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Shafik Returns to Cairo from Abu Dhabi on Board Private Jet

Egypt's former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik speaks during an interview at his residence in Abu Dhabi February 6, 2013. (Reuters)
Egypt's former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik speaks during an interview at his residence in Abu Dhabi February 6, 2013. (Reuters)
    Cairo, Abu Dhabi – Mohammed Nabil Helmi and Asharq Al-Awsat
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Shafik Returns to Cairo from Abu Dhabi on Board Private Jet

Egypt's former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik speaks during an interview at his residence in Abu Dhabi February 6, 2013. (Reuters)
Egypt's former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik speaks during an interview at his residence in Abu Dhabi February 6, 2013. (Reuters)

Three days after announcing his intention to run in the next presidential elections in Egypt, former Prime Minister Ahmed Sahfik returned to Cairo from Abu Dhabi on Saturday on board a private jet.

His lawyer Dina Adly Hussein told Asharq Al-Awsat that her client departed the United Arab Emirates to Egypt early in the morning on Saturday, while his family, including his daughter remained in Abu Dhabi.

An official source later confirmed her statement.

Shafik came in second to deposed President Mohammed Morsi in the 2012 presidential elections with over 12 million votes (49 percent of the tally). He departed to the UAE soon after his defeat fearing that he would be persecuted on corruption charges.

Charges were laid down against him, but he was acquitted of some, while the others were dropped.

Shafik was once considered close to former President Hosni Mubarak.

A prominent military commander, he was appointed commander of the air force in 1996 and later minister of aviation in 2002. In 2011, Mubarak tasked him with forming a new government.

An informed Egyptian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Shafik received a deportation request from the UAE and that he was obligated to leave within two days.

Prior to his deportation, he was expected to embark on a tour of several European countries, including France, ahead of his announcement of his candidacy for the presidential elections.

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Assad Loyalists Kill at Least 13 Police Officers in Ambush on Syrian Forces in Coastal Town

Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Assad Loyalists Kill at Least 13 Police Officers in Ambush on Syrian Forces in Coastal Town

Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)

Gunmen ambushed a Syrian police patrol in a coastal town Thursday, leaving at least 13 security members dead and many others wounded, a monitoring group and a local official said.

The attack came amid tensions in Syria’s coastal region between former President Bashar Assad’s minority Alawite sect and members of armed groups. Assad was overthrown in early December in an offensive of opposition factions led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the ambush in the town of Jableh, near the city of Latakia, killed at least 16. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the monitoring group, said the gunmen who ambushed the police force are Alawites.

“These are the worst clashes since the fall of the regime,” Abdurrahman said.

A local official in Damascus told The Associated Press that 13 members of the General Security directorate were killed in the ambush. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release security information to the media.

Conflicting casualties figures are not uncommon in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Syria’s 13-year conflict that has killed half a million people.

The pan Arab Al-Jazeera TV broadcaster said its cameraman Riad al-Hussein was wounded while covering the clashes.

The SANA state-news agency reported that large reinforcements were being sent to the coastal region to get the situation under control.

The Syrian Observatory said helicopter gunships took part in attacking Alawite gunmen and Jableh and nearby areas. It added that fighters loyal to former Syrian army Gen. Suheil al-Hassan, also known as Tiger, took part in the attacks against security forces.

Tensions have been on the rise in Syria with reports of attacks by militants against Alawites who had led the rule in Syria for more than five decades under the Assad family.