President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has delegated Defense Minister Abdel Meguid Saqr to lay wreaths at the Memorial of the Armed Forces Martyrs in Cairo’s Nasr City district.
Martyr’s Day falls on March 9 every year to commemorate the death of Lieutenant General Abdel-Moneim Riad who was chief of staff of the Egyptian army from 1967 until 1969.
Praised as a diligent and practical soldier, Riad was charged with preparing Egypt’s army to drive Israeli forces from the Bar-Lev Line, which Israelis had constructed along the Suez Canal after occupying the area in 1967.
Always a general who led from the front, he was killed in 1969 by Israeli artillery during the War of Attrition (1968–70) as he inspected preparations for just such an assault.
His plan laid the groundwork for a later Egyptian assault as part of the October 6 War in 1973.
Zaki was accompanied by Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Khalifa and commanders of main army branches. The minister also laid a wreath at the tomb of former President Mohammad Anwar el Sadat.
