Egypt Establishes Spiritual, Political Status of New Administrative Capital

President Sisi tours the Islamic Cultural Center in the New Administrative Capital.  (Egyptian Presidency)
President Sisi tours the Islamic Cultural Center in the New Administrative Capital. (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt Establishes Spiritual, Political Status of New Administrative Capital

President Sisi tours the Islamic Cultural Center in the New Administrative Capital.  (Egyptian Presidency)
President Sisi tours the Islamic Cultural Center in the New Administrative Capital. (Egyptian Presidency)

The Egyptian government established the spiritual and political status of its New Administrative Capital (NAC) and is gradually transferring the ministries, legislative, and security institutions there.

On Thursday, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and cabinet members at the Strategic Leadership Center in the New Administrative Capital.

Spokesman for the Presidency Ahmed Fahmy stated that the meeting discussed the government's plan to relocate ministries and various state agencies and institutions to the new capital.

According to the spokesman, Sisi directed intensifying efforts to ensure the government's move to the capital was smooth.

He noted that it could only be achieved through the modernization of buildings and premises and the qualification of workers, and the provision of training programs to government personnel to teach them modern methods of administration.

"These efforts, in turn, would contribute to establishing an efficient and effective administrative body," he said.

The spokesman added that the president was briefed on developments in implementing the first phase of the Decent Life initiative to develop the Egyptian countryside and preparations for the start of the second phase.

Sisi inaugurated on Thursday – the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan - Egypt's Islamic Cultural Center in the New Administrative Capital.

The Center boasts a public library, places for memorizing the Quran, 160 shops, and an upper courtyard accommodating 55,000 worshippers. The mosque can accommodate a total of 130,000 worshippers.

The Center includes a rare copy of the Quran of the companion Othman bin Affan.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister met a French delegation of politicians and journalists at the government headquarters in the new capital.

Madbouly told the French delegation that the NAC is the fruit of six years of achievements, as the area was once a complete desert.

He discussed the projects the Egyptian state had adopted over the past period in what he described as "the axis of major projects."

The PM explained that in light of Egypt's population increase, the government had no choice but to expand construction to new areas.



Germany Deports Man to Syria for First Time Since 2011

People attend a protest against reelection of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, near Syria's embassy, Berlin, Germany May 26, 2021. (Reuters)
People attend a protest against reelection of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, near Syria's embassy, Berlin, Germany May 26, 2021. (Reuters)
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Germany Deports Man to Syria for First Time Since 2011

People attend a protest against reelection of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, near Syria's embassy, Berlin, Germany May 26, 2021. (Reuters)
People attend a protest against reelection of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, near Syria's embassy, Berlin, Germany May 26, 2021. (Reuters)

Germany deported a man to Syria for the first time since the civil war began in that country in 2011, the interior ministry in Berlin announced on Tuesday.

A Syrian immigrant previously convicted of criminal offences in Germany was flown to Damascus and handed over to Syrian authorities on Tuesday morning, the ministry said.


Army: Lebanese Soldier among Those Killed in Monday Israeli Strike

Lebanese soldiers secure the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted a truck in the village of Sibline, south of Beirut, on December 16, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
Lebanese soldiers secure the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted a truck in the village of Sibline, south of Beirut, on December 16, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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Army: Lebanese Soldier among Those Killed in Monday Israeli Strike

Lebanese soldiers secure the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted a truck in the village of Sibline, south of Beirut, on December 16, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
Lebanese soldiers secure the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted a truck in the village of Sibline, south of Beirut, on December 16, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

A Lebanese soldier was among three people killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in the country's south, the army said Tuesday, denying Israeli claims that he was also a Hezbollah operative.

Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah, despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed militant group, which it accuses of rearming.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Monday's strike on a vehicle was carried out by an Israeli drone around 10 kilometers (six miles) from the southern coastal city of Sidon and "killed three people who were inside".

The Lebanese army said on Tuesday that Sergeant Major Ali Abdullah had been killed the previous day "in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a car he was in" near the city of Sidon.

The Israeli army said it had killed three Hezbollah operatives in the strike, adding in a statement on Tuesday that "one of the terrorists eliminated during the strike simultaneously served in the Lebanese intelligence unit".

A Lebanese army official told AFP it was "not true" that the soldier was a Hezbollah member, calling Israel's claim "a pretext" to justify the attack.

Under heavy US pressure and amid fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting with the south.

The Lebanese army plans to complete the group's disarmament south of the Litani River -- about 30 kilometers from the border with Israel -- by year's end.

The latest strike came after Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives on Friday took part in a meeting of the ceasefire monitoring committee for a second time, after holding their first direct talks in decades earlier this month.

The committee comprises representatives from Lebanon, Israel, the United States, France and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.


Israel Defense Minister Vows to Stay in Gaza, Establish Outposts

Palestinians amid rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip (AFP)
Palestinians amid rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip (AFP)
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Israel Defense Minister Vows to Stay in Gaza, Establish Outposts

Palestinians amid rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip (AFP)
Palestinians amid rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip (AFP)

Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday vowed Israel will remain in Gaza and pledged to establish outposts in the north of the Palestinian territory, according to a video of a speech published by Israeli media. 

His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza, said AFP. 

Mediators are pressing for the implementation of the next phases of the truce, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from the territory. 

Speaking at an event in the Israeli settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank, Katz said: "We are deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza -- there will be no such thing." 

"We are there to protect, to prevent what happened (from happening again)," he added, according to a video published by Israeli news site Ynet. 

Katz also vowed to establish outposts in the north of Gaza in place of settlements that had been evacuated during Israel's unilateral disengagement from the territory in 2005. 

"When the time comes, God willing, we will establish in northern Gaza, Nahal outposts in place of the communities that were uprooted," Katz said, referring to military-agricultural settlements set up by Israeli soldiers. 

"We will do this in the right way and at the appropriate time." 

Katz's remarks were slammed by former minister and chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who accused the government of "acting against the broad national consensus, during a critical period for Israel's national security." 

"While the government votes with one hand in favor of the Trump plan, with the other hand it sells fables about isolated settlement nuclei in the (Gaza) Strip," he wrote on X, referring to the Gaza peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump. 

The next phases of Trump's plan would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilization force. 

It also envisages the demilitarization of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas, which the group has refused. 

On Thursday, several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory.