Egypt: Abbas Kamel Sworn In As General Intelligence Chief

Major General Abbas Kamel took the constitutional oath before President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi as the new Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate on Thursday. (Press photo/ Egyptian Presidency)
Major General Abbas Kamel took the constitutional oath before President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi as the new Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate on Thursday. (Press photo/ Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt: Abbas Kamel Sworn In As General Intelligence Chief

Major General Abbas Kamel took the constitutional oath before President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi as the new Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate on Thursday. (Press photo/ Egyptian Presidency)
Major General Abbas Kamel took the constitutional oath before President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi as the new Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate on Thursday. (Press photo/ Egyptian Presidency)

Major General Abbas Kamel took the constitutional oath before President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi as the new Director of the General Intelligence Directorate on Thursday. Nasser Fahmi was sworn in as deputy head of the apparatus.

In January, Sisi designated Kamel to run the general intelligence service after the dismissal of General Khalid Fawzi.

The General Intelligence is the highest intelligence apparatus in the country and directly reports to the Egyptian presidency. The intelligence headquarters is located in the suburb of Hadayek al-Qubba, east of Cairo.

Kamel was the director of Sisi’s office and his assistant during his tenure as director of the Military Intelligence Directorate. He also served as Sisi’s office manager when the latter assumed the position of defense minister under former President Mohamed Morsi.

Following the swearing-in ceremony, Sisi met with the newly appointed intelligence chief and his deputy, according to a statement issued by the presidential spokesperson, Bassam Radi.

The president underlined the necessity to maintain intelligence efforts to protect Egypt’s security against all dangers and praised the work to preserve national security amid regional instability, according to Radi.

Egypt’s General Intelligence apparatus was established in 1954, upon a decision by former President Jamal Abdel Nasser. The institution played an important role during Egypt’s modern history.

It is an independent organ that directly reports to the Egyptian presidency, consisting of a president with the rank of minister, a vice-president with the rank of deputy minister, and a number of assistants and other employees.

Among the most important files addressed by the Egyptian intelligence service during the eighties of the last century were issues related to combating terrorism and chasing members of armed groups with a religious orientation, such as Al Qaeda.

During that period, the Egyptian intelligence built close relations with many of the world’s leading intelligence services.



Austin Tice's Mother in Damascus, Hopes to Find Son

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
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Austin Tice's Mother in Damascus, Hopes to Find Son

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, arrived in Damascus on Saturday to step up the search for her son and said she hopes she can take him home with her, according to Reuters.

Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first US journalists to make it into Syria after the outbreak of the civil war.

His mother, Debra Tice, drove into the Syrian capital from Lebanon with Nizar Zakka, the head of Hostage Aid Worldwide, an organization which is searching for Austin and believes he is still in Syria.

“It'd be lovely to put my arms around Austin while I'm here. It'd be the best,” Debra Tice told Reuters in the Syrian capital, which she last visited in 2015 to meet with Syrian authorities about her son, before they stopped granting her visas.

The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December by the Syrian opposition has allowed her to visit again from her home in Texas.

“I feel very strongly that Austin's here, and I think he knows I'm here... I'm here,” she said.

Debra Tice and Zakka are hoping to meet with Syria's new authorities, including the head of its new administration Ahmed al-Sharaa, to push for information about Austin.

They are also optimistic that US President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, will take up the cause.

Her son, now 43, was taken captive in August 2012, while travelling through the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Reuters was first to report in December that in 2013 Tice, a former US Marine, managed to slip out of his cell and was seen moving between houses in the streets of Damascus' upscale Mazzeh neighborhood.

He was recaptured soon after his escape, likely by forces who answered directly to Assad, current and former US officials said.

Debra Tice came to Syria in 2012 and 2015 to meet with Syrian authorities, who never confirmed that Tice was in their custody, both she and Zakka said.

She criticized outgoing US President Joe Biden's administration, saying they did not negotiate hard enough for her son's release, even in recent months.

“We certainly felt like President Biden was very well positioned to do everything possible to bring Austin home, right? I mean, this was the end of his career,” she said. “This would be a wonderful thing for him to do. So we had an expectation. He pardoned his own son, right? So, where's my son?”

Debra Tice said her “mind was just spinning” as she drove across the Lebanese border into Syria and teared up as she spoke about the tens of thousands whose loved ones were held in Assad's notorious prison system and whose fate remains unknown.

“I have a lot in common with a lot of Syrian mothers and families, and just thinking about how this is affecting them - do they have the same hope that I do, that they're going to open a door, that they're going to see their loved one?”