#6Oct73 : The battle and siege of Suez

Today is the National Day of Suez Governorate, commemorating the Suez city’s heroic resistance during the October War of 1973.

Colored by Google Gemini
An Egyptian resistance fighter from Suez 

The siege of Suez lasted about 101 days — from October 24, 1973, to January 28, 1974 — marking the final phase of the war.

On October 23, Israeli forces under Ariel Sharon attempted to storm the city despite the Israeli commanders’ concerns, expecting minimal resistance due to a fatal strategic error by President Anwar Sadat.

Acting on a request from Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to ease pressure on the northern front, Sadat ordered further offensives eastward on October 14, despite Egypt’s initial success crossing the Suez Canal.

This move went against the advice of senior commanders, including Chief of Staff Saad El-Din El-Shazly, who warned that pushing beyond the SAM (surface-to-air missile) umbrella would overextend Egypt’s forces.

The resulting withdrawal of units from the western bank weakened the sector near Deversoir (between the Egyptian Second and Third Armies) , leaving it thinly defended — a gap that Ariel Sharon’s division exploited on October 23 to cross into the west bank.

Once across, Sharon’s forces deployed an armored brigade and a paratrooper battalion to cut off supplies to Egypt’s Third Army.

What followed was an epic defense on October 24.

#6Oct73: Those Quran verses at Dawn Prayer

This post is marked at 4:25 a.m. Cairo local time, the time of Al-Fajr (dawn) prayer on 6 October 1973.

It was the 10th of Ramadan, 1393 AH, and, as usual during the holy month, many people were awake to attend the dawn prayer.

A group of Egyptian soldiers praying on the front in October 1973 during the war 
with their boots on. Enhanced and colored by Google Gemini

Most of them tuned their radios to the Holy Qur’an Radio Station to follow the live broadcast of the prayer.

Those listeners, as well as those people in the mosque, became, unknowingly, the lucky few in the world who heard the renowned Qur’an reciter Sheikh Mohamed Ahmed Shabib lead the Fajr prayer from Al-Hussein Mosque.

That early morning before the prayer itself, Sheikh Shabib recited verses from Surah Al-Imran, the third chapter of the Holy Qur’an — a chapter that tells of the family of Imran (Joachim), which includes Imran, Saint Anne (wife of Imran), Mary, and Jesus.

It also contains references to the Battles of Badr and Uhud, two pivotal moments in early Islamic history.

What made this recitation unforgettable was that Sheikh Shabib chose — and repeated three times the first verse from the collection known as the martyrdom verses in that Surah. 

#6OctWar: The Memorial of Unknown Soldier in Cairo and the Memorial of Unknown Soldier in Gaza

It is always seen in Cairo, becoming one of its true modern landmarks in Nasr City.

It commemorates the fallen heroes of Egyptian soldiers and officers in the October 1973/Yom Kippur War.

The Memorial of the Unknown Soldier in Nasr City, Cairo 
Photographed by iPhone 

It is our fourth Pyramid, the Unknown Soldier Memorial in Nasr City.

It witnessed the assassination of President Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat on the 6 October 1981, eight years after the war and six years after the inauguration of the Memorial in 1975.

Although he wished to be buried at Wadi Al-Raha near Mount Sinai (Jebel Musa), Sadat was buried at Cairo’s Unknown Soldier Memorial, which he ordered to be built in 1974.

El-Sadat's funeral in October 1981 at the Uknonwn Solider Memorial

Egyptian artist and professor Sami Rafi designed the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier as a modern pyramid with the first names of Egyptian men engraved on its sides.

Speaking about the memorial is the only thing I think about writing on the anniversary of the 6 October 1973 War in Egypt as usual not in a celebratory way.

I uploaded a YouTube Short dedicated to the Egyptian soldiers but could not share it publicly or widely with that ongoing genocide happening in Gaz and extending to Lebanon.

The Memorial of Unknown Soldier in Cairo made me think about the Memorial of Unknown Soldier in Gaza.

What does Gamal Mubarak really want !?

What does Gamal Mubarak really want !?

This question has been popping into my mind and repeating over and over with no clear answer.

Gamal Mubarak returned to the public scene in a big way on 6th October 2022. He paid a visit to his father’s tomb to meet a huge number of fans out of nowhere then visited the Memorial of the Unknown Soldiers and took photos with the soldiers and officers there.

Gamal Mubarak at the memorial of the Unknown Soldier in Cairo 
on 6 October (Cairo 24)

He did not act as a simple person without any official or unofficial responsibility, he was acting like an elected official or political leader in a rally accompanied by a big muscled body.

Videos from the merry tour were shared showing the fans of citizens telling him that the days of his father were better.

Now I got some questions. 

#Oct73 war anniversary : Watch in Arabic “The Glorious October” short documentary

Happy October war anniversary to all Egyptians and Arabs.

For this year, I stumbled upon this rare short documentary produced by Egyptian TV in December 1973. ‘Thanks to journalist and author Omar Taher on Twitter’

It is called “Glorious October” and it featured the exhibit the government organized in Cairo to show the Israeli prizes of war to the public”

That big exhibit was held in the place of Cairo Opera House in Zamalek or as it was used to know then “The Fairs land”.

The epic moment in that short 12:47 documentary is when an injured soldier who lost his leg danced on late Mohamed Noah’s popular patriotic song “Chiddi Hilek ya bala” or “be strong my country” which was a hit then.

Happy 6th October war anniversary

 Happy 6th October war anniversary from Egyptian Chronicles to all Egyptians as well as Arabs who remember this day and respect the sacrifices to our heroes who died for the sake of our land and dignity. 

"Our forces control completely the front" and "The exchange of POWs and injured starts"
said Al-Akhbar in October 1973

This is the issue of Al-Akhbar Daily was speaking about how Saudi Arabia stopped exporting oil declaring the famous oil embargo. 

Coronavirus on the Nile : Early October COVID-19 Live updates

A new month while living under the coronavirus pandemic that killed one million people around the globe.

October has one hell of a start with the news of how the current US President Donald Trump whose policies during coronavirus pandemic were not the best, test positive along with his wife for COVID-19.

Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020

It is like 2020 has still somethings up in its sleeves.

Some countries in the Arab world are witnessing a re-surge in the cases of the coronavirus by the end of September.

So far the situation is stable in Egypt but it is a huge challenge as public schools and universities are going to open their doors officially in Mid October.

Sensitizing Giza zoo by Mohamed Raai 

Egypt is also going to have parliamentary in the second half of October which means those two weeks will witness parliamentary elections campaigns.

Judging the recent numbers which released daily by the Egyptian health ministry last week, Egypt has had a stable infection daily rate and a declining recovery rate.

The government is telling the people that they should follow the precautionary measures especially social distancing and wearing masks.

But again realistically speaking, neither the social distancing is followed nor the masks are worn.

Example: That celebration held on Friday to commemorate the 1973 and to show support to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi by a bunch of political parties where hundreds of people gathered at Nasr city without masks and no social distancing.

Friday celebration and there is no proper comment 
to describe this

Anyhow; here is our live daily update for the upcoming two weeks. Please stay safe.

The return of Mubarak : YouTube edition

Last Tuesday many Egyptians waited at 8 PM Cairo local on a YouTube channel to see their former and ousted President Mohamed Hosni
Mubarak to appear and speak.

24 hours earlier, Mubarak’s eldest son Alaa announced on Twitter that his father would speak for the first time live on YouTube on Tuesday at 8PM.

I would have loved to share the tweet directly from Alaa Mubarak’s twitter account but the once-a-businessman -tycoon has blocked me on the popular social media network.

Anyhow Ironically at the same time, whistleblower Mohamed Ali announced that he would address the nation yet again in an important video at 8.30 PM !!

It seemed that the 91-years-old despot joined Egypt’s latest Political online video craze that has hit the country in September with the first video released by the contractor turned in to an actor then a runaway whistleblower who continues to release videos against current president El-Sisi on Facebook and YouTube from Spain.

Mubarak as he appeared in his video sharing his war memories 

Now he also joins the growing and interesting Egyptian YouTube realm in his own way.

Anyhow Tuesday came and a video was upload on that YouTube Channel called “Mubarak archives” in English. The YouTube Channel was created and launched on 13 October 2019.

Melania Trump in Egypt : A Quiet Six of October war anniversary

Probably this is the quietest Six of October war anniversary I have ever seen in my life in Egypt. No fireworks at night or airshows in the morning.
The only main event of the day was the very short visit of Melania Trump to Egypt, its last stop in its very quick fashionable African tour.

Melania Trump at the Sphinx "Masrawy"

The First Lady of the United States “FLOTUS” arrived Cairo earlier Morning where she was received by Egypt’s First Entasser Amer “I like the fact that officially she is using her family surname instead of her husband’s surname” at Cairo International Airport.

They went to the Presidential Palace where they were joined by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi who spoke about the importance of cooperation between the United States and Egypt in their talks.
Entasser Amer held bilateral talks with FLOTUS where they discussed also bilateral relations and cooperation to the end of that talk.

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM and Egypt’s territories : We need to ask !!

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince “and de facto king” Mohamed Bin Salman aka MBS declared that the Saudi government was going to build a huge futuristic megacity at the North West part of the kingdom.
The name of $500 billion cities is NEOM which means “Neo” or New in Latin and “M” stands for “Madina” aka City.
The big city which is bigger than Lebanon, Qatar, and Bahrain combined is going to have its own laws under Saudi sovereignty.
Located on the Red Sea, NEOM will include Jordan and Egypt’s territories too !!
Yes, you read it right it will include both Jordanian and Egyptian territories and that’s was the first time we hear about in Egypt. I do not know about Jordan.
Here is the quote from the official statement released by the Saudi government about NEOM.

NEOM’s land mass will extend across the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, rendering NEOM the first private zone to span three countries.

I think citizens in both countries owe their government an explanation. Needless to say, there is a complete silence radio from the Egyptian regime’s side. The Saudis are the ones who revealed more details.

NEOM will also include Egypt’s Tiran and Sanafir islands as well parts of North Sinai.

The new NEOM on the map and you can see Tiran and Sanafir
included

You read it right, Tiran and Sanafir which the current Egyptian administration gave it to Saudi Arabia despite the court orders saga has not finished yet.

Needless to say, the Saudi officials forgot to tell the Saudi people how they are supposed to get Israel's approval for any plans in the two islands as they are part of Camp David treaty aka Zone "C". 

Considering what is happening between Saudi officials and Israeli officials behind closed doors, I believe that they got their approval. 

The Saudis are saying that the King Salman bridge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia linking Asia and Africa is part of that huge futuristic mega city.

The site will also become the main entrance to the King Salman Bridge, linking Asia and Africa, which will add to the zone’s economic significance.

I thought that Sinai Peninsula has been playing that role already !!

1973 War special : The Nubian Sergeant

For the first time in 44 years following the 1973 October war, a forgotten hero has been decorated Egypt’s highest military medal for his role that gave Egypt an edge over the Israelis.

Ahmed Idris 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi honored last Monday 1973 war veteran Ahmed Idris decorating him the Order of the Sinai star for his role in that war.

Ahmed Idris who was born in old Nubia, Aswan is the man behind the secret code which the Israelis could not break in 1973 war despite it was not a real or complex secret code.

Mr. Idris joined the Egyptian army in 1954 as a soldier in the Border guards.

Since the time of the Egyptian kingdom, most of Egyptian Nubians worked in the Border guards.

He was stationed in Sinai till June 1967 war aka Six days war.

#Oct73 war anniversary : The 2016 edition

On Wednesday , Egypt celebrated the October 1973 War 43rd anniversary.
It was quieter than previous years as far as I could tell.

An Egyptian soldier on the Front in October 1973 

On Wednesday , Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attended the commemoration of the war by the Egyptian armed forces along with none other than Sudan's Omar El-Bashir.
As an Egyptian , I felt insulted twice.

Tiran and Sanafir : Many Egyptians are angry , really angry

On Saturday , we suddenly found out that the current Egyptian administration gave up Egypt's Tiran and Sanafir Islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia.
Suddenly without any introductions 'except couple of articles in Saudi press' , the Egyptian

The Egyptian Flag on Sanafir 'Instagram"

government announced during the real historical unforgettable visit of King Salman that the maritime borders between Egypt and the Saudi Kingdom were redrawn and suddenly Tiran and Sanafir were Saudi Islands in the Red Sea!!
Tiran and Sanafir were disputed islands where Saudi Arabia has been claiming that they are Saudi while Egypt has been maintaining  that they are Egyptian for decades including years under Israeli occupation.
Ironically , I was going to write a post about that bridge that returned back once again like a bad menace but then I found that not only we are having that bridge but Tiran and Sanafir are taken from us at the same moment.
Many Egyptians are really and sincerely angry for what happened.
You can not keep the people in dark for months  then you come tell them that part of their country belongs to another foreign neighbor state.
Our problem is not with the Saudi government or the Saudi people. On the contrary , I cannot blame them for seizing the opportunity of Egypt's weakness.
In the past 48 hours , #Tiran_and_Sanafir,  #Tiran_Sanafir_are_Egyptian and #Awad_Sold_his_land Arabic hashtags have been trending in Egypt and Saudi Arabia where Egyptian tweeps are slamming El-Sisi for his decision
Awad is a sad hero of some folk moral story , a peasant who sold his land for quick revenue only to be doomed.
For the first time since months , I found calls for a protest in Tahrir square next Friday against the Egyptian government's decision.
There is also an online petition calling for the cancellation of that agreement and it is attracting signatures.

Kodak Agfa Presents: That old Bookshop in Khan El-Khalili

If you have ever been to the famous Khan El-Khalili quarter, I am sure that you stopped at a small bookshop inside selling old magazines and posters.

That bookshop in Khan El-Khalili

I do not know its name, but this is from the places you can not forget thanks to its excellent old magazines, newspapers. films posters and stamps

From old political magazines to comics magazines

It is the place to find old pricey newspapers and magazines in good condition if you are ready to spend a lot of money and do not like buying old magazines and newspapers from the El-Azbakeya market for old and used books in Cairo.

As I hinted the old magazines and newspapers are pricey, they are not cheap at all compared to other places in Cairo.

An old magazine from the Royal Family era pre-1952 can reach up to LE 1,200.

Queen Farida on the cover of Al-Mussawar magazine

Regarding El-Sisi's speech on the 10th of Ramadan

Just like any other president preceded him , Abdel Fattah El-Sisi addressed the public on the 9th Ramadan about allegedly the 10th of Ramadan anniversary aka the anniversary of the 1973 war according to the Hagri Calender.
As expected it was not about the war but about the latest economic decisions taken this week to lift up fuel and energy subsidies.
These are my remarks about the 25 minutes recorded Televised speech : 
1- Extreme emotional speeches do not work every time especially in hard economic times. It may work with certain classes especially among the Upper Middle class ladies and Upper class ladies but it won't have the same effect now among the working class that will pay the price for real for such cuts. Already such classes have been paying the price in the past 30 years
2- As he spoke directly in informal Arabic in Egyptian accent , I wonder for real who wrote for him this speech. That speech with this arrangement of ideas can not be improvised , at least the points and their arrangement should be outlined before recording. I real wonder who wrote and honestly I do not think that the usual suspect "Hassanein Heikal" is behind that speech because Heikal is an expert in sophisticated political speeches.

A Kodak Agfa Co-Production : #Oct73War Anniversary in #Tahrir square

This small photo gallery is from Tahrir square last 6 October 2013. It is a co-production between Kodak Agfa and a dear friend of mine.

Of course the day ended in a very sad way despite all the celebrations and so on unfortunately.
Tahrir square is closed in front of protesting until further notice.

#Oct1973War : The lessons We Failed to learn after 40 years !!

Thousands headed to the streets allegedly to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 6 October War by the orders of the interim president , army , Muslim brotherhood , the Church , parties to the end of that to get the party on or accurately to get on with their own political agendas.

None of them tried to learn from the political lessons Egypt learned in a very expensive in 6 years of war.
I am afraid we are repeating the mistakes we have committed in 1967 and forgot all the reasons on why we made it in 1973.

Let’s start with the media, we got the same Ultra-hypocrite lying propaganda machine of 1967 working effectively in 1973 !! Joseph Goebbels would be impressed by the amount of propaganda this nation has produced whether in 1967 or in 2013 to be honest !!!

When I look to the headlines of the newspapers on 7 October 1973 and the headlines of the early editions of the newspapers on 6 June 1967, I see that someone had learned a tough lesson.

Do you know that people did not believe the Egyptian radio and TV news on 6 October 1973 and had to hear the news from Israeli radio Arabic service as well Monte Carlo Arabic radio service !? Do you know that for 6 years Israel seized this to send its poison propaganda in its radio service !?

The big Operetta to crown a New Pharaoh

Yesterday the morale department of the armed forces presented its big operetta to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October war.

The big event was attended by the minister of defense “the big star of the event” , the interim president , the ministers, former first lady Jihan El Sadat and former minister of defense and head of SCAF Hussein Tantawy.

It was not actually an operetta or an event to commemorate the great war and its heroes but it was actually a coronation gala for the new pharaoh of Egypt Abdel Fatah El Sisi.

Let’s start with the operetta. Let’s analysis the scene piece by piece.

Almost the guests, the singers and actors participating in that piece of .. “something definitely not related to Art” are the old faces of Mubarak’s regime hypocrites. Once again we are back to the Northern Korean-Soviet Nationalist 1960s talentless operettas. The lyricist and the singers and the actors are from the old ass kissing Mubarak’s hypocrites. Talentless and tasteless thing they claim to be art and I see it a waste of money when Egypt is in deep economic crisis.

And as we have replaced the Qatari sponsorship with Emirati Sponsorship , we find famous Emirati singer Hussein El Jasmi singing in the operetta with whiney voice urging the general to run for the elections. I just want to say to El Jasmi if he loves the general so much , he can urge him for the elections in his own country !!!

From 40 Years ago

This post is dedicated to those men who against all odds astonished the whole world and changed the course of history once more.

I do not know how today will end but regardless of what happens, God bless this country and those heroes. May their sacrifices may not go in to vein.  

#Oct6 Anniversary : Live Blogging

Today thousands are expected to head to the street starting this afternoon in more of a confrontation mood than celebratory mood. Thousands of Muslim brotherhood supporters are vowing not to return today to their homes except when electoral legitimacy is restored and Morsi is back as a president while on the other hand thousands of army supporters are vowing not to let the Muslim brotherhood supporters spoil the 40th anniversary of 6 October war in the streets too especially in Tahrir square.

Here is  the live blog.