| The Egyptian police increased security measures and deployed forces around the Saudi embassy, Akkaz newspaper reported, saying that some groups were trying to manipulate current tensions and sabotage embassy building. The report says security forces and armed vehicles are deployed to the embassy building after security barriers were removed earlier this week which the report says were to facilitate constructions near the building. The already tense relations between Riyadh and Cairo entered a new phase of deterioration after Egypt gave a positive vote to the Russian-proposed resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council. The move was rejected by Saudi authorities that increased their criticism of Egypt but the Egyptian president al-Sisi denounced the critics and defended his country’s policy on Syria. The former allies are now on the verge of cutting diplomatic relations, as an Egyptian MP told Iranian Tasnim new Agency. The Egyptian police increased security measures and deployed forces around the Saudi embassy, Akkaz newspaper reported, saying that some groups were trying to manipulate current tensions and sabotage embassy building. |  |
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Egypt Increases Security Measures around Saudi Embassy
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Morsi’s 20Yrs Prison Sentence Confirmed
| Mohammad Morsi was found guilty of killing protestors in anti-government demonstrations in 2013. The verdict was the first of multiple convictions he has received in primary courts that may sum up to a death sentence. Morsi - Egypt's first democratically elected president - faces charges in other cases, including allegedly leaking secrets to Qatar, conspiring with Hamas to destabilize Egypt, and organizing a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising against then-president Hosni Mubarak. The protests broke out after he issued a decree that put his decisions beyond judicial reviews. The protests culminated in a deadly clash between his supporters and protestors as well as police forces outside the Egyptian presidential palace. He was then removed by the then- army chief and now President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The Court of Cassation also upheld sentences against eight of his co-defendants, including seven who received the same prison term, and one sentenced to 10 years in prison, a judicial official said. Morsi's lawyers are appealing a death sentence in one of his trials on charges of participating in prison breaks and violence against policemen during the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak. |  |
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70 Daesh-aligned terrorists killed in Egyptian air raids
| During a series of predawn attacks, Egyptian fighter jets hit positions held by the Daesh-aligned Velayat Sinai terrorist group in the village of Bolus, said Egyptian security forces on Sunday. Several vehicles belonging to the terrorists were also destroyed in the attacks, which were among the most extensive ones since the Egyptian armed forces launched a massive operation against the militants in northern Sinai in 2015, following coordinated terrorist attacks on several army checkpoints that claimed the lives of 21 soldiers in July the same year. The sources noted that Egyptian troops also foiled a terrorist bombing plot after discovering four explosive devices at a communications post in the region. The Egyptian raids came one day after a senior Egyptian army officer, whose base of operations was in Sinai, was gunned down on the outskirts of the capital Cairo. Brigadier General Adel Raga'i, a commander of the Egyptian army’s armored division, was shot to death near his home on Saturday. Velayat Sinai Takfiri terrorist group -- previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis -- which pledged allegiance to the Daesh terrorist group in 2014, has been responsible for most of the attacks in the Sinai Peninsula as well as Cairo. Such attacks have increased since the 2013 ouster by the military of Egypt's first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi. Raga'i was the most senior military official to be assassinated since the toppling of Morsi. |  |
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Top Egyptian Army Officer Shot Dead
| The victim identified as Brigadier General Adel Ragaei, who commanded an armored division deployed in Sinai, was shot outside his home in the Obour City suburb. "At 6 am they killed him. I can’t tell you if it was six or twelve bullets. It was before he could get into his car,” sister-in-law Huda Zein Elabedine told AFP. No group has yet claimed the attack but terrorist groups affiliated with the ISIS group are waging a fierce insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israeli regime and the Palestinian Gaza Strip. They have also claimed attacks in or near Cairo, including the abduction and murder of a Croatian oil worker and the bombing of the Italian consulate in 2015. |  |
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Purchasing Loyalty with Foreign Aid
| Why? Because last month in the United Nations, contrary to Saudi Arabia’s wishes, Egypt voted in favor of a Russian resolution on Syria. In the world of foreign aid, that’s a super no-no. When a regime has received $25 billion from another regime, it is expected to vote the way its benefactor wants it to vote. In a remarkable admission regarding foreign aid, at least in this particular case, the New York Times, in an article on the matter, wrote, “The Saudis may have thought they were buying loyalty….” The Times article pointed out that to punish the Egyptians for their independence, “The state-owned Saudi oil company, Aramco, postponed a promised shipment of 700,000 tons of discounted oil in October, and the spokesman for Egypt’s oil ministry said the fate of November’s shipment remains unknown.” Although the New York Times would probably be reluctant to describe U.S. foreign aid in the same way, that’s precisely what it is — a way to purchase “loyalty” from foreign regimes, including dictatorships. The U.S. government loves to put foreign regimes on the federal dole because once that happens, U.S. officials know that they have bought them, lock, stock, and barrel. Once a regime is on the dole, it inevitably becomes dependent on it. The racket works like this: The IRS collects money from hard-pressed U.S. taxpayers, which U.S. officials use to send millions of dollars in foreign aid to foreign regimes. The foreign regimes then use the money to buy weaponry to fortify their hold on power or to just to line the pockets of government officials. It doesn’t matter to U.S. officials what the tyrants do to people within their country. They can abuse them, incarcerate them, torture them, or kill them. None of that matters to U.S. officials. What matters to U.S. officials is the international arena. Like votes in the UN. Or public support for U.S. invasions, coups, interventions, assassinations, kidnappings, and the like. Or joining coalitions of the willing. That’s when U.S. officials expect “loyalty,” in the form of blind support, which was what Saudi Arabia was expecting from the Egyptian tyrants. And heaven help any nation that takes the “wrong” position. The U.S. will respond in the same way the Saudis have responded to the Egyptians. It will threaten to do very bad things to the nation that opposes a U.S invasion, coup, or resolution within the UN. When a nation is on the U.S. dole, U.S. officials expect “loyalty.” Americans can’t do anything about foreign aid by the Saudi government. But they can do something about U.S. foreign aid. What they should do is demand that it be ended, immediately. |  |
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Egypt Saudi Ties Deteriorate Further
| After Egypt recently voted in favor of a Russian-backed draft resolution in the UN Security Council on Syria, which was opposed by Saudi, ties between Cairo and Riyadh worsened. Early October, Aramco informed the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. that it would suspend supplies of refined oil products. This compelled Egypt to buy oil from new suppliers at higher prices. On Monday, Egypt’s Minister of Oil Tarek El Molla said that Aramco had suspended its shipments of oil products to Egypt until further notice. Aramco had agreed earlier this year to provide Egypt with 700,000 metric tons of refined products each month for five years in an arrangement valued at about $23 billion. “They did not give us a reason. They only informed the authority about halting shipments of petroleum products until further notice,” an unnamed Egyptian official told Reuters. According to Reuters, El Molla confirmed to reporters in Abu Dhabi, where he was attending an energy summit, that Aramco has indefinitely suspended the shipments. Aramco’s suspension has come amid rising tensions between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who have always had strong diplomatic ties, especially after the military instigated coup that led to the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Since then, the Saudi regime has funneled billions of dollars worth of aid into Egypt’s economy. Egypt pursues independent policy on Yemen, Syria Ties between Cairo and Riyadh became tenser over opposing views on the situation in Syria. The tension came to a head when Egypt, which represents the Arab bloc in the United Nations Security Council, voted for rival French and Russian resolutions aimed at ending hostilities in Syria. On the fate of Syrian President Bashar Al Asssad, the Saudi regime demands that Assad must be ousted from power by all means. This is while Egypt believes that Syrians have to decide their own fate devoid of foreign interference. Saudi regime officials had hoped that their massive financial assistance to Egypt would push Cairo into dropping its independent stances in the region. Egypt flatly refused to back Saudi regime's current adventurous and dangerous policies in the region and has decided to fill the gap left by Aramco through oil purchases from Iraq, Kuwait and latterly Iran. There are unconfirmed reports that Egypt's Oil Minister Tarek El-Molla is expected in Tehran to meet his Iranian counterpart Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. Iran severed its diplomatic ties with Egypt after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and therefore a visit by an Egyptian minister to Tehran will be a turning point in the ties between the two countries. During the October international talks on Syria in Lausanne Iran agreed to attend only once it had secured places for the foreign ministers of Egypt and Iraq at the discussions. Both countries back the pro-Assad stance of Iran but Egypt is seen as significant because its high status in the Arab world. Saudi OIC chief mocked Egyptian President Another diplomatic spat was sparked recently by a Saudi Arabian secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) who was forced to resign after mocking Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The OIC’s Secretary-General Iyad Madani, who stepped down last week, had made remarks bearing seeming intentionality to deride Sisi while speaking to Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi at a conference last week. In earlier remarks, Sisi had told a youth conference that “his fridge only had water in it for a decade,” in what was apparently meant to convey a message of tolerance to the youth at a time of economic hardship. The remark by the Egyptian president was, however, widely ridiculed. In his remarks to the Tunisian president, Madani said he was sure Essebsi’s “fridge has more than water.” Before saying that, he also addressed the Tunisian head of state with Sisi’s last name in what appeared to be a slip of tongue. The ties between Saudi Arabia and Egypt are expected to experience more turbulence ahead due to their divergent policies and conflicting interests in the volatile West Asia region. |  |
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El-Sisi First Arab Leader to Congratulate Trump, Muslim Brotherhood Calls It Disaster
| "The Arab Republic of Egypt is looking to see Donald Trump’s presidency pump new life into the course of Egyptian-American relations, and more cooperation and coordination that will benefit both the Egyptian and American peoples, and promote peace and stability and development in the Middle East region, especially in the face of the huge challenges that it faces,” a statement issued by Egyptian presidency on Wednesday read. In a meeting with Sisi in New York at the United Nations last September, Trump told "under a Trump administration, the United States of America will be a loyal friend, not simply an ally that Egypt can count on". However the Arab country's Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement reacted fiercely to Trump's triumph, saying Trump’s victory is a “disaster” for the Arab and Muslim world. Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first democratically elected president in 2012, but one year later the then defense minister, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, staged a military coup against him. Harsh crackdown against the group and its supporters led to the killing of hundreds of unarmed protesters, and the jailing of thousands. Mamdouh Al-Muneer, a member of the supreme body of the Freedom and Justice Party, wrote on social media that the results of the elections were a catastrophe as a “racist” has ascended to the White House. “Goliath is coming himself, with his horses and men… what our nation has witnessed in the last period is something and what is to come is something different. God willing it will be for us not against us.” |  |
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Egypt arrests 229 Muslim Brotherhood supporters
| Egyptian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that 229 people were detained from several provinces, including the capital, Cairo, Friday. They are accused of responding to calls by the Brotherhood movement to stage a mass protest across the country against the deteriorating economic situation. Cairo has been engaged in a crackdown on the opposition since democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood leader, was ousted in July 2013 in a military coup. The coup was led by the then head of the armed forces and incumbent President General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The Egyptian courts have held mass trials for thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and members since Sisi took power in June 2014. Sisi claims the judiciary is acting independently. The army general denies international accusations of direct involvement in the trials, which have seen hundreds, including Morsi and top Brotherhood leadership, receiving death sentences or lengthy prison terms. The military-backed Cairo government has outlawed Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest opposition movement which operated under numerous restrictions during the era of the country’s former dictator, Hosni Mubarak. Rights groups say the army’s crackdown has led to the deaths of over 1,400 people and the arrest of 22,000 others, including some 200 people who have been sentenced to death in mass trials. |  |
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Egypt court annuls death sentence against ex-president Morsi
| Egypt’s first democratically-elected president was sentenced to death in June 2015 on charges of participating in prison breaks and violence against policemen during the 2011 uprising which toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak. In its Tuesday ruling, the Court of Cassation also quashed the death sentences of five other leaders of Morsi's now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group, including its leader Mohamed Badie, in the same case. The court further struck down life sentences passed in the same case against 21 Muslim Brotherhood members. While the new ruling spares him from the threat of execution, Morsi is serving three lengthy jail sentences totaling 60 years in addition to a life sentence. In December 2012, Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole on charges related to the killing of protesters. He was further sentenced to 40 years on charges of spying for Qatar and handed a life sentence on charge of spying for Hamas. Morsi was immediately arrested after being overthrown in mid-2013 by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who was the head of Egypt's armed forces at the time. In June 2014, Sisi won the subsequent presidential election and began a campaign to crush the Muslim Brotherhood. The group was later blacklisted as a terrorist organization in a bid to prevent its affiliates from running in elections. Since Morsi's ouster, thousands of protesters have been sentenced to jail by civilian and military courts. According to human rights bodies, the clampdown has led to the deaths of more than 1,400 people and arrests of 22,000 others, hundreds of whom have been sentenced to death in mass trials. Human rights groups, meanwhile, have slammed the regime under Sisi for what they see as aggressive policing and the reversal of fragile gains since the country's 2011 uprising. According to New-York based Human Rights Watch, Sisi has presided over a "state of impunity that has allowed security forces to get away with mass killings while imprisoning hundreds of peaceful protesters." US-based non-governmental organization Freedom House has described Egypt's courts a "tool of repression rather than a pillar of justice." |  |
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Egyptian Expert: Syria’s Assad is Necessary to Avoid Chaos
| Alwaght: What do you have to tell us about the news of Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco ceasing oil exports to Egypt under pressures from top Saudi officials? What about the reports of some Arab countries trying to mediate between Riyadh and Cairo to help repair troubled ties? Abdel Fattah: I think that the Saudi-Egyptian relations have been suffering from tense conditions since 2013 when the Israeli and American intelligence services leaked conversation of el-Sisi and his advisor when he was defense minister, calling the Persian Gulf Arab states “semi-states.” This was the first essential tension-making point. Then came the issue of the Egyptian Red Sea islands that were granted to Saudi Arabia by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But due to popular rejection the case was raised in country’s supreme court which later insisted that the islands were Egyptian and the president did not reserve the right to give them to Saudi Arabia. The third issue was Egypt’s pro-Russian Security Council resolution vote on Syria. When Cairo voted in favor of the Russia-proposed Syria resolution, Saudi Arabia took this as an excuse to send messages to Egypt telling it that the Persian Gulf Arab states were discontented with the Egyptian positions on Syria. But the last message of the Arab anger was sent by Saudi Arabia's Aramco to Egypt. This pushed Egypt to seek alternative oil sources. Now after win of Trump, whose anti-Saudi positions are clear to all, the Emirati crown prince visited Cairo with a Saudi advice to help restore their relations. Alwaght: Does Saudi Arabia have the right to cut the oil exports to Egypt this way, especially that we know that they have an official 5-year-long oil export contract which is worth $24 billion? Abdel Fattah: This oil supply is considered as an aid to Egypt, so Saudi Arabia gave itself the right to cease it. Certainly, ethically it cannot halt the oil supply but legally and technically it can do so. This is an aid deal more than a purchase deal. Now that Trump is elected president of the US, the closeness to Egypt has become a necessity for the Arab countries, especially that they need to face Trump’s policies in the region. So, the Arab contacts with Egypt came as part of this need. Alwaght: Are there alternative oil sources available to Egypt? Can Iraq be the alternative, particularly after the Cairo-Baghdad recent closeness? Abdel Fattah: Yes, there are several alternatives available to Cairo like Iraq, Libya, and Algeria. Egypt will not face essential problems to replace the Saudi oil. Perhaps the kingdom will soon review its decision. Even if it does not resume oil exports, Cairo will not face any problems. Egypt wants to flex muscles and send a message to Saudi Arabia to tell it that its difficult economic conditions will not stop it from being the greatest Arabia country, and that the economic troubles will not eliminate the history, the geography, and the civilization. Alwaght: Do you think Trump’s stances on Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf Arab states collectively will lead to a closeness to Egypt, especially with the positive signs we see between el-Sisi and Trump? Abdel Fattah: I think that the US-Egypt relations will see a thaw during Trump period. This was clear when Trump and el-Sisi met in New York during the latter’s visit of the US to take part in the UN General Assembly. Trump hailed Egypt’s el-Sisi for his counterterrorist moves. This can draw them closer. This pushed Riyadh to seek rapprochement with Cairo. Alwaght: Why are Egypt's stances on Syria different from those of the Persian Gulf Arab states? Abdel Fattah: As it is clear, Saudi Arabia insists on the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s removal from power, because it considers him a Shiite Muslim and so an Iran’s arm. Furthermore, the kingdom has a persistent concern about Tehran's attempts to dominate the region, and that Saudi Arabia one day will be a target of this Iranian domination seeking. This comes while Egypt sees Assad’s stay as necessary to steer clear of chaos in Syria while there is no alternative for him. Perhaps if he falls, the terrorist groups seize the power. This issue is the source of difference between the two sides' positions on Syria. Alwaght: Do you think distance between Saudi Arabia and Egypt will affect Cairo’s stance on the Saudi-led war against Yemen? Abdel Fattah: Well, Egypt is member of anti-Yemeni Saudi-led military coalition. However, it declined so far to intervene directly. Saudi Arabia itself is concerned about the weak Egyptian role in Yemen war. I think that at the end of the road, Cairo will remain on its position which calls for saving Yemen’s unity, avoiding military intervention, and backing political solution. Alwaght: What are Riyadh’s available options after the Egyptian supreme court imposed a ban on granting the Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia? Abdel Fattah: Saudi Arabia has not many choices in this case. There are no documents and evidences proving the Saudi ownership of the two Red Sea islands. The Egyptian court will not review its decision. On the other hand, President el-Sisi and the government know well that they are put to the (people's) test when it comes to this case. I do not think they escalate against the nation, particularly after the supreme court's announcement of illegality of the transfer of the islands to Saudi Arabia. |  |
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Egypt-Gaza Talks, Objectives, Implications
| Mahmoud Al-Zahar suggested that the meeting might follow the recent visit to the Egyptian capital by a high-level delegation from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. According to Al-Zahar, a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip, the fruitful outcome of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s visit to Cairo will have a positive impact on relations between Hamas and Egypt. He added that there has been thawing of tensions between the two sides over the past few months. Speaking in Gaza at a gathering of Journalists Union, Al-Zahar said Hamas plans to hold talks with Egyptian authorities on all major issues including internal Palestinian reconciliation. The Hamas official note that Egypt is a major player in issues affecting the Arab world adding that the Gaza Strip is ready for commercial ties with Cairo. Referring to the easing of movement through the Rafah Border Crossing, he said this is a pointer to changed Egyptian view towards Gaza. Israeli Regime ‘Concerned’ The Israeli regime has already expressed ‘concern’ over Egyptian policy of between ties with Gaza including the prolonged opening of the Rafah Border Crossing and the establishment of a free trade zone to reduce the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. Sources say the Tel Aviv is reportedly worried by the Gaza-Egypt rapprochement while some believe Cairo is actually 'improving' its ties with Hamas as a way of pressurizing the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority following its recent differences with Cairo. The Israeli regime is apparently concerned that Egypt is taking steps to improve the economic conditions of Palestinians in Gaza, a territory which has been under an inhuman Tel Aviv imposed siege since 2007. Sources in Tel Aviv say the Israeli regime is closely monitoring the proposed Free Trade Zone between the Gaza, the Rafah Border Crossing and the Sinai region in Egypt. Such a zone is expected to improve the movement of Egyptian goods to Gaza and thus effectively deal a major blow to the Gaza siege leading to reduced suffering for Palestinians in the coastal sliver. Avi Issacharoff an Arab affairs analysts writing for Zionist Walla website notes that recent Egyptian moves are tantamount to partial lifting of Egypt’s embargo on Gaza which together with the Israeli imposed siege ensured Palestinians in Gaza were economically crippled. He noted that it is not yet clear as to what extent Egypt’s rapprochement with Gaza is related to deteriorating ties between Cairo and the Mahmoud Abbas-led Palestinian Authority. He adds that Egypt wants to compel Abbas to reconcile with ousted senior Fatah party member, Mahmoud Dahlan who has been mentioned as a possible successor to the Palestinian Authority President. Egypt Collaborating with Israeli regime on Gaza It is improbable that Egyptian President Abdul Fattah El Sisi’s government engages with Hamas officials without coordinating with Tel Aviv. Egypt is pursuing fundamental changes in the leadership of Gaza and has therefore most certainly kept Tel Aviv abreast with its moves in the besieged Palestinian territory. Egyptian negotiators, backed by the United Arab Emirates and the Saudi regime are planning to compel Abbas to appoint Dahlan to The Fatah Party Central Committee and eventually assign him duties relating to administrative and security affairs of Gaza. The so called national talks among Palestinian groups and the reopening of the Rafah Border Crossing are part of a plan to disarm the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. All this is going on while the Israel regime continues to kill Palestinians on a daily basis amid its expansionist and land grabbing policies in Holy Quds (Jerusalem) and the West Bank. The El Sisi government is using a carrot and stick policy with the objective of ensuring that the Palestinians in Gaza drop armed resistance and instead compromise with the Israeli regime. This will be the greatest service El Sisi can offer to the occupier regime. After the Egyptian-led disarming of the Palestinian resistance, the Zionist Israeli regime will easily transfer its capital from Tel Aviv to the occupied Quds and pursue other expansionists policies while committing atrocities against Palestinians. |  |
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Egypt Supports Syrian Army: President
| “We do support the Syrian Army as well as the Iraqi army” the Egyptian president, Abdul Fatah al-Sisi said on Tuesday. Speaking to the Portuguese national TV, Sisi said “our priority has been to support national armies, for example we support Libyan army to dominate the country and fight the extremist elements and provide an acceptable security. This is also true about Syria, we do support the Syrian army as well as the Iraqi army”. In response to a question on possible deployment of Egyptian forces to Syria, he said there could be kind of “sensitivity” on the issue so “in such cases, it is better for the national armies to take on the responsibility of providing security and stability of the country”. “Syria has been in crisis for five years and the Egyptian stance has always been to support the will of Syrian nation since a political solution is the best for the current crisis in the country. Terrorist groups should be dealt with and they should be disarmed. Safekeeping the territorial integrity of Syria is very important and the destruction of war should be rebuilt”. Responding to a question about the positions of US President-elect Donald Trump on Syria, he said “the remarks by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign which aroused various reactions, need time and we should wait until he gains full power in January”. Syria had been hit by foreign-backed terrorist and militant groups since March 2011 and the national army is fighting to get them out of the country. |  |
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Egyptian pilots arrived in Syria
| The Egyptian forces have started their work in Hama airbase since 2 weeks ago and a group of 18 mostly helicopter have also jointed them. The first group of four high-ranking Egyptian officers entered Syria and was deployed in the Syrian army's general staff base in Damascus. Two Major Generals have started work in the Syrian army's operations room since a month ago, and their responsibility is leading reconnaissance operations in Quneitra, the Golan Heights and Dara'a. Egypt is also considering the deployment of their 'Thunder Forces' to Syria to assist in more extensive operations. They have also promised Syria to send their forces to start massive participation in battles in Syria from late January, adding that Cairo's military presence will go beyond its role in Hama airbase. Egyptian army officers also traveled to the Syrian port of Tartous to train with Russian military advisors near the Daesh front-lines. The Egyptian officers were accompanied by Russian military personnel upon their arrival in Tartous. Tensions between Cairo and Riyadh were high in the past few weeks after the Egyptian envoy at the UN agreed and voted for Russia's proposed plan on Aleppo that was also supported by China and Venezuela. While Saudi Arabia and their GCC allies, particularly Qatar, are financially and militarily supporting the militants fighting to unseat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Egyptian officials insisted that the crisis can only be solved through political means. |  |
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Egyptian Army Helps Russia Demine Aleppo, Syria
| The officers from the Egyptian Army traveled to the Syrian port-city of Tartous on Tuesday to train with Russia's military advisors near the ISIS front-lines. According to several reports from local activists, the Egyptian officers were accompanied by Russian military personnel upon their arrival to Tartous on Tuesday. The group possibly will work with the Russian bomb disposal unit who entered Syria on the same day to help demine the liberated eastern parts of the flashpoint city of Aleppo According to Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi, more than 200 servicemen and 47 units of combat and special equipment would be involved in clearing the newly-liberated areas of the city from mines and booby traps. The Egyptian, Russian and Syrian militaries have not confirmed these reports; however, if true, it could be an important step towards reconciliation. The development took place amid the ongoing expansion of military cooperation between Russia and Egypt. In October 2016, Russian airborne troops arrived Egypt to participate in a joint military drill with the host country. The drill was codenamed “Defenders of Friendship 2016”. Recently, the Egyptian and Syrian governments began their diplomatic rapprochement after the Morsi regime cutoff ties with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in 2012. |  |
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Blast kills 22, injures 35 in Egypt
| According to the Egyptian state TV, the explosion occurred at Cairo’s Coptic Cathedral on Sunday. No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly incident. Just two days earlier, a terrorist bombing attack in the west of the Egyptian capital had six policemen dead and seven people wounded. The Friday bombing targeted a security post in the Talibiya district of Cairo. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM), formerly known as “The Sinai Province,” is currently the most active group staging terrorist operations in Egypt. It is affiliated to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group. Militants from the group have carried out numerous attacks on security forces and judiciary officials since the ouster of the democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Most of the group’s attacks have been focused on targets in the restive Sinai Peninsula; however, deadly bombings have also been staged by the Sinai Takfiris in Cairo and some other Egyptian cities. |  |
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Daesh-linked militants execute 16 civilians in Sinai Peninsula
| According to Arabi 21 news website, new footage released by Velayat Sinai showed the murder of the 16 young men in the restive Sinai Peninsula. According to the report, most of the victims were beheaded or shot dead. Previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, the terrorist outfit has pledged allegiance to Daesh terrorists mainly active in Iraq and Syria. In October 2014, a state of emergency was declared across the whole Sinai Peninsula following a deadly terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 33 soldiers. The military launched a high-scale security operation in Sinai in September 2015 following coordinated terrorist attacks on several army checkpoints that claimed the lives of 21 soldiers. Hundreds of troops and militants have been killed ever since as Egypt struggles to contain the insurgency. |  |
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Saudi Arabia behind Attack on Egyptian Coptic Church?
| The attack on St Peter and St Paul church, adjoining Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral, occurred while worshipers were attending prayers in Abbasiya neighborhood. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said Monday that a 22-year-old suicide bomber carried out the attacks inside Egypt’s main Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo. Al-Sisi spoke during a funeral organized by the state for the attack’s 25 victims at the Unknown Soldier Monument. “The man who entered the church and blew himself up is named Mahmoud Shafiq Mohamed Mostafa. His body was found on site. He used an explosive belt,” the president said. He added that three men and a woman were arrested in connection with the attack, while two suspects are being searched for. El Sisi pointed out that, “What happened is a strike by forces of evil who feel demotivated. But they will not be able to destroy our unity.” Egypt's Al-Azhar University condemned the terrorist attack and underlined that targeting houses of worship and the killing of the innocents are criminal acts that violate Islamic principles. Reasons behind the carnage on Christians There are several objectives pursued by the perpetrators of this heinous and inhuman crime. First, Egyptian Christians have always been wary of extremists groups especially Wahhabi fanatics allied to Saudi Arabia. During the turbulent one-year rule of Mohammad Morsi, who was ousted by the army in June 2013, Wahhabi extremists had operated freely in confronting and antagonizing Egyptian Coptic Christians and other minorities in the country. Therefore, during Morsi’s presidency the Coptic Christians experienced one of the harshest periods of intolerance towards their community. After the military-led ouster of Morsi which culminated in the presidency of ex-military chief Abdel Fattah El Sisi as president, the Coptic Christians who supported the coup experienced relative calm. Therefore, Coptic Christians in Egypt are considered among the ardent supporters of President El Sisi due to his policies. Considering the foregoing, it is quite clear that El Sisi’s opponents are bent on creating a rift between him and his supporters especially among the Christian minorities and thus ignite clashes and insecurity in the country. Wahhabi sleeper cells Analysts believe that there are sleeper cells of Wahhabi extremists loyal to Saudi Arabia which carried out the deadly terrorist attacks targeting Egyptian Christians. The Saudi motivation to order the attack on pro-Sisi Christians may stem from the escalation of tensions between Cairo and Riyadh over regional issues including the crisis in Syria and also the dispute over the Red Sea Islands of Tiran and Sanafir. Egypt has also rejected Saudi demands to send troops to Yemen thus leading to the Saudis struggling in a worsening military quagmire in the unwinnable war against Yemenis. Egypt which is also the seat of Al Azhar University, the premier institution of Sunni Islam, continues to oppose Saudi-backed Wahhabi terrorists due to the differences in the interpretation of Sunni Islam. In late August, the head of Al Azhar University Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb attended an Islamic conference in the Russian Republic of Chechnya which during its final communiqué refused to include Wahhabism, the branch of Sunni Islam followed by the Saudi royals, on the list of true Sunnis. This move angered and infuriated the Saudis and thus increased tensions between Riyadh and Cairo. |  |
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Egypt Responds to GCC Statement
| The statement issued by the ministry on Friday, December 16, said ""We hoped that the GCC secretary-general's stance would reflect an accurate reading of the Egyptian stance as the only official statement issued by the [Egyptian] interior ministry about the attack included verified and accurate information about the terrorist involved in the attack, and his recent moves outside Egypt," the statement added. The ministry stressed that "the competent Egyptian authorities continue to collect all the information about the crime," adding that "it will announce everything once the investigations are concluded." The statement insisted that the relations between Egypt and other Arab countries should stay strong and immune, and not to be exposed to shocks or suspicions due to inaccurate reading of the situations. The foreign ministry's statement came in response to a statement by the GCC Secretary-General Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al-Zayani on Thursday in which he expressed the GCC's displeasure for inserting the name of Qatar in the church's bombing, describing the act as "rejected". Al-Zayani warned against "haste in releasing accusatory statements, which could negatively affect the close ties between the GCC and Egypt". On Monday, Egyptian Ministry of Interior accused the Muslim Brotherhood organization residing in Qatar of involvement in Sunday's bombing of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Cairo, which left 26 dead and more than 40 injured. |  |
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Saudi visit to Ethiopia dam further strains ties with Egypt
| Egyptian media lashed out at Saudi Arabia over the visit to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Friday, describing it an act of revenge that could deepen tensions between the two countries. The ongoing construction of the 6,000-megawatt power dam on river Nile by Ethiopia has been a source of contention especially from Egypt that considers the River Nile as its lifeline. Ahmed al-Khateeb, a senior adviser at the Saudi royal court and board chairman of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), visited the site and met Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn on Friday. Khateeb’s visit is the second of its kind by a Saudi official to Addis Ababa in less than a week after the kingdom's agriculture minister traveled to Ethiopia. Egypt’s news commentator Mohamed Ali Khayr said "any interference in the GERD project implies a direct threat to Egypt’s national security," urging Riyadh to "review its policies before it can only blame itself for what ensues." Speaking on Egyptian TV, Khayr also slammed the Saudi policymakers for being "amateurs," blaming them for a complete breakdown of bilateral relations. Ahmed Moussa said over his talk show on Egyptian satellite TV channel Sada al-Balad that if Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states were to invest in Ethiopia, their investment would be lost in the Nile. "The GERD will not last forever, a volcano might erupt at any moment. So for those looking to invest billions in this project, your money might as well be going to waste," he said. Tarek Fahmy, a lecturer at the American University in Cairo, also warned Riyadh that his country’s patience is waning and that Egypt will no longer accept actions that threaten its national security. "You will soon hear that we have the capacity to intervene in the [Persian] Gulf region's affairs and provide support for the royals who oppose current Saudi policies," Fahmy said. "Egypt has many cards to pressure Saudi Arabia, which we have yet to use," he added. Egypt fears that the operation of the dam on the Nile will reduce the amount of water it gets, hence threatening its livelihood. Egyptian political science professor Hassan Nafaa described Khateeb’s trip as an indirect message from Riyadh that it could align itself with anyone if Egypt does not comply with the kingdom’s foreign policy. Nafaa told Daily News Egypt that the visit will likely deepen tensions between the two states, adding Cairo would not be tolerating Saudi’s implicit support for the dam construction project. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Egypt grew after Cairo voted for a Russian-drafted resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council, which the Saudi envoy described as "painful." Egypt took an opposing position to Saudi Arabia by choosing to support the Syrian government and army in their fight against terrorists. Since the vote, the Saudi Arabia’s ministry of petroleum said that the Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco has suspended its oil aid to Egypt. Riyadh is also reeling from a ruling by Egyptian courts to quash a government decision to hand control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Egypt's President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi announced that Tiran and Sanafir would be transferred in April, during a visit by Saudi Arabia's King Salman, sparking widespread criticism and protests. The highest administrative court in Cairo later issued a verdict annulling the maritime borders agreement between Cairo and Riyadh. |  |
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Saudi, Qatar Alliance against Egypt, will other Arabs Follow?
| Relations between Ethiopia and Persian Gulf monarchies have been witnessing improvement in recent months, with Ethiopia receiving a number of Saudi and Qatari officials. Qatari Foreign Minister Mohamed bin Abdul Rahman arrived in Addis Ababa on Sunday in a first-of-its-kind move after four years of broken relations between the two countries. In 2015, Qatar launched investments worth $500 million in factories and industrial facilities in Ethiopia. The Qatari FM’s visit to Ethiopia came three days after a visit by an official Saudi delegation headed by Ahmed Al-Khateeb, senior advisor to the Saudi royal court and board chairman of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD). Al-Khateeb met with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn in Addis Ababa. Qatar, Saudis Back Ethiopian Dam to Deny Egypt Nile Waters The Ethiopian prime minister called on Saudi Arabia during Khatib's visit to support the Renaissance Dam project and to invest in Ethiopia. The Qataris-Egyptians relationships is always strained except for the brief periods of the ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Efforts by the Saudis to reconcile the differences between Qatar and Egypt failed dismally. Following Egypt’s position on the Syrian crisis and following Egypt’s vote in support of the Russian drafted resolution in October, the Saudi regime joined Qatar’s position against the government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt. In reaction to Qatari FMs visit to Ethiopia, Hashim Majid, a member of African Affairs Commission in Egypt’s parliament accused Qatar of taking openly antagonistic policies against Egypt. He further blamed Qatar of backing terrorist groups in the north African state. He added that Egypt is getting closer to African countries especially in the Nile basin states to secure Cairo interests. In pursuit of this policy, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi visited the East African state of Uganda on Sunday on an official visit which lasted one-day. The visit to the country dubbed the source of river Nile, was abrupt as it came after a Saudi official visited the Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam, which is currently under construction. Egypt fears that the dam’s construction could affect its historical quotas of Nile waters. The unfolding scenario on Nile water supply to Egypt and its implications on the country’s national security is a potential source of a future bloody conflict involving several countries. Old Egypt, Saudi Rivalries Egypt and Saudi Arabia have over the past decades competed to lead the Arab with each of them competing to establish influence in different parts of the Arab world. Cairo-Riyadh tensions have escalated in recent months with newspapers allied to each side throwing barbs at each other sometimes bordering on outright contempt. Naïve Saudi diplomatic machinery is intent on using petrodollars to force the kingdom’s control over other Arab states forgetting Egypt’s historical position as the leader of the Arab world. The Saudis are engaged in efforts to gain the support of countries such as Qatar, Ethiopia and Bahrain in order to pressurize Egypt to toe Riyadh’s line. On the other hand, Egypt is reaching out to major Arab states including Iraq, Syria and Algeria. These countries have historically had cordial ties with Egypt and have common stances in combating Wahhabi extremism and Saudi warmongering policies. Saudis must Accept Harsh Reality The Saudis are attempting to replicate in the Arab world US domineering policies the West Asia region and other parts of the world. Many Arab countries with independent policies have rejected Saudi overtures. Saudi strategies have failed miserably in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria and this has encouraged Egypt to pursue its independent policies in the region while ignoring Saudi interests. Tensions between Riyadh and Cairo are set to move to the next level with intense behind the scenes struggles already leaking to the media. The Saudi regime is unable to exert influence over most regional countries and therefore Riyadh cannot rally other Arab countries against Egypt. The Saudi monarchy has to accept and respect the harsh reality about the power balance in Arab countries |  |
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