In this article, we will examine the documented Egyptian usage of the ‘Riyadh’ rifle, which was originally known as the Czechoslovakian-made 7.62×54mmR chambered ZG-51 91/30 bolt-action rifle, a Mosin-Nagant variant. We will examine appearances of the Riyadh in both archival photographs and footage as well as Egyptian popular media such as films.
Suez
Podcast V26 – Part Three: Galal Abdo Hashem – Defiance, Victory and the Dream
In our journey to uncover wartime stories from all sides during the Arab-Israeli Conflict, we managed to meet Galal Abdo Hashem, an Egyptian living in his home city of Ismalia, a city that has witnessed the horrors of war more than once during the 20th century. Galal Abdo Hashem is not a war veteran with military training, in fact, he never fired a single shot towards his enemies, but he decided to do something instead that gained him notoriety and his name written on Egypt’s Honor List. To this day he gives lectures, speaks with journalists, and appears on TV shows to speak about his experience and journey during a time when Egypt was at war with Israel. This article is the story of one of Egypt’s civilians who, despite taking up arms to defend his homeland, decided there was another way to contribute to the war effort – art.
Podcast V26 – Part One: Galal Abdo Hashem – The Shrapnel Collector of Egypt
In our journey to uncover wartime stories from all sides during the Arab-Israeli Conflict we managed to meet Galal Abdo Hashem, an Egyptian living in his home city of Ismalia, a city that witnessed the horrors of war more than once during the 20th century. Galal Abdo Hashem is not a war veteran with military training, in fact, he never fired a single shot towards his enemies, but he decided to do something instead that gained him notoriety and his name written on Egypt’s Honor List. To this day he gives lectures, speaks with journalists and appears on TV shows to speak about his experience and journey during a time when Egypt was at war with Israel. This article is the story of one of Egypt’s civilians who, despite taking up arms to defend his homeland, decided there was another way to contribute to the war effort – art.
Operation Balak: The IDF’s Star of David on Nazi Rifles
“All is fair in love and war” is an idiom in English that refers to the practice of otherwise questionable actions being considered acceptable under exceptional circumstances. When talking about weaponry in general, one example to illustrate the aforementioned saying would be the direct use of an enemy’s arms of war to forward one’s own agenda. Anti-Communist Afghan Mujahideen fighting their Soviet enemies with Soviet-made weaponry, Islamic State attacking regional adversaries with US M4’s and M16’s or the post-war US government employing former German and Japanese scientists and technologies for their fight against the Red Menace are all examples of this common practice. The Israeli Defense Forces‘ hexagram emblem on Nazi Mauser-manufactured Kar98k carbines is another interesting manifestation of this idiom.
Egyptian Female Volunteers in Suez Crisis and Their Armaments
Whenever you think of female warriors in the Middle East, the very first thing that crosses the Western mind is the YPJ (Women’s Protection Units), an all-female Kurdish militia that fights with other Kurdish militias such as the YPG (People’s Protection Units). Of course, with the war raging against ISIS, and the terrible atrocities committed against women, the global media fixated their spotlights on the female warriors who fought tooth and nail against a patriarchal, barbaric and medieval-minded opponent.
Within modern Arab history we have examples where women carried arms and fought as well.