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Egyptian Opposition Moves to 'Boycott' Presidential Elections

Judges of the National Elections Authority await potential Egyptian presidential candidates (EPA)
Judges of the National Elections Authority await potential Egyptian presidential candidates (EPA)
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Egyptian Opposition Moves to 'Boycott' Presidential Elections

Judges of the National Elections Authority await potential Egyptian presidential candidates (EPA)
Judges of the National Elections Authority await potential Egyptian presidential candidates (EPA)

Major Egyptian opposition forces announced they were considering boycotting the upcoming presidential election due to restrictions on individuals who wish to support potential candidates against the incumbent president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, seeking a third term.

Potential candidates need to secure the support of at least 25,000 voters from 15 different provinces or 20 members of parliament and submit their applications before October 14 to be eligible for the election to take place between December 10 and 12.

Sisi confirmed on Monday that he will stand for a third term in office, claiming substantial citizen endorsements and parliamentarian nominations.

Three other potential nominees announced their candidacy: Head of the People's Republican Party (PRP) Hazem Omar, leader of Wafd Party Abdel-Sanad Yamama, and leftist Egyptian Social Democratic Party Farid Zahran. They reportedly secured parliamentarian endorsements and underwent medical checkups to prepare for their candidacy submission.

Meanwhile, former lawmaker Ahmed el-Tantawi and head of the Constitution Party Gameela Ismail are still working on gathering the necessary support or endorsements.

The Civil Democratic Movement, a coalition of 12 parties and public figures, showcased videos they claim document violations experienced by citizens attempting to support their candidates.

Member of the Movement Akmal Kortam said they asked the National Elections Authority (NEA) to provide several guarantees to ensure election integrity but have yet to receive a substantial response.

Kortam hinted at the possibility of an election boycott if the situation remains unchanged and citizens continue to be prevented from supporting their candidates.

Head of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party Medhat al-Zahed mentioned that boycotting the elections is an available option the movement could use if the polls were not guaranteed.

Zahed told Asharq Al-Awsat that there is an agreement among the potential candidates within the movement to collectively withdraw from the elections if any of them experiences violations.

The National Election Authority claimed to have investigated several complaints without finding any violations or favoritism. It also announced extending the working hours of the registration offices to allow for endorsements.

In a recent statement, Presidential Pardon Committee member Tarek El-Awadi announced via platform 'X' that releasing mandates is proceeding smoothly and efficiently.

Furthermore, Deputy Director of al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS) Amr Hashem Rabie believes that an opposition boycott would negatively affect the credibility of the presidential elections and alter the results.

The National Election Authority began receiving presidential candidacy applications on Thursday for ten days, ending on October 14. No one has submitted candidacy papers for the presidential elections on the first day.

Voting for Egyptians abroad will start on December 1, 2, and 3, while local voting will occur on December 10, 11, and 12.

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Arab World

Kurdish-Led SDF Says It Has Dissolved After Merging with Syrian Army

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, center left, at the presidential palace in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP)
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, center left, at the presidential palace in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP)
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Kurdish-Led SDF Says It Has Dissolved After Merging with Syrian Army

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, center left, at the presidential palace in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP)
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, center left, at the presidential palace in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP)

The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday announced the official dissolution of the group, which once controlled a de facto autonomous zone in Syria's northeast.

Speaking during a news conference at the presidential palace in Damascus, Mazloum Abdi said the SDF has completed a merger with the Syrian army and would cease to operate as an independent force. The Kurdish-led force lost most of its territory in northeast Syria to a government offensive in January and then signed the deal to merge with the army.

The SDF was once the main partner of the United States in Syria as it battled the ISIS group. But after the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Washington formed close ties with the new government in Damascus led by interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The SDF “carried a heavy responsibility during one of the most difficult periods in Syria’s history,” Abdi said.

“Today, circumstances have changed, and the country has entered a new phase, one of peace and participation in building a new Syria,” he said, announcing the “end of the SDF’s mission” and “its dissolution as an independent military force.”

Under the 50-year rule of the Assad dynasty in Syria, Kurds were marginalized, with many denied citizenship.

Shortly after the uprising against the Assad government began in 2011, the Kurds filled the vacuum created by the withdrawal of government forces from wide areas of Syria’s northeast. The SDF at one point controlled about 25% of Syria.

The Kurds were initially circumspect about the new post-Assad government and unwilling to give up their de facto autonomy. Some of the opposition groups that took part in the offensive that ousted Assad were Turkish-backed forces that had clashed with the SDF in the past.

Türkiye considered the SDF to be a terrorist organization because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a separatist group that staged a decades-long insurgency in Türkiye. A peace process is now underway.

Kurds questioned whether the new authorities would give them true representation in the new government, while al-Sharaa tried to woo them.

During ceasefire negotiations with the SDF in January, he issued a decree strengthening Kurdish rights. It made Kurdish an official language along with Arabic, and adopted Nowruz as a national holiday. It also restored the citizenship of tens of thousands of Kurds in northeastern Hasakeh province after they were stripped of it during the 1962 census.

Abdi said that al-Sharaa had promised that Kurds would have the right to education in their own language, an important issue for the country’s Kurdish population.

Questions remain, including the fate of the SDF's all-female fighting units.

But the success of the integration agreement with the SDF is a major boost to al-Sharaa's government, which has struggled to unify the country as it begins to recover from a nearly 14-year civil war. Most of the country is now under the control of the central government in Damascus.

The exception is southern Syria's Sweida province, which is now controlled by Druze factions that are hostile to Damascus after clashes last year. The Druze factions have received support from Israel, which is also occupying a strip of land in southern Syria near the border with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Arab World

Iraq’s Ruling Coalition Discusses Arrests of Armed Faction Members

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei receives Iraq’s top judge Faiq Zidan in Tehran on Tuesday (Mehr)
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei receives Iraq’s top judge Faiq Zidan in Tehran on Tuesday (Mehr)
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Iraq’s Ruling Coalition Discusses Arrests of Armed Faction Members

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei receives Iraq’s top judge Faiq Zidan in Tehran on Tuesday (Mehr)
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei receives Iraq’s top judge Faiq Zidan in Tehran on Tuesday (Mehr)

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Tuesday that regional countries would shape their own future and that the United States would have no place in the region.

Rezaei made the remarks in Tehran during talks with Faiq Zidan, head of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council.

He said Iran wanted a strong and independent Iraq and called for a resolution to the status of Iranian opposition groups based along the two countries’ border, an apparent reference to Iranian Kurdish parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

His comments came days after Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf visited Baghdad, as Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi’s government faces growing pressure to press ahead with its plan to bring all weapons under state control.

During Ghalibaf’s visit, Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Aboudi said the government was moving forward with the plan.

He said the constitution did not allow armed groups to threaten the security of other countries and reaffirmed Baghdad’s commitment to its security agreement with Tehran.

The circumstances surrounding the visit suggested that armed factions were a central focus of the talks, even if the issue did not formally appear on every publicly announced agenda.

Iraqi reports said Ghalibaf conveyed Tehran’s position on government measures targeting the factions’ weapons as Baghdad’s deadline for completing the process approached.

Separately, leaders of the Coordination Framework discussed the arrests of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) members and commanders at a meeting in Baghdad attended by Mohsen Qomi, a representative of Iran’s supreme leader.

Local media said the leaders objected to how the arrests were carried out. They argued that those wanted by the authorities could have been summoned through formal judicial procedures instead of military force.

Underscoring the sensitivity of the issue, PMF later said what it called a “misunderstanding” over the arrests of several members had been resolved. It said they had been handed over to PMF security services to pursue their cases in court.

The developments come as al-Zaidi’s government seeks to enforce a state monopoly on weapons, bringing it into direct confrontation with armed factions that wield extensive political and security influence.

The weapons issue poses a sensitive test for al-Zaidi, who is also under US pressure to dismantle armed groups operating outside state control.

Baghdad ‘appreciates Tehran’s support’

In Tehran, Rezaei and Zidan focused their talks on security and judicial ties.

Zidan said Iraq appreciated Iran’s support and stressed the need for regional cooperation and security along the shared border.

He arrived in Tehran on Tuesday at the head of a senior judicial delegation following an official invitation. The delegation included the heads of the Judicial Supervision Commission and the Public Prosecution Service, as well as the director-general of the Judicial Protection Department.

Zidan was received by the Iranian judiciary’s deputy chief for international affairs and Nasser Seraj, secretary of the judiciary’s Human Rights Council.

During the visit, Zidan also met Iranian judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei to discuss closer judicial and legal cooperation.

Ejei said more than 131 Iranian convicts had been transferred from Iraqi prisons over the past year. He called for better prisoner-transfer and exchange mechanisms and measures to ease the difficulties facing their families.

He also said Iranian and Iraqi security were interconnected and urged closer coordination against activities threatening their shared border.

Zidan praised relations between the two countries and said the Iraqi government and people stood with Iran against what he described as “US and Israeli aggression.” He also recalled Iran’s support for Iraq during its war against ISIS.

Zidan also discussed several issues of common interest with Ghalibaf, according to Iraq’s state news agency.

Arab World

Israel Restricts Movement in Three Christian Towns in Southern Lebanon

Civilians from Christian villages in southern Lebanon travel south along the coastal road in a convoy, as an Israeli flag is seen at the entrance to Naqoura in July 2026. (File photo/AFP)
Civilians from Christian villages in southern Lebanon travel south along the coastal road in a convoy, as an Israeli flag is seen at the entrance to Naqoura in July 2026. (File photo/AFP)
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Israel Restricts Movement in Three Christian Towns in Southern Lebanon

Civilians from Christian villages in southern Lebanon travel south along the coastal road in a convoy, as an Israeli flag is seen at the entrance to Naqoura in July 2026. (File photo/AFP)
Civilians from Christian villages in southern Lebanon travel south along the coastal road in a convoy, as an Israeli flag is seen at the entrance to Naqoura in July 2026. (File photo/AFP)

The Israeli military has restricted movement in and out of three beseigned Christian towns in southern Lebanon, forcing residents to travel in prearranged convoys along a single route through Naqoura.

Residents must register their vehicles and submit travelers’ details before entering or leaving Rmeish, Debel and Ain Ebel in the Bint Jbeil district.

People remain in the three towns despite being encircled by Israeli forces occupying every neighboring community. Relief and medical supplies arrive from elsewhere in Lebanon in convoys escorted by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Local sources in Rmeish told Asharq Al-Awsat that no vehicle may travel alone. At least one convoy of several cars or buses leaves one of the three towns each day.

The Lebanese army and UNIFIL organize the convoys, which must take the coastal road south of Tyre to Naqoura before heading to the Christian towns in Bint Jbeil.

The army escorts them as far as Qlayleh, about 15 km from the Israeli border. UNIFIL vehicles then accompany them to their villages.

Travelers must register their vehicles and provide UNIFIL with their personal details in advance. Their identities are checked and their vehicles searched as part of coordination with Israeli forces to allow them to pass, the sources said.

The restrictions have prompted the Vatican, through its ambassador to Lebanon, to ask the United States to intervene to prevent Israel from limiting the movement of residents of the Christian villages, Asharq Al-Awsat learned.

Marjayoun villages spared restrictions

The measures apply only to Christian villages in Bint Jbeil district and do not extend to those in Marjayoun district.

Residents and visitors can travel freely between Qlayaa, Jdeidet Marjayoun, Burj al-Mulouk and Deir Mimas and out of the towns, local sources in Qlayaa told Asharq Al-Awsat.

They use a route through the Western Bekaa in eastern Lebanon toward Hasbaya and then take the Ibl al-Saqi-Dibbin-Marjayoun road.

Residents continue to visit the towns as usual, but the communities are barred from hosting people displaced from nearby villages and towns. Journalists visiting the area are also prohibited from photographing the nearby town of Khiam, the sources said.

Israeli forces stationed in Kfar Kila and Tall al-Nahhas erected an earth mound on Tuesday near the Deir Mimas-Burj al-Mulouk-Kfar Kila junction, toward Tall al-Nahhas. It lies about 150 meters from inhabited homes in Burj al-Mulouk.

The forces built another earth mound near the Deir Mimas-Burj al-Mulouk-Houra junction.

More than 5,000 properties destroyed in Mais al-Jabal

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has continued bulldozing towns inside the “yellow line” and systematically destroying the homes still standing there.

In recent days, trucks carrying crates filled with explosives have traveled alongside Israeli patrols, a senior security source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The crates are unloaded, and the explosives are placed around homes in occupied towns after they are looted, ahead of their demolition, the source said.

The same method was used in the border town of Mais al-Jabal, the largest town in Marjayoun district, where Israeli forces have continued destroying homes.

“Only dozens of housing units remain in Mais al-Jabal after more than 5,000 homes and commercial properties were destroyed,” the source said.

The latest demolition targeted a school complex consisting of prefabricated buildings that the Iraqi government had helped provide. The complex stood on the town’s outskirts, near Doubiyeh Castle and the road linking the area to Shaqra. Nearby homes were also destroyed.

The Israeli military also brought in specialized equipment to pulverize concrete into material resembling soil, making it easier for groups brought in for that purpose to remove reinforcing steel from destroyed buildings and transport it into Israel, the source said.

Before dawn on Tuesday, an Israeli force advanced toward Tallat al-Sawwan in Mayfadoun, an area inside the yellow line, and took up positions in a house.

Israeli military vehicles also moved from Hadatha into Haris in Bint Jbeil district and fired machine guns toward the town’s outskirts.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli forces had stepped up attacks on villages in the western sector of Tyre district.

Aircraft carried out two strikes on Mansouri and another on Wadi Hassan in Tayr Harfa, as large-scale demolitions took place in Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, the agency said.

Israeli artillery also shelled Ainata and Beit Lif in Bint Jbeil district. Warplanes struck Mansouri and Wadi Hassan on the outskirts of Tayr Harfa, southeast of Tyre.