Sisi: No Reconciliation with those Trying to Harm Egypt

President Sisi speaks during the event on Sunday. (Egyptian Presidency)
President Sisi speaks during the event on Sunday. (Egyptian Presidency)
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Sisi: No Reconciliation with those Trying to Harm Egypt

President Sisi speaks during the event on Sunday. (Egyptian Presidency)
President Sisi speaks during the event on Sunday. (Egyptian Presidency)

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said Sunday that his country “will not be defeated by a war from the outside,” while also underlining his rejection of “reconciling” with the Muslim Brotherhood, which Cairo has blacklisted as a terrorist group.

“I cannot reconcile with those who want to destroy the country and harm its people,” he declared during an armed forces cultural event marking Egypt’s victory in the October 6, 1976 war.

“You are welcome to argue with me, but when it comes to killing and destroying the lives of 100 million Egyptian people, then how can I reconcile with you?” he asked while indirectly referring to the Muslim Brotherhood.

He dismissed all calls for reconciliation with the group, which the authorities banned as terrorist in 2013.

Sisi said that Egypt was witnessing a threat to its “state stability”, vowing that he will protect it.

“Direct wars used to be adopted in the past to destroy, defeat and obstruct the progress of a state. Now, new generations of wars are dealing with our challenges and issues and exploiting them before the public, who can be used as a tool for destruction,” he warned.

“Egypt cannot be destroyed by war from the outside,” he remarked.



US to Eventually Reduce Military Bases in Syria to One, Says US Envoy

A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
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US to Eventually Reduce Military Bases in Syria to One, Says US Envoy

A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)

The United States has begun reducing its military presence in Syria with a view to eventually closing all but one of its bases there, the US envoy for the country has said in an interview.

Six months after the ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, the United States is steadily drawing down its presence as part of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), a military task force launched in 2014 to fight the ISIS.

"The reduction of our OIR engagement on a military basis is happening," the US envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, said in an interview with Türkiye's NTV late on Monday.

"We've gone from eight bases to five to three. We'll eventually go to one."

But he admitted Syria still faced major security challenges under interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose coalition toppled Assad in December.

Assad's ouster brought an end to Syria's bloody 14-year civil war, but the new authorities have struggled to contain recent bouts of sectarian violence.

Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, called for the "integration" of the country's ethnic and religious groups.

"It's very tribal still. It's very difficult to bring it together," he said.

But "I think that will happen," he added.

The Pentagon announced in April that the United States would halve its troops in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, saying the ISIS presence had been reduced to "remnants".