Egypt Police Kills Two Militants in Cairo

A police vehicle in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
A police vehicle in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
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Egypt Police Kills Two Militants in Cairo

A police vehicle in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
A police vehicle in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)

Two militants were killed in a police raid in a province north of Egypt's capital Cairo, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The national security agency was informed of the hideout of the two militants in a residential area in the province of Qalyubia, the statement read.

They were planning to carry out terrorist operations in the coming period against state bodies and institutions, it added.

The terrorists reportedly belonged to a Takfiri cell, which police had previously attacked in April.

Back then, the Ministry announced eradicating a ‘terrorist cell’ in Al Amireya, Cairo. The clashes led to the death of one police officer and seven armed men, also, three polices officers were injured.

Police found a haul of weapons during the operation, including a machine gun and bullets of different calibers.

In a related context, the Court of Cassation (the supreme court of Egypt's common court system) upheld death sentence against six convicts and life-sentence against 13 others.

They were charged with leading and joining a prohibited group and committing violent acts that killed three.



Lebanon's New President Says to Ensure State Has Exclusive Right to Carry Arms

This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
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Lebanon's New President Says to Ensure State Has Exclusive Right to Carry Arms

This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)

Lebanon's newly elected President Joseph Aoun told lawmakers on Thursday that he will work to ensure the state has the exclusive right to carry arms, in his first speech at parliament after he was elected.

His comments were seen partly as a reference to Hezbollah's arsenal, which he had not commented on publicly as the former army commander.

In a first round of voting Thursday, Aoun received 71 out of 128 votes but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to win outright. Of the rest, 37 lawmakers cast blank ballots and 14 voted for “sovereignty and the constitution.”
In the second round, he received 99 votes.

In his speech in parliament, Aoun also pledged to carry out reforms to the judicial system and fight corruption.

He promised to control the country’s borders and “ensure the activation of the security services and to discuss a strategic defense policy that will enable the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation from all Lebanese territories” in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military has not yet withdrawn from dozens of villages.

He also vowed to reconstruct “what the Israeli army destroyed in the south, east and (Beirut’s southern) suburbs.”

Thursday’s vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.

Aoun said he would call for parliamentary consultations as soon as possible on naming a new prime minister.