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Egypt’s Sisi Inaugurates ‘July 3’ Naval Base on Northwestern Coast

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi (C) and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (R), are seen in a car during the inauguration of the new “July 3” naval base, in Marsa Matruh Egypt, July 3, 2021 in this handout picture courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency. (Handout via Reuters)
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi (C) and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (R), are seen in a car during the inauguration of the new “July 3” naval base, in Marsa Matruh Egypt, July 3, 2021 in this handout picture courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency. (Handout via Reuters)
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Egypt’s Sisi Inaugurates ‘July 3’ Naval Base on Northwestern Coast

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi (C) and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (R), are seen in a car during the inauguration of the new “July 3” naval base, in Marsa Matruh Egypt, July 3, 2021 in this handout picture courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency. (Handout via Reuters)
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi (C) and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (R), are seen in a car during the inauguration of the new “July 3” naval base, in Marsa Matruh Egypt, July 3, 2021 in this handout picture courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency. (Handout via Reuters)

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated a naval base on Saturday 135 km from the border with Libya, flanked by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

Egypt says the July 3 base will help it protect strategic and economic interests as well as helping guard against irregular migration as it works to boost its naval presence on the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

At the inauguration, two Mistral helicopter carriers acquired from France were on display alongside a German-made submarine and two recently delivered FREMM-class Italian frigates.

Naval forces performed exercises that included the firing of rockets, parachute jumps and an amphibious landing as Sisi and his guests looked on from the bridge of one of the Mistrals.

The July 3 base is spread over more than 10 sq km and has a 1,000-metre naval quay with a water depth of 14 meters. It also has quays for commercial shipping.

The eastern border has been a key security concern for Egypt as Libya slid into turmoil after 2011, though it has beefed up its presence in the area.

Mohammed al-Menfi, head of Libya’s three-man presidential council, attended the opening on Saturday.

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Arab World

Syrians Recover Human Remains from Site Used by Hezbollah and Other Assad Allies

An aerial view taken with a drone shows members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, loading human remains in body bags on a truck in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
An aerial view taken with a drone shows members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, loading human remains in body bags on a truck in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
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Syrians Recover Human Remains from Site Used by Hezbollah and Other Assad Allies

An aerial view taken with a drone shows members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, loading human remains in body bags on a truck in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
An aerial view taken with a drone shows members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, loading human remains in body bags on a truck in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024. (EPA)

The Syrian Civil Defense group, known as the White Helmets, uncovered at least 21 corpses as well as incomplete human remains on Wednesday in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of the capital Damascus.

The discovery was made at a site previously used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed Iraqi militias, both allies of deposed President Bashar al-Assad during the country’s civil war.

The site included a field kitchen, a drugstore and a morgue, according to Ammar al-Salmo, an official with the White Helmets, a volunteer organization that operated in areas that were controlled by the opposition.

Rescue teams in white hazmat suits searched the site, located not far from the revered shrine of Sayyida Zeinab. The remains were placed into black bags and loaded onto a truck as bystanders from the neighborhood looked on.

“Some (of the remains) are skeletons, others are incomplete, and there are bags of small bones. We cannot yet determine the number of victims,” al-Salmo said.

“Damascus has become a mass grave,” he said, pointing out the growing reports of war-related graves and burial sites in the capital and other places in Syria.

Iran and Hezbollah provided Assad’s government with military, financial and logistical support during the civil war.