Abdul Munim Riad
| Abdul Munim Riad | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
22 October 1919 Tanta, Sultanate of Egypt |
| Died | 9 March 1969 (aged 49) Suez Canal zone, United Arab Republic |
| Allegiance | Egypt |
| Rank | Egyptian Chief of Staff |
| Battles/wars | World War II, 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 1956 Suez War, 1967 Six Day War, War of Attrition † |
Abdul Munim Riad (22 October 1919 – 9 March 1969) (Arabic: عبد المنعم رياض) was a general and chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces. He was killed along with several of his aides in an Israeli mortar attack on 9 March 1969. Riad commanded the Jordanian forces in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The day Riad and his colleagues were killed is commemorated in Egypt as Martyrs' Day.
Riad was born 22 October 1919 in the Nile Delta city of Tanta to father Mohammed Riad, a lieutenant colonel in the Egyptian military and an instructor at Royal Military Academy. After Mohammed was posted to el-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula in 1928, Riad gained an understanding of the region's mountainous and arid terrain. This part of his childhood saw Riad observing his father's military activities, playing with the local Bedouin children and becoming an "expert scout" of the area according to Egyptian military historian Mohammed al-Jawady.
Riad's family moved to the port city of Alexandria in 1930 after his father, who was promoted to colonel, was posted there to take command of the 2nd Infantry Battalion. Riad went to secondary school in the city, graduating in 1936 and attending the fall semester at Qasr el-Aini Medical School in Cairo. While there he participated in student protests demanding an end to British colonial influence in the country.
Later that year the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty was signed and stipulated that Egypt's military academies would be open to all societal classes. Riad joined the Royal Military Academy, his original interest, on 6 October despite opposition from his mother who did not favor her son having a career in the military. It was at the academy that he met fellow cadets Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, Saad el-Shazly and Ahmad Ismail Ali, among others. According to al-Jawady, Riad had a particularly strong personality, understood the curriculum well and was strictly focused on strengthening his mental and physical abilities with regards to the military.
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