I think the PSR review of the regular set is too harsh, though I understand that the reviewer is focusing on what these men did rather than on what they could be portrayed as doing. So if the focus is on potential uses outside the narrow context of the early Desert War, most of these figures are spot on for the Israeli War of Independence period - for both sides. The figures wearing a mixture of Arab headdress and British uniform work perfectly for Arab irregulars and Palestinian guerrilla units, while the men in cap comforters, berets and such work perfectly for Jewish units (especially the Palmach, whose look was equally scruffy to the LRDG). With a head conversion of the kheffiyah-clad figures -or a figure from the many desert Arab sets - on top of the body of British soldier in battledress you get the Jordanian Arab Legion (who also wore standard battledress with Brodie helmets. Figures from LRDG with berets can also represent the Egyptian Army of the period, whose uniforms were otherwise British in style. Lastly, the Syrians and Lebanese can be represented fairly accurately with the Esci WWII French.

It may not have been the intention, but Strelets have not allowed an entirely new conflict to be modeled in 1/72 plastic!

That is a very interesting insight, Samogon, thank you. I am assuming that the 'not' is 'now' in your post. The Israeli War of Independence is not a conflict I know much about, but I will now look at these figures in a different way with a view to them being useful post-1945.