Egyptian Political Parties Discuss Boycotting Elections, Fate of Anan

Members of the presidential campaign of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi count boxes containing his new presidential candidacy papers at the National Election Authority in Cairo, Egypt, January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Members of the presidential campaign of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi count boxes containing his new presidential candidacy papers at the National Election Authority in Cairo, Egypt, January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Egyptian Political Parties Discuss Boycotting Elections, Fate of Anan

Members of the presidential campaign of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi count boxes containing his new presidential candidacy papers at the National Election Authority in Cairo, Egypt, January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Members of the presidential campaign of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi count boxes containing his new presidential candidacy papers at the National Election Authority in Cairo, Egypt, January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Political parties and Egyptian figures, belonging to the opposition Democratic Alliance, will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday to take a unified stance from the presidential elections scheduled for end of March.

Democratic Alliance officials told Asharq Al-Awsat that “they will discuss several topics, including boycotting the elections and the fate of Sami Anan who is undergoing a military investigation after expressing willingness to take part in the elections.”

The gatherers are expected to include members of the Constitution Party, which has been established by Mohamed ElBaradei, and the Dignity Party as well as the Egyptian Popular Current.

So far only President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has officially submitted his application to run for a second four-year term. He is expected to enjoy sweeping victory.

Parliament deputy speaker and prominent figure in the nationalist liberal Wafd Party Suleiman Wahdan told Asharq Al-Awsat that the party’s higher council was mulling to propose a presidential candidate.

Egyptian Member of Parliament Mustafa Bakri confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that several candidates will run in the elections.

Head of the Supreme Media Regulatory Council Makram Mohamed Ahmed expected the same scenario.

Parliamentarian Mortada Mansour stated to Asharq Al-Awsat that “Sisi needs a second term because four years are not enough.”

Egyptian Politician Mostafa El-Feki stated to the newspaper that the majority of Egyptians want to grant Sisi a new term to proceed with what he has already started, regardless of any democratic considerations.

Feki attributed the absence of real competition to several issues including “the weakness of parties in Egypt.”

In his turn, Ambassador Massoum Marzouk revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that participants in Saturday’s meeting are expected to announce a boycott of the elections so that Sisi fails to get the required five percent.

Another suggestion is to cast a no vote.

The electoral commission stressed in a statement on Thursday that it stands at equal distance from all candidates and acts impartially based on the constitution.



Syrian Government Forces Begin Withdrawing from Sweida

Syrian security forces walk together along a street, after clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida early on Wednesday, collapsing a ceasefire announced just hours earlier that aimed to put an end to days of deadly sectarian bloodshed, in Sweida, Syria July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Syrian security forces walk together along a street, after clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida early on Wednesday, collapsing a ceasefire announced just hours earlier that aimed to put an end to days of deadly sectarian bloodshed, in Sweida, Syria July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
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Syrian Government Forces Begin Withdrawing from Sweida

Syrian security forces walk together along a street, after clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida early on Wednesday, collapsing a ceasefire announced just hours earlier that aimed to put an end to days of deadly sectarian bloodshed, in Sweida, Syria July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Syrian security forces walk together along a street, after clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida early on Wednesday, collapsing a ceasefire announced just hours earlier that aimed to put an end to days of deadly sectarian bloodshed, in Sweida, Syria July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri

Syrian government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire Wednesday after days of clashes that have threatened to unravel the country’s postwar political transition and drawn military intervention by powerful neighbor Israel.

Convoys of government forces began withdrawing from the city of Sweida, but it was not immediately clear if the agreement, announced by Syria's Interior Ministry and in a video message by a Druze religious leader, would hold. A previous ceasefire announced Tuesday quickly fell apart, and a prominent Druze leader, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, disavowed the new agreement.

Israeli strikes continued after the ceasefire announcement, reported The Associated Press.

Rare Israeli airstrikes in the heart of Damascus

The announcement came after Israel launched rare airstrikes in the heart of Damascus, an escalation in a campaign that it said was intended to defend the Druze and push militants away from its border. The Druze form a substantial community in Israel as well as in Syria and are seen in Israel as a loyal minority, often serving in the military.

The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province of Sweida.

The violence appeared to be the most serious threat yet to efforts by Syria’s new rulers to consolidate control of the country after an offensive by opposition factions ousted longtime despotic leader Bashar Assad in December, ending a nearly 14-year civil war.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, in footage on state television early Thursday, called the Druze an integral part of Syria and denounced Israel's actions as sowing division.

“We affirm that protecting your rights and freedoms is among our top priorities,” he said, specifically addressing Druze people in Syria. "We reject any attempt — foreign or domestic — to sow division within our ranks. We are all partners in this land, and we will not allow any group to distort the beautiful image that Syria and its diversity represent.”

He said Israel sought to break Syrian unity and turn the country into a theater of chaos but that Syrians were rejecting division.

He said Syrians did not fear renewed war but sought the path of Syrian interest over destruction. “We assigned local factions and Druze spiritual leaders the responsibility of maintaining security in (Sweida), recognizing the gravity of the situation and the need to avoid dragging the country" into a new war, he said.

No official casualty figures have been released for the latest fighting since Monday, when the Interior Ministry said 30 people had been killed. The UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 300 people had been killed as of Wednesday morning, including four children, eight women and 165 soldiers and security forces.

Israel threatens further escalation

Israel has launched dozens of strikes targeting government troops and convoys heading into Sweida, and on Wednesday struck the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters next to a busy square in Damascus that became a gathering point after Assad's fall.

That strike killed three people and injured 34, Syrian officials said. Another Israeli strike hit near the presidential palace in the hills outside Damascus.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said after the initial Damascus airstrike in a post on X that the “painful blows have begun.”

Israel has taken an aggressive stance toward Syria’s new leaders, saying it doesn’t want militants near its borders. Israeli forces have seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the border with the Golan Heights and launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria.

Kats said in a statement that the Israeli army “will continue to attack regime forces until they withdraw from the area — and will also soon raise the bar of responses against the regime if the message is not understood.”

An Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations said the army was preparing for a “multitude of scenarios" and that a brigade, normally comprising thousands of soldiers, was being pulled out of Gaza and sent to the Golan Heights.