Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F, part ten, Egyptian users

The MiG-17F was used in a big number of wars, among them the middle-east ones. They saw action for the first time in Egyptian hands in October 1956 at the Suez Crisis facing the French fighters Dassault Ouragan and Dassault Mystére IV.
However, during that conflict, the Egyptian Air Force had just 12 MiG-17F, so the bulk of the fighting was undertook by the MiG-15bis, as the MiG-17F played a small role. According to Egyptian sources, during the aerial battle that took part over Kabrit Air Base, close to the Suez Canal, in Egypt, three Egyptian MiG-17Fs shot down another Dassault Mystére IV without suffering any casualties at all in the Egyptian side.
It was also used during the next Arab-Israeli War, the Six-Days War in 1967 and again during the Yom-Kippur War in 1973 but already in 1967, as the MiG-17F lacked radar, and Egyptians had better fighter aircraft, the MiG-17F was used in the ground support role, for which some of them were ad-hoc modified by the Egyptian General Aero Organisation with two bomb racks under the fuselage and rocket launchers at the tip of the wings.
From the late 1950s, when the first MiG-17Fs arrived until the 1980s, the MiG-17F served with the Egyptian Air Force when it was replaced by more modern types and put into reserve (status that keeps nowadays).
After the big losses that the Egyptian Air Force took in the Six-Days War, they decided to camouflage their MiG-17Fs with a variety of colours applied directly to the bare metal fuselages. In emergency, and lacking suitable colours, the Egyptians decided to use paint stock from a car factory at Helwan. This particular colour scheme was popularly known as the "Nile Scheme" due to their flashy and gaudy combination of green, sand and black-green.

Sources:
1. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/mig-17-action.htm
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Air_Force
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-17
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F, part two, Sri Lankan and Syrian users

Continuing with the Asian users of the MiG-17F, now it's the turn for two more countries: Sri Lanka and Syria.

• Sri Lanka: During the March 1971 communist insurrection that placed a left-leaning government in power, the Ceylon Air Force received five MiG-17F from the USSR. They served with the Sri-Lankan Air Force, mostly in the ground support role. After the insurgency, the country became a republic and the name was changed to Sri-Lanka. The Sri-Lankan Air Force kept the MiG-17Fs until the early 1980s when they withdrawn as they were clearly outdated.
• Syria: After the creation of the United Arab Republic in 1958, the Syrian Air Force was merged with the Egyptian one and nearly all of its aircraft and personnel were redeployed to Egypt. There, they were replaced by two squadrons of MiG-17Fs. After the dissolution of the United Arab Republic in 1961, the new Syrian Air Force - designated as Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) - was re-established later in that same year, acquiring aircraft left by the Egyptians; around 40 MiG-17Fs.
  During the Six-Days War of 1967, the SyAAF flew some strikes on Northern Israel's bases but was shortly evacuated to other air bases in remote parts of Syria, preventing this way the destruction of their Air Force on the ground just like it had happened with both Egyptian and Jordanian ones. After that war, Syria kept on buying small amount of MiG-17s from East Germany. After the Yom-Kippur War in 1973, the SyAAF suffered heavy losses, prompting the Soviets to establish an air-bridge with Damascus and, in April 1974 they received the first batch of MiG-23 which redeemed the MiG-17fs as obsolete and replaceable.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka_Air_Force

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Air_Force

3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters