Egypt Expects Britain to Ban Muslim Brotherhood Soon

The Grand Mufti delivers a speech before the British Houses of Commons and Lords (Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta)
The Grand Mufti delivers a speech before the British Houses of Commons and Lords (Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta)
TT

Egypt Expects Britain to Ban Muslim Brotherhood Soon

The Grand Mufti delivers a speech before the British Houses of Commons and Lords (Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta)
The Grand Mufti delivers a speech before the British Houses of Commons and Lords (Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta)

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam visited the United Kingdom earlier this week and delivered a speech at the House of Commons, highlighting the banned Muslim Brotherhood’s extremist approach.

Allam also distributed a documented English-language report to the lawmakers revealing the Brotherhood’s scandals and abuses and its association with violence.
Following Allam’s visit, officials in Dar al-Ifta expected that London would impose legal measures to ban the organization soon.

Senior Advisor to Egypt's Mufti Dr. Ibrahim Negm said the report reveals the bloody nature of the terrorist group.

He accused the group of seeking to distort the image of religious institutions and figures that reject its extremist ideology.

Negm stressed that Allam exposed to the world the flaws in the Brotherhood’s ideological structure, adding that it aims to destabilize societies and threaten global peace and security.

He said the Brotherhood’s multilingual media platforms have launched an organized campaign to spread falsified news and rumors against the state and its religious institutions.
The campaign claims that the religious institutions opposed to the group and its extremist approach are politicized.

Allam said in his report that the Brotherhood operated in two respects. Its members first represented themselves to the public as social reformers and opposition forces.

However, they secretly established an apparatus, which was responsible for carrying out terrorist operations and assassinations.



Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
TT

Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)

Lebanon expelled around 70 Syrian officers and soldiers on Saturday, returning them to Syria after they crossed into the country illegally via informal routes, a Lebanese security official and a war monitor said.

Many senior Syrian officials and people close to the former ruling family of Bashar al-Assad fled the country to neighboring Lebanon after Assad's regime was toppled on Dec 8.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based organization with sources in Syria, and the Lebanese security official said Syrian military personnel of various ranks had been sent back via Lebanon's northern Arida crossing.

SOHR and the security official said the returnees were detained by Syria's new ruling authorities after crossing the border.

The new administration has been undertaking a major security crackdown in recent days on what they say are "remnants" of the Assad regime.

Several of the cities and towns concerned, including in Homs and Tartous provinces, are near the porous border with Lebanon.

The Lebanese security official said the Syrian officers and soldiers were found in a truck in the northern coastal city of Jbeil after an inspection by local officials.

Lebanese and Syrian government officials did not immediately respond to written requests for comment on the incident.

Reuters reported on Friday that Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Assad charged in Switzerland with war crimes over the bloody suppression of a revolt in 1982, had flown out of Beirut recently, as had "many members" of the Assad family.

Earlier this month, Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said top Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had flown out of Beirut after entering Lebanon legally.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Mawlawi said other Syrian officials had entered Lebanon illegally and were being pursued.