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Prominent Mubarak-era Figure Safwat Sherif Passes Away

Safwat El-Sherif. (Ministry Of Communication & Information Technology)
Safwat El-Sherif. (Ministry Of Communication & Information Technology)
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Prominent Mubarak-era Figure Safwat Sherif Passes Away

Safwat El-Sherif. (Ministry Of Communication & Information Technology)
Safwat El-Sherif. (Ministry Of Communication & Information Technology)

Safwat El-Sherif, 88, who acted as Minister of Information under late President Hosni Mubarak rule, has died after a long struggle with illness.

His family revealed that he was buried in the family cemetery in Heliopolis, where they received condolences after a decision to cancel a funeral ritual due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sherif had suffered from Leukemia for six years, his son Ehab said, adding that he was transferred to Wadi Al-Nile Hospital during the past few days to receive his treatment and to be followed up by the medical team.

Born in December 1933, he graduated from the Military Academy and was considered one of the most prominent figures of the Mubarak era.

For 22 years, Sherif had been the Minister of Information. He was transferred to the General Intelligence Service and then served as chairman of the State Information Service during the era of the late President Muhammad Anwar Sadat.

He was also one of the founding members of the National Democratic Party in 1966.

Sherif was handed a 3-year prison sentence in an illicit gain case. After the January 2011 revolution, he was brought to trial on a number of charges, including the killing of demonstrators, but the judiciary acquitted him of those charges.

Gamal Mubarak, son of the former Egyptian president, attended Sherif's funeral on Thursday.

Minister of State for Information Osama Heikal mourned the deceased, saying that he has left an impact on the Egyptian media throughout the past years.

Establishing the Egyptian Media Production City and launching the Egyptian Satellite "Nile Sat" are considered key achievements by Sherif.

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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.