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Sisi Instructs Army to Protect Companies Operating In Sinai

An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, May 25, 2015. - REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/File Photo
An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, May 25, 2015. - REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/File Photo
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Sisi Instructs Army to Protect Companies Operating In Sinai

An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, May 25, 2015. - REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/File Photo
An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, May 25, 2015. - REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/File Photo

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered the military on Tuesday to protect companies operating in Sinai, warning “evil groups” against obstructing development projects in the area.

Attending the inauguration of a number of development projects in the Peninsula via videoconference, Sisi said: “Evil groups (active in Sinai) should clearly understand that the State is strongly securing those projects.”

In the past years, the Egyptian military and police in north and central Sinai governorate have battled armed groups, including 'Wilayat Sinai,” a local ISIS affiliate.

Those groups have escalated their attacks particularly after President Mohamed Morsi was removed from office in 2013.

However, in February 2018, the Egyptian military launched a major campaign against the militants and defeated them.

On Tuesday, Sisi saw the launch of the second stage of building the Ismailiya-Awja highway and the opening of the Ahmad Hamdi Tunnel, a 1640-meter long car tunnel under the Suez Canal at Shallufa.

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France Says EU Will Lift Some Sanctions Against Syria After Assad’s Fall 

People walk in front of the historic Hejaz train station in Damascus on January 26, 2025. (AFP)
People walk in front of the historic Hejaz train station in Damascus on January 26, 2025. (AFP)
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France Says EU Will Lift Some Sanctions Against Syria After Assad’s Fall 

People walk in front of the historic Hejaz train station in Damascus on January 26, 2025. (AFP)
People walk in front of the historic Hejaz train station in Damascus on January 26, 2025. (AFP)

Some European Union sanctions against Syria are being lifted, France's foreign minister said on Monday, as part of a broader EU move to help stabilize Damascus after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in December.

EU foreign ministers were discussing the matter at a meeting in Brussels on Monday with the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas having told Reuters that she was hopeful an agreement on easing the sanctions could be reached.

"Regarding Syria, we are going to decide today to lift, to suspend, certain sanctions that had applied to the energy and transport sectors and to financial institutions that were key to the financial stabilization of the country," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on arrival at the EU meeting in Brussels.

He added that France would also propose slapping sanctions on Iranian officials responsible for the detention of French citizens in Iran.

"I will announce today that we will propose that those responsible for these arbitrary detentions may be sanctioned by the European Union in the coming months," he said.

Assad, whose family had ruled Syria with an iron first for 54 years, was toppled by opposition forces on Dec. 8, bringing an abrupt end to a devastating 13-year civil war that had created one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times.

The conflict left large parts of many major cities in ruins, services decrepit and the vast majority of the population living in poverty. The harsh Western sanctions regime has effectively cut off its formal economy from the rest of the world.