“International Day” Festival to Kick off Tomorrow

The “International Day” festival first edition will kick off tomorrow, Wednesday at the Cairo Opera House, amid the attendance of celebrities and public figures.

Among the attendee will be prominent actor Ezzat Al-Alayli, Lotfy Labib, Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, Dalia Mostafa, Alaa Morsy, Amal Rizk, Inas Al-Najjar, Samah Anwar, Marwa, Amr Ramzy, Amr Abd Al-Aziz, Siwar Najjar, Fashion designer Emad El-Nemr, poet Gamal Bakheet, and others.

It is also scheduled for a number of October War heroes, public figures, and journalists to attend the festival, which will be presented by Inas Mohamed.

The festival aims to teach future generations the glorious achievements of the October War, in order to defend their homeland.

“This edition will hold lots of surprises, including honoring late musician Mohamed El Mougy for the patriotic songs that he presented,” Duaa Nasr, vice president of the festival, confirmed.

Zeyad El Tawil, El Mougy son, will receive the honor shield on his father’s behalf.

It is also scheduled for late poet Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi to be honored as well.

The late poet's widow television presenter, Nehal Kamal will receive the honor shield on his behalf.

Noteworthy, the 6th of October Victory, also known as Armed Forces Day, the Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, is annually celebrated on the 6th of October.

On that day, the Egyptian Armed Forces Day won the war against Israel, on the sixth day of October and the 10th of Ramadan is Hijri, and in a war fought by the coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6 to 25، 1973.

The war began when the Arab coalition launched a joint surprise attack on Israeli positions in the Israeli-occupied territories on Yom Kippur، the holiest day in Judaism، which occurred that year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. On this specific holiday (unlike any other) the country comes to a complete standstill; both religiously observant Jews and most of the secular majority fast، abstain from any use of fire، electricity، engines، communications، etc.، all road traffic ceases، and airports are shut down. Many soldiers also go home from military facilities for the holiday، and Israel is more vulnerable with much of its military on leave.

Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed ceasefire lines to enter the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights respectively، which had been captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated massive resupply efforts to their respective allies during the war، and this led to a near-confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers.

The war began with a massive and successful Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal. After crossing the cease-fire lines، Egyptian forces advanced virtually unopposed into the Sinai Peninsula. After three days، Israel had mobilized most of its forces and managed to halt the Egyptian offensive، settling into a stalemate. The Syrians coordinated their attack on the Golan Heights to coincide with the Egyptian offensive and initially made threatening gains into Israeli-held territory.

Contributed by Yara Sameh