth–Afula road and the Nazareth–Shafa ‘Amr road and for maintaining the link opposite the Jewish lines extending along the foothills of the Jewish settlement of al-Shajara.

During the first days of the truce, both Arabs and Jews turned to strengthening their defensive lines. While the Arab unit commanders devoted themselves to holding banquets here and there, the Jewish commanders seriously studied and elaborately planned the offensive.