Concerns Mount as Tensions Rise among Muslim Brotherhood Leaders

Muslim Brotherhood members on trial in Egypt (AFP)
Muslim Brotherhood members on trial in Egypt (AFP)
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Concerns Mount as Tensions Rise among Muslim Brotherhood Leaders

Muslim Brotherhood members on trial in Egypt (AFP)
Muslim Brotherhood members on trial in Egypt (AFP)

Muslim Brotherhood youth are concerned over the organization's future after tensions rose between the leaders living abroad.

Conflicts increased within the organization after the acting General Guide in Egypt, Ibrahim Mounir, decided to dismiss the former Secretary-General Mahmoud Hussein and several other leaders.

Mounir also referred the dismissed leader for investigation.

A researcher in fundamentalist movements in Egypt, Amr Abdel Moneim, said that the recent period had witnessed divisions between Mounir and Hussein's office, referred to as the "old office" and the "new office" of Mohammad Sharaf.

Abdel Moneim told Asharq Al-Awsat that controversy erupted in Turkey's office after Mounir's office dismissed Hussein's office and approved the new elections.

He explained that the administrative office in Turkey is important and receives financial aid of about $1,700,000 per month.

Abdel Moneim suggested that major disagreements erupted within the youth group after the young members abroad broke their silence and accused the leaders of both offices of creating chaos, failing the Shura council, disrupting administrative regulations for organizing, and siding with one group against another.



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.