October War Embodies Defense of Land, Sovereignty: Kuwaiti Amb.

CAIRO – 6 October 2019: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Egypt Mohammed Al-Thuwaikh has marked Egypt's 1973 victory in its war against Israel on October 6th, saying it embodied the defense of the land and the sovereignty.

"It is the history of the big victory of the Egyptian and Arab army in its fourth war against Israel. Not only is it a history of crossing the canal, it is also a channel for the transit of history," Thuwaikh said.

He also hailed "the memory of the defense of the land and the principle, sovereignty and right, the memory of the honorable Arab solidarity to defend the Arab territories."

The October war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria started with a sudden attack on Israeli positions on Yom Kippur, on October 6, 1973.

After the defeat in the Six-Day War in 1967, in which Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, the Egyptian forces launched its war 6 years later - on October 6, 1973 at 2:00 p.m. (Cairo time) - against the Israeli troops and restored 15 kilometers of Sinai’s land.

The Israeli forces were forced to retreat to Gaza strip. Meanwhile, Syrian troops waged the war near Golan Heights against the Israeli troops.

The rest of the peninsula was recovered through a peace treaty signed in 1979; except for Taba that Egypt retrieved by international arbitration in 1988. The Israeli withdrawal from Sinai occurred in stages that ended in 1982.