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Four Years after Protesters Shut It Down, Israeli Embassy in Cairo
Reopens
Sarah Moawad
http://muftah.org/four-years-after-protesters-shut-it-down-israeli-embassy-in-cairo-reopens/#.VfPK35eTWmU
September 11th, 2015
This week, exactly four years after it was ransacked and shut down by
protesters, the Israeli embassy in Cairo was reopened. During the
opening ceremony on Wednesday, the Jerusalem Post reported, “the Israeli
flag was raised, the name plaque outside the embassy was unveiled, and
the Israeli and Egyptian national anthems were sung.” Israeli Foreign
Ministry Director-General Dore Gold lauded the relationship between the
two countries, emphasizing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi succeeded in “deflecting the
threat, and we are working together for the sake of stability and
prosperity in the Middle East.” He went on to praise Egypt as “the
biggest and most important state in the region,” adding that “it is no
wonder that the Arab world called Egypt Um al-Dunya, mother of the
world.”
The Egypt of 2011, that nation fought for by the people in order to
serve the people, is long gone. As The New York Times wrote about the
embassy’s reopening, it “reflects Israel’s effort to strengthen ties
with the military-backed government in Egypt as an era of mass protest
appears to have receded” [emphasis added]. It seems that the hopeful
elation of the January 25th revolution has been replaced by tacit
complacency in the face of yet another military regime and its “security
concerns.”
……………………………..
'Egypt, Syria to restore diplomatic ties'
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/85345-150911-reports-egypt-syria-to-restore-diplomatic-ties
11-09-2015: 'Egypt and Syria have agreed to restore diplomatic ties. Two
years ago former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi severed all ties with
the Assad regime, Lebanon's Daily Star reported Friday.
According to the report the two countries will also work on cooperating
together on confronting Islamist extremism, specifically the threat
posed by the Islamic State group.
According to a report in the London based Arabic language daily al-Quds
al-Arabi, the rapprochement between the two countries is quietly taking
place, and according to an Egyptian diplomatic source quoted by
al-Arabi, security ties between the two countries were never severed.'
………………………………………………….
Syria political security chief visits Egypt
Pro-Assad daily Al-Akhbar reported that Cairo and Damascus would
re-establish diplomatic ties.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/565894-syria-political-security-chief-visits-egypt
BEIRUT - Syrian National Security Bureau chief Ali Mamlouk has visited
Cairo to meet with top Egyptian leaders in a further sign of
rapprochement between the two countries, according to a report in a
leading pro-Assad Lebanese newspaper.
“In the last third of August, Mamlouk visited Cairo… and met with a
number of high level officials in the army, and the intelligence and
security services,” Al-Akhbar reported on Friday, weeks after the Syrian
regime’s troubleshooter visited Riyadh.
“The visit was crowned by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi
receiving the Syrian official,” the report added.
Al-Akhbar cited a “well-informed” source as saying that the visit was
“very successful” and that both parties were “pleased with the results.”
The daily said that during the visit reactivation of bilateral
diplomatic relations was agreed upon and that this would soon result in
the return of ambassadors representing the two countries to Cairo and
Damascus.
The source told the paper that “Cairo is preparing to name the diplomat
Ahmed Helmy, who was on the staff of its embassy in Beirut, Egyptian
consul general in Syria.”
Counterterror ties
Mamlouk’s visit to Egypt reportedly focused on security issues, with a
source telling the Lebanese daily that the Syrian official had
“discussed bilateral security cooperation to confront terrorism.”
This came “within the context of the political solution in Syria, the
initiatives that have been put forward, the plan of international envoy
Staffan de Mistura and efforts to convene the Moscow 3 [peace talks],”
the report said.
“It was agreed that Egypt must play a bigger role in Syrian affairs in
view of the strategic depth Syria constitutes for Egyptian national
security.”
According to the source, “Cairo… considers the two countries to be
facing a common enemy—the Muslim Brotherhood and, by implication,
Turkey—that constitutes a greater threat to Egypt than Syria.”
The Egyptian officials reportedly told their Syrian guest that “Cairo
believes both of the countries’ regimes are based on the strength of
their armies, which form the main base of rule in them.”
Mamlouk’s hosts said they believed that “as long as the army is solid
the Syrian state will continue to stand,” according to the source.
“Any collapse of the Syrian army will mean that we have entered the era
partition in the region. Therefore, confrontation of partition begins
from Syria.”
Egypt-Syria ties
Reports have also emerged that Egypt has been working to repair its
broken ties with Damascus, with Al-Quds al-Arabi saying that the two
countries were moving toward rapprochement.
The London-based daily also cited rebel accounts that the Syrian army
was shelling Zabadani with Egyptian rockets made by the state-owned Arab
Organization for Industrialization.
The daily went on to claim that the supply of weapons to Damascus by
Cairo is “a military translation of the recent Syrian-Egyptian political
détente.”
In late August, a retired Egyptian general known for his opposition to
Sisi accused Cairo of arming the Syrian regime, while rebels have
accused the Syrian army of shelling Zabadani with Egyptian-made
missiles.
“On July 22, 2015, a Ukrainian merchant ship loaded with weapons and
light to intermediate military equipment was sent from our country to
the Syrian regime,” retired General Samy Hassan wrote on his Twitter
account.
“The operation to send the ship loaded with weapons to Syria was
completed with orders from [Egyptian Defense Minister] Colonel General
Sedki Sobhi and in coordination with the Syrian Ministry of Defense,”
the former officer further claimed.
He did not go into more detail on the purported weapons transfer, which
is the latest in a series of accusations he has leveled against the Sisi
government. In the fall of 2013, Hassan claimed that Egypt and the UAE
were conspiring to overthrow Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
………………………………………………….
Ayman Nour, an Egyptian opposition figure, revealed that a Syrian
delegation recently visited Cairo. The delegation and Egyptian officials
focused their discussion on initiatives including political reforms as a
preliminary step towards transfer of power from Bashar al-Assad to one
of his close associates.
Nour wrote on his official Twitter account that the said initiative
would “re-polish Assad” by allowing him to visit a number of countries
in the region pending mediation by Egyptian officials.
Nour’s report follows an interview by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV with Assad
in which he confirmed that Egypt and his regime have been in direct
contact for weeks. Media outlets also cited an Egyptian officer as
saying that the Egyptian armed forces sent a shipment of military
equipment to the Syrian regime.
http://www.syrianobserver.com/EN/News/29805/Ayman_Nour_Egyptian_Initiative_Transfer_Power_Syria
As Sisi and Assad grow closer, is Bashar passing on tips on his unique
brand of "anti-Zionist resistance" to his friend in Cairo...?
'Snapping threat: Egypt may put alligators along Gaza border'
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/21006-snapping-threat-egypt-may-put-alligators-along-gaza-border12-09-2015:
'A right-wing US magazine said that the Egyptian army mayspread alligators in
the moat it is constructing along the border withthe Gaza Strip.Israeli website
Arutz Sheva reported: “It's not known if Egypt plans tostock the moat with
alligators or other similar natural deterrencemethods.”The moat was described
as a “medieval-style moat” and it was suggestedthat it could be filled with
alligators.Arutz Sheva claimed that the Egyptian authorities removed all
villages,residential communities and farms located about 3-5 kilometres of
theEgypt-Gaza border to secure the area from tunnel smugglers or anythreats
that could come from Gaza.“The moat, officials expect, will prevent tunnels
from being built, asGaza tunnel diggers will be unable to dig deep enough to go
under themoat. The moat will be filled with seawater from the Mediterranean,”
thewebsite reported.
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