Egypt Refutes Netanyahu's Claims over Israel's Alleged Victory in 1973 War

On Saturday, the Egyptian Minister of Information, Osama Heikal, refuted claims of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they have achieved victory in the October 1973 war.

In press statements, Heikal said that Netanyahu's remarks are contrary to logic as success and failure are mainly linked to achieving the goal. He noted that the goal of the October War was to evacuate the Israeli troops and liberate the Egyptian territory in light of the capabilities of the armed forces, and accordingly, Israel has approved to be engaged in negotiations with Egypt.

"Before the war, Israel has completely rejected any negotiations, and thus Egypt fully achieved its goal and recaptured the occupied land," he added.

The Egyptian minister added that Israel’s goal was to keep Sinai under its control, and it was not able to do so, noting that, Israel, therefore, has failed to achieve its goal.

He said, "If Israel really won the war, why did it leave Sinai?"

Notably, Israeli Prime Minister commented via Twitter on the anniversary of the 1973 October War, asserting: “Despite our vulnerable position at the beginning of the war, we have turned the odds in our favour and achieved victory. Three weeks after the sudden offensive carried out by the enemies, which was one of the most aggressive attacks in military history, our soldiers stood at the gates of Cairo and Damascus.”

On his part, Alaa Mubarak, son of late president Hosni Mubarak, took to mocking claims made by the spokesperson of Israel’s army Avichay Adraee on the sixth of October war anniversary that Israel had forced Egypt and Syria into a ceasefire.

His comments were met by outrage and mockery on Egyptian social media.

The 6 October War is a historic victory celebrated every year in Egypt.

The “Ramadan War” as it is called in Egypt, the “War of Liberation” as referred to by Syrians, or the “Yom Kippur War” for Israelis, took place when Egypt and Syria launched a massive military operation against Israel in 1973.

The October War was the fourth Arab-Israeli war after the 1948 war (the Palestine war), the 1956 war (the Suez War) and the 1967 war (the Six-Day War).