- Title: EGYPT: MILITARY MIGHT DISPLAYED AS EGYPT MARKS FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF OCTOBER WAR.
- Date: 7th October 1974
- Summary: 1. GV Ismail entering Assembly 0.11 2. SV Members applaud (3 shots) 0.29 3. SV Ismail receives document from Badway 0.32 4. GV Officers applaud 0.37 5. GV EXT Ismail decorating President Sadat 0.50 6. SV Maltese Premier Mintoff shaking hands with Arafat and embracing him 0.56 7. GV Troops march past 1.04 8. SV Military salutes as aircraft fly over (2 shots) 1.12 9. GV Marchpast 1.26 10. GV Aircraft over watched by Sadat and Arafat 1.38 11. GV Missile past on carrier 1.46 12. GV Torpedo boat past 1.55 13. GV Missiles along road (2 shots) 2.10 Initials BB/1726 TH/AH-AW/BB/1748 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 22nd October 1974 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Reuters ID: LVA9RK30CTZSDSEW3J61S9C3T109
- Story Text: Egypt marked the October 6 anniversary of the outbreak of last year's October War with a display of its latest weapons yesterday.
President Anwar Sadat took the salute as Soviet tanks and missiles rumbled through Cairo in an impressive 100-minute parade. Seated beside the President, was Palestine guerrilla leader Yasser Arafat, whose presence emphasised the importance Egypt still attaches to the fight to liberate occupied Arab soil.
Egyptian War Minister Ahmed Ismail marked the anniversary by declaring that the country's armed forces are now stronger and better equipped than at the outbreak of last year's war.
The Minister was the centre of two ceremonies yesterday. During the parade, he awarded the Star of Sinai to President Sadat for his leadership during the war. Earlier, Field marshal Ismail had attended a special October 6 session of the People's Assembly, where the speaker Hafez Badawy presented the War Minister with a document honouring the role of the armed forces in the October War.
SYNOPSIS: A hero's welcome for Egyptian War Minister Ahmed Ismail at the People's Assembly, Cairo, on Sunday. the Assembly had been called into special session to mark the outbreak of the October Middle East War, which burst upon the world on October the sixth last year. A representative selection of one-hundred officers and men from the armed forces -- plus envoys from other Arab countries -- watched as the War Minister received a special document from Assembly Speaker Hafez Badawy, honouring the role of the Egyptian forces during the October War.
Malta's Prime Dom Mintoff had travelled over for the celebrations, and was embraced as a brother by Palestinian guerrilla leader Yasser Arafat. Then for a full one-hundred minutes, Egypt showed off the way she's rebuilt her forces since the October War.
The Egyptian armoury was dominated by Soviet weapons supplied since the war. Aircraft included Mig fighters and Tupolev bombers. War Minister Ismail had said that the armed forces are now better equipped and stronger than at the outbreak of the October War.
Experts watching the display of Soviet missiles didn't see any new weapons in the Egyptian arsenal. The rockets in the Parade included one code-named Frog, with a range of forty miles. But there was no sign of the more advanced Scud missile, which Egypt is reported to have received.
During a speech at the parade, War Minister Ismail revealed that one year ago President Sadat ordered him to inflict biggest possible losses on Israel as the price of the Israelis occupying Arab territory.
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