Sisi Discusses Army’s Efforts in Preserving Egypt’s National Security

Sisi was accompanied by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense and Military Production Lieutenant General Mohamed Zaki and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid.  (Egyptian presidency)
Sisi was accompanied by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense and Military Production Lieutenant General Mohamed Zaki and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid. (Egyptian presidency)
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Sisi Discusses Army’s Efforts in Preserving Egypt’s National Security

Sisi was accompanied by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense and Military Production Lieutenant General Mohamed Zaki and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid.  (Egyptian presidency)
Sisi was accompanied by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense and Military Production Lieutenant General Mohamed Zaki and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid. (Egyptian presidency)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed on Monday with the army commanders, the tasks of the armed forces and their efforts to preserve the pillars of the country’s national security.

The meeting came in line with the celebrations marking the 49th anniversary of the October 6 War victory.

Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said Sisi chaired a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, during which he congratulated Egyptians on the occasion of celebrating the victories in the October 1973 war.

Sisi discussed with the army commanders the tasks of the armed forces and their efforts to “protect Egypt’s national security at all strategic levels, in cooperation and coordination with state institutions”, Rady stated.

The President later laid a wreath on the Unknown Soldier Memorial and the tombs of the two leaders, Anwar El-Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Sisi was accompanied by Lieutenant General Mohamed Zaki, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense and Military Production, as well as Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, for his part, pledged in a congratulatory letter to Sisi on this occasion that the government maintains its efforts to achieve comprehensive development throughout the country.



Lebanon's New President Says to Ensure State Has Exclusive Right to Carry Arms

This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
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Lebanon's New President Says to Ensure State Has Exclusive Right to Carry Arms

This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)

Lebanon's newly elected President Joseph Aoun told lawmakers on Thursday that he will work to ensure the state has the exclusive right to carry arms, in his first speech at parliament after he was elected.

His comments were seen partly as a reference to Hezbollah's arsenal, which he had not commented on publicly as the former army commander.

In a first round of voting Thursday, Aoun received 71 out of 128 votes but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to win outright. Of the rest, 37 lawmakers cast blank ballots and 14 voted for “sovereignty and the constitution.”
In the second round, he received 99 votes.

In his speech in parliament, Aoun also pledged to carry out reforms to the judicial system and fight corruption.

He promised to control the country’s borders and “ensure the activation of the security services and to discuss a strategic defense policy that will enable the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation from all Lebanese territories” in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military has not yet withdrawn from dozens of villages.

He also vowed to reconstruct “what the Israeli army destroyed in the south, east and (Beirut’s southern) suburbs.”

Thursday’s vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.

Aoun said he would call for parliamentary consultations as soon as possible on naming a new prime minister.