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Sisi Assigns Head of His Office to Run General Intelligence Service

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi/AFP
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi/AFP
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Sisi Assigns Head of His Office to Run General Intelligence Service

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi/AFP
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi/AFP

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi appointed on Thursday head of his office Abbas Kamel as the new acting chief of the country’s General Intelligence Service (GIS), until a new chief is named to replace Khaled Fawzi.

A presidential decree issued on Thursday did not detail the reasons behind sacking Fawzi, who led the office of GIS chief since 2014. However, local news outlets predicted that Fawzi had health problems and was currently under medical treatment.

Fawzi’s sacking came few days after a report was published by the New York Times, alleging that it obtained recordings of phone calls where an alleged Egyptian intelligence officer is heard instructing talk show hosts to convince their audience to accept Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

Egypt later denied the report.

Other unidentified reports spoke on Thursday about the intersection of roles and conflicts between state security apparatus, particularly in the department of public information.

The decision to sack Fawzi is considered the second highest shake up that lately touched a sensitive position in Egypt.

Last October, Sisi named a new armed forces chief of staff and announced changes in key security positions.

Kamel is Sisi's chief of staff. He also was the president’s assistant when Sisi was head of the military intelligence in Egypt.

In a separate development, the Egyptian president held talks in Cairo Thursday with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn over the expansion of cooperation at the economic level between the two countries.
Following their meeting, Sisi announced “establishing an Egyptian industrial zone in Ethiopia,” in addition to cooperation at the level of agricultural investments.

Sisi expressed concern over the lack of progress in negotiations of the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

“Based on our recognition of the importance of the continuity of the technical studies of GERD, Egypt is suggesting the participation of the World Bank at the tripartite discussions on GERD as a neutral [actor],” Sisi said.

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Arab World

Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory."
The concert Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years of exile. While living in Los Angeles, Maasarani had continued to support Syria’s uprising through his music, touring the US and Europe, The Associated Press said.
The concert organized by the Molham Volunteering Team, a humanitarian organization founded by Syrian students, also marked a month since a lightning insurgency toppled former President Bashar Assad.
Revolutionary songs like those by Maasarani and Abdelbasset Sarout — a Syrian singer and activist who died in 2019 — played a key role in rallying Syrians during the nearly 14-year uprising-turned civil war starting in 2011.
Many opponents of Assad's rule, like Maasarani, had fled the country and were unsure if they would ever be able to come back.
In the dimly lit concert hall, the crowd’s phone lights flickered like stars, swaying in unison with the music as the audience sang along, some wiping away tears. The crowd cheered and whistled and many waved the new Syrian flag, the revolutionary flag marked by three stars. A banner held up in the hall read, “It is Syria the Great, not Syria the Assad.”
One of Maasarani's best known songs is “Jabeenak ’Ali w Ma Bintal,” which he first sang in 2012, addressing the Free Syrian Army. It was a coalition of defected Syrian military personnel and civilian fighters formed in 2011 to oppose Assad during the civil war.
“You free soldier, the Syrian eminence appears in his eyes, he refused to fire at his people, he refused the shame of the traitor army, long live you free army, protect my people and the revolutionaries,” the lyrics read.
Another banner in the audience read, “It is the revolution of the people and the people never fail.”
Between performances, Raed Saleh, the head of the civil defense organization known as the White Helmets, addressed the crowd, saying, “With this victory, we should not forget the families who never found their children in the prisons and detention centers.”
Thousands were tortured or disappeared under Assad’s government. After the fall of Assad, the White Helmets helped in the search for the missing.
After the concert, Maasarani told The Associated Press, “It’s like a dream” to return to Syria and perform his revolutionary songs.
“We were always singing them outside of Syria, experiencing the happy and sad moments from afar,” he said, adding that his role was to capture the atrocities on the ground through song, ensuring “they would be remembered in history.” He reflected on his years in exile and recalled surviving two assassination attempts before leaving Syria.
“We have not seen this state without Assad since I was born,” said Alaa Maham, a concert attendee who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. “I cannot describe my feelings, I hope our happiness lasts.”
The future of Syria is still unclear, as the former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, now the de facto ruling party, begins to form a new government and rebuild the country's institutions.
Whatever comes next, Maham said, “We got rid of the oppression and corruption with the fall of Assad and his family’s rule."