CAIRO: A coalition of eight Egyptian opposition parties and some 150 pro-democracy public figures on Tuesday called for a boycott of the March presidential election, calling it an “absurdity” and comparing the government’s handling of the vote to that of “old and crude dictatorships.”
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi is virtually certain to win a second, four-year term in the March 26-28 vote. A face-saving candidate’s last-minute entry spared the government the embarrassment of a one-candidate election but drew a torrent of criticism and mockery on social media.
The call for a boycott by the Civilian Democratic Movement came just days after five opposition figures, including a 2012 presidential candidate and two top campaign aides for now-arrested presidential hopeful Sami Annan, called on voters to stay away from ballot boxes and on Egyptians not to recognize the vote’s outcome.
“It is not right for us to surrender to what has become an absurdity bordering on madness,” Abdel-Geleel Mustafa, a veteran opposition figure, told a news conference at one of the parties’ headquarters in Cairo.
Hamdeen Sabahy, who finished a distant second behind el-Sisi in the 2014 election, called on other pro-democracy groups to join the coalition. “Come and let us stand together. This is a moment when the people will make their say known and, God willing, the say of the people will prevail,” he told the news conference.
The ideology of the eight parties is rooted in the 2011 uprising that ended the 29-year autocratic rule of Hosni Mubarak. They also supported the massive June 2013 protests against Islamist President Muhammad Mursi, which paved the way for the military’s ouster of him the following month.
They and others have since been sidelined by el-Sisi, who has waged one of the most sweeping crackdowns on dissent in Egypt’s modern history.
The parties have limited support on the ground, in large part due to restrictions on their activities placed by security agencies. Their call for a boycott, however, could dampen turnout.
The parties said their young members came up with the slogan “stay home” for their boycott campaign. Speakers for the parties did not say what they intend to do to make the boycott effective.
Egyptian elections typically attract low turnout, particularly when the outcome is a foregone conclusion. El-Sisi has repeatedly urged Egypt’s estimated 60 million registered voters to cast ballots.
After a string of would-be challengers were arrested, forced out or quit the race, the prospect of a virtual referendum — not unlike those held by autocratic rulers in the past — had clouded the election.
Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little known politician and a staunch supporter of el-Sisi, submitted his documents Monday, just minutes before the election commission’s deadline. Moussa is the leader of the Ghad, or Tomorrow, party, which does not have a single seat in parliament.
The national election authority said Tuesday that both el-Sisi and Moussa had met the requirements and declared them official candidates.
Moussa told a news conference Monday that he did not intend to be a “prop” in the election. But until a few days ago, he was a staunch supporter of el-Sisi’s re-election.
Egypt coalition calls for boycott of March vote
Egypt coalition calls for boycott of March vote
Lebanon’s new president says to visit Saudi Arabia on first official trip
- Lebanese leader tells crown prince that ‘Saudi Arabia would be the first destination in his visits abroad’
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s newly-elected president, Joseph Aoun, will visit Saudi Arabia following an invitation from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to a statement posted on the Lebanese presidency’s X account on Saturday.
ولي العهد السعودي وجه دعوة للرئيس عون لزيارة المملكة. ورئيس الجمهورية اكد ان المملكة العربية السعودية ستكون اول مقصد له في زياراته الخارجية تلبية لدعوة سمو ولي العهد وايمانا بدور المملكة التاريخي في مساندة لبنان والتعاضد معه وتاكيدا لعمق لبنان العربي كاساس لعلاقات لبنان مع محيطه
— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) January 11, 2025
Prince Mohammed has congratulated Aoun, during a phone call, on his election and conveyed to him the congratulations of Saudi King Salman.
The Crown Prince also expressed his sincere congratulations and hopes for success to Aoun and the people of Lebanon, with wishes for further progress and prosperity.
Aoun told the crown prince that “Saudi Arabia would be the first destination in his visits abroad,” it said, after the Saudi prince called to congratulate him on taking office on Thursday following a two-year vacancy in the position.
The statement did not specify a date for the visit.
Aoun, 61, was elected as the country’s 14th president by parliamentarians during a second round of voting on Thursday, breaking a 26-month deadlock over the position.
In his speech after taking his oath of office before parliament, he said that the country was entering a new phase.
The Mediterranean country has been without a president since the term of Michel Aoun – not related – ended in October 2022, with tensions between the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its opponents scuppering a dozen previous votes.
Syrian intelligence says it foiled Daesh attempt to target Damascus shrine
- Sayyida Zeinab has been the site of past attacks on Shiite pilgrims by Daesh
DAMASCUS: Intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government thwarted a plan by the Daesh group to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, state media reported Saturday.
State news agency SANA reported, citing an unnamed official in the General Intelligence Service, that members of the Daesh cell planning the attack were arrested. It quoted the official as saying that the intelligence service is “putting all its capabilities to stand in the face of all attempts to target the Syrian people in all their spectrums.”
Sayyida Zeinab has been the site of past attacks on Shiite pilgrims by Daesh — which takes an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam and considers Shiites to be infidels.
In 2023, a motorcycle planted with explosives detonated in Sayyida Zeinab, killing at least six people and wounding dozens a day before the Shiite holy day of Ashoura.
The announcement that the attack had been thwarted appeared to be another attempt by the country’s new leaders to reassure religious minorities, including those seen as having been supporters of the former government of Bashar Assad.
Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, was allied with Iran and with the Shiite Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as well as Iranian-backed Iraqi militias.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, the former insurgent group that led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad last month and is now the de facto ruling party in the country, is a Sunni Islamist group that formerly had ties with Al-Qaeda.
The group later split from Al-Qaeda, and HTS leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa has preached religious coexistence since assuming power in Damascus.
Also Saturday, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in Damascus to meet with Al-Sharaa.
Relations between the two countries had been strained under Assad, with Lebanon’s political factions deeply divided between those supporting and opposing Assad’s rule.
Lebanon PM visits Damascus on first such trip since before Syria war
- Najib Mikati is expected to hold talks with Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa
DAMASCUS: Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in Damascus Saturday in the first such visit since before civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, an AFP journalist reported.
His visit comes as the neighboring countries seek better relations after Islamist-led militants toppled longtime strongman Bashar Assad last month.
He is expected to hold talks with Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
The visit comes days after Lebanese lawmakers elected the country’s army chief Joseph Aoun as president, ending a more than two-year vacancy.
Deadlock between pro- and anti-Hezbollah blocs in parliament had scuppered a dozen previous attempts to fill the vacancy but the Shiite militant group emerged weakened from two months of full-fledged war with Israel late last year.
Syria was the dominant power in Lebanon for three decades under the Assad clan but withdrew its troops in 2005 in the face of international pressure over the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafic Hariri.
Israel strikes Yemen Houthis, warns it will ‘hunt’ leaders
- Israeli military said fighter jets struck military targets belonging to Houthi regime
- It said it also struck military infrastructure in the ports of Hodeida and Ras Issa
JERUSALEM: Israel struck Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, including a power station and coastal ports, in response to missile and drone launches, and warned it would hunt down the group’s leaders.
“A short while ago... fighter jets struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
It said the strikes were carried out in retaliation for Houthi missile and drone launches into Israel.
The statement said the targets included “military infrastructure sites in the Hizaz power station, which serves as a central source of energy” for the Houthis.
It said it also struck military infrastructure in the ports of Hodeida and Ras Issa.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement after the strikes, said the Houthis were being punished for their repeated attacks on his country.
“As we promised, the Houthis are paying, and they will continue to pay, a heavy price for their aggression against us,” he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would “hunt down the leaders of the Houthi terror organization.”
“The Hodeida port is paralyzed, and the Ras Issa port is on fire — there will be no immunity for anyone,” he said in a video statement.
The Houthis, who control Sanaa, have fired missiles and drones toward Israel since war broke out in Gaza in October 2023.
They describe the attacks as acts of solidarity with Gazans.
The Iran-backed rebels have also targeted ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, prompting retaliatory strikes by the United States and, on occasion, Britain.
Israel has also struck Houthi targets in Yemen, including in the capital.
Since the Gaza war began, the Houthis have launched about 40 surface-to-surface missiles toward Israel, most of which were intercepted, the Israeli army says.
The military has also reported the launch of about 320 drones, with more than 100 intercepted by Israeli air defenses.
West Bank family wants justice for children killed in Israel strike
- Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 825 Palestinians in the territory, according to Health Ministry figures
TAMMUN, Plestinian Territories: Batoul Bsharat was playing with her eight-year-old brother Reda in their village in the occupied West Bank. Moments later, an Israeli drone strike killed him and two of their cousins.
“It was the first time in our lives that we played without arguing. It meant so much to me,” the 10-year-old said as she sat on the concrete ledge outside the family home in the northern village of Tammun where they had been playing on Wednesday.
At her feet, a crater no wider than two fists marked where the missile hit.
The wall behind her is pockmarked with shrapnel impacts, and streaks of blood still stain the ledge.
Besides Reda, Hamza, 10, and Adam, 23, were also killed.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had struck “a terrorist cell” in Tammun but later promised an investigation into the civilian deaths.
Batoul puts on a brave face but is heartbroken at the loss of her younger brother.
“Just before he was martyred, he started kissing and hugging me,” she said.
“I miss my brother so much. He was the best thing in the world.”
Her cousin Obay, 16, brother of Adam, was the first to come out and find the bodies before Israeli soldiers came to take them away.
“I went outside and saw the three of them lying on the ground,” he said. “I tried to lift them, but the army came and didn’t allow us to get close.”
Obay said his elder brother had just returned from a pilgrimage to Makkah.
“Adam and I were like best friends. We had so many shared moments together. Now I can’t sleep,” he said, staring into the distance, bags under his eyes.
Obay said the soldiers made him lie on the ground while they searched the house and confiscated cellphones before leaving with the bodies on stretchers.
Later on Wednesday, the army returned the bodies, which were then laid to rest. On Thursday, Obay’s father, Khaireddin, and his brothers received condolences from neighbors.
Despite his pain, he said things could have been worse as the family home hosts many children.
“Usually, about six or seven kids are playing together, so if the missile had struck when they were all there, it could have been 10 children,” he said.
Khaireddin was at work at a quarry in the Jordan Valley when he heard the news. Adam had chosen to stay home and rest after his pilgrimage to Makkah.
He described his son as “an exceptional young man, respectful, well-mannered and upright,” who had “nothing to do with any resistance or armed groups.”
Khaireddin, like the rest of the Bsharat family, said he could not comprehend why his home had been targeted.
“We are a simple family, living ordinary lives. We have no affiliations with any sides or movements.”
Violence has soared in the West Bank since war broke out in Gaza with the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 825 Palestinians in the territory, according to Health Ministry figures.
As the Israeli army has stepped up its raids on West Bank cities and refugee camps, it has also intensified its use of air strikes, which were once a rarity.
A day before the Bsharat home was hit, a similar strike had struck Tammun.
Khaireddin regrets that the army made “no apology or acknowledgment of their mistake.”
“This is the current reality — there is no accountability. Who can we turn to for justice?“
