Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi gestures (C), while now-retired Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi (L) and an army general look on at a checkpoint in al-Arish after attack on egyptian soldiers in August, 2012 (Photo: Reuters)
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi arrived in the seaport city of Suez on Monday afternoon to attend a military parade and witness a military exercise involving the crossing of the Suez Canal by Egyptian soldiers.
Defence minister Abdel Fattah El-Sisi also accompanied Morsi on the visit.
There was a strong security presence on the main Cairo-Suez road, in addition to an unprecedented security presence at the landmark Ahmed Hamdi tunnel which connects Suez to Sinai, to protect the presidential motorcade.
Morsi is also set to honour the Suez battalion which fought in the Sixth October war in 1973, in light of Suez city's local celebrations on 24 October, which commemorate the defeat of Israeli forces by local popular militias on the same day in 1973.
Morsi’s visit to the city is the first time the Egyptian head of state has visited the strategic seaport city since 1984.
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