Muslim Brotherhood Announces ‘Overcoming Power Struggle,’ Denies Concluding Deal with Cairo

Acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front” Ibrahim Munir (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front” Ibrahim Munir (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Muslim Brotherhood Announces ‘Overcoming Power Struggle,’ Denies Concluding Deal with Cairo

Acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front” Ibrahim Munir (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front” Ibrahim Munir (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front,” led by acting leader Ibrahim Munir, published on Saturday the so-called “political document,” in which it announced overcoming the struggle for power.

The Front denied concluding any “political deals” with the authorities in Egypt in exchange for releasing the convicts and those jailed on charges related to violence and terrorism.

The Front affirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood was not seeking power in the north African country, according to the document dated September 18 and published on Saturday.

The document identified three political priorities the front seeks to implement to address what it described as a “critical moment” in Egypt’s history.

These include ending the issue of what it called “political prisoners,” achieving societal reconciliation, and building a broad national partnership that eventually achieves Egyptians’ aspirations for political and economic reform.

It stressed that these priorities require “overcoming the power struggle,” pointing out that it has adopted an approach that includes “various options and paths.”

According to the document, “the Brotherhood’s political role and presence in all public affairs has been, and will remain, a focus of its reform project.”

However, the organization views politics much broader than partisan work and competition for power, the document read.

It stated that “its political responsibility requires it to continue working with national action partners without excluding any party, through a broad national coalition to achieve the goals of living, freedom, social justice and human dignity.”

Conflict has recently risen between the “Istanbul Front” led by former Sec-Gen Mahmoud Hussein and the “London Front” following the emergence of a third front called the “Change Front,” which represented an attempt by the youth to resolve differences among between the Muslim’s foreign fronts.

The majority of Brotherhood leaders lie in jail in Egypt on charges of violence and murder. They were charged after the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi, of the Brotherhood, in July 2013, amid popular protests. The group was shortly banned in Egypt and death and life sentences against its top leaders soon followed.

The Brotherhood has been excluded from the national dialogue called for by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi earlier this year because of its violent past.

The expert in Islamic movements, Amr Abdul Moneim, said the document preempted the Change Front’s conference, which indicates major differences between the two fronts.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Abdul Moneim pointed out that the London Front announced in the document overcoming the struggle for power, and Munir announced in July his full withdrawal from political life.

He pointed to ongoing discussions within the Front during the past three months to issue a document related to political action, those jailed on terrorism charges, and violence.

He stressed that this is “a war between the organization’s two fronts.”

He referred to the Change Front’s document, which was issued after the London Front published its document.



4 Hezbollah Members Among 71 Fighters Killed in Syria's Palmyra

Smoke billows following an explosion after an attack on the historic city of Palmyra, Syria November 20, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. via REUTERS
Smoke billows following an explosion after an attack on the historic city of Palmyra, Syria November 20, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. via REUTERS
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4 Hezbollah Members Among 71 Fighters Killed in Syria's Palmyra

Smoke billows following an explosion after an attack on the historic city of Palmyra, Syria November 20, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. via REUTERS
Smoke billows following an explosion after an attack on the historic city of Palmyra, Syria November 20, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. via REUTERS

Israeli strikes killed 71 pro-Iran operatives in the Syrian city of Palmyra, with more than a third of them identified as fighters from Iraq and Lebanon, a monitor said Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in Wednesday's strikes included 45 fighters from pro-Iran Syrian groups, 26 foreign fighters, most of them from the Iraqi Al-Nujaba movement, and four from Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group.

The strikes targeted three sites in the city renowned for its ancient ruins, including one that hit a meeting of pro-Iranian groups with leaders from Al-Nujaba and Hezbollah.

Syria said the Israeli strikes on the central city killed 36 people and wounded more than 50 others, in the latest toll issued by the defense ministry, according to Agence France Presse.

"The Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the Al-Tanf area, targeting a number of buildings in the city of Palmyra," it said on Wednesday.