Sinai Peninsula the boundary between Egyptian territory in Africa and the Sinai Peninsula. Thereafter, Israeli ships were prohibited from using the Canal, owing to the state of war between the two states. Egypt also prohibited ships from using Egyptian territorial waters on the eastern side of the peninsula to travel to and from Israel, effectively imposing a blockade on the Israeli port of Eilat. In October 1956, in what is known in Egypt as the Tripartite Aggression, Israeli forces, aided by Britain, and France (which sought to reverse the nationalization and regain control over the Suez Canal), invaded Sinai and occupied much
Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Nubian origin, joined the Egyptian Military Academy in 1952 and received his commission as an Army officer on 1 April 1955 in the infantry. Later that year he took part in the Suez War (or the Tripartite Aggression as it is often known in Egypt) as an infantry platoon commander. He was promoted to Major in 1961 and commanded an infantry company in Yemen during the North Yemen Civil War. Later in his career he was involved in the Six-Day War of 1967 as a Lt.Colonel and Battalion commander, the War of Attrition of 1967–1970, and the October or "Yom