Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in for a second term before the parliament on Saturday, after a landslide victory in a March elections. Sisi won 97 percent of the vote, in a low turnout of just 41 percent while all serious opponents had withdrawn.

Sisi, 63 year old former intelligence chief and defense minister, is considered to be close ally of US-Israel-Saudi Arabia group, had toppled the first elected president Mohammed Morsi in 2013. He was elected as President in 2014.

As a symbol of honor or extra ordinary security arrangement, fighter jets drew an Egyptian flag in the sky above Cairo while military helicopters flew over the capital’s center as the president made his way to parliament — where he was greeted with a 21-gun salute.

Read More: Egypt: President Sisi re-elected for another four years

“I assure you that accepting the other and creating common spaces between us will be my biggest concern to achieve consensus, social peace and real political development in addition to our economic development,” Sisi said in a speech after he took the oath.

Observers believe that “accepting the other” was a clear indication of accepting Israel as legitimate entity in the region. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also recently said that Israel has the right to live in its territory.

Sisi, while addressing the nation live on television, said, “I will not exclude anyone from this common space except those who chose violence, terrorism and extremist thought as a way to impose their will.”

Read More: Saudi Arabia, Egypt to set up joint $10 b fund for mega-city

In the elections held in March this year Sisi won 97 percent of the vote of the 41 percent poll. The elections were considered to be a mere formality with only one other candidate, also an ardent Sisi supporter.

All serious opposition contenders had withdrawn from the race. His only opponent, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, was relatively unknown and a fervent Sisi supporter himself. The main challenger in the presidential elections was arrested and his campaign manager beaten up, while other hopefuls pulled out, citing intimidation.

Read More: Egypt: former PM withdraws from Presidential contest

His supporters say his tough measures are needed to protect the state from turmoil unleashed since protests toppled long-serving autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

His critics say he has stifled the prospect of democracy in the country. Rights groups say Sisi has muzzled political opponents, activists and critical media, while courts have passed death sentences on hundreds of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Since the March elections dozens of secular or socialist Sisi critics have been arrested and are being investigated on charges that include spreading fake news and belonging to an illegal or terrorist groups. Several leaders from Europe and US Vice President Mike Pence and international rights organizations have criticized Sisi for muzzling the opposition.

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has won another four year term in office by begging 97 percent of the public votes. This was expected by  Egyptians and the rest of the world,

According to the Egypt Independent, Sisi has been re-elected for a second term with 97.8 percent of votes, almost the exact percentage which brought the former military commander to his first term four years ago.

Read More:- UAE prevents former Egyptian PM Ahmed Shafiq to travel out

Egypt’s National Election Authority  (NEA) officials announced the election result in Cairo on Monday. It said that 41.05 percent voters used their right while 2.92 percent of the valid votes were polled in favour of Mousa Mostafa Moussa, Ghad party chief, the Sisi’s lone contender.

The elections were criticised as a one-man show with no credible opposition, as at least six other candidates pulled out, were prosecuted, or jailed. The poll turnout was lower than the 47 percent in the 2014 election.

Moussa entered the race hours before the deadline. Earlier his party had endorsed el-Sisi’s candidature.

Read More:- UAE deports former Egyptian PM Ahmed Shafik to Cairo

Sarah Yerkes, a fellow at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Al Jazeera, “The elections were a joke and a complete fabrication. They are not really a meaningful marker for the country.”

In July 2013, Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a coalition to remove President Mohammed Morsi from power and suspended the Egyptian constitution. Military arrested Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood leaders and declared chief justice Adly Mansour as the interim president.

Read More:- Egypt: former PM withdraws from Presidential contest

Later in 2014, el-Sisi contested for Presidential election and won by almost 97 percent votes. Similar elections or rather referendum was held by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in October 2002, just months before the US led war in March 2003.

Saudi Arabia and UAE invested huge amount of money to stabilize the country under the new leadership. El-Sisi improved ties with Israel and US along with Saudi-led GCC countries. Egypt followed Saudi Arabia’s suggestion in severing ties with Qatar along with UAE and Bahrain in June last year,

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Cairo approved Tel Aviv’s move

In an unprecedented revelation, New York Times has claimed that Israel has been conducting a years-long campaign of airstrikes in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula with Cairo’s blessing. The campaign is aimed to contain militants who have killed hundreds of soldiers and police officers in the region. It has carried out more than 100 such attacks so far.

The leading US daily say that for more than two years, unmarked Israeli warplanes, drones, helicopters and jets carried out the covert air campaign since 2014. It named former and current British and American officials involved in Middle East policy as its sources.

Egypt and Jordan are the only neighbouring countries having a peace agreement with Israel. Cairo and Tel Aviv have also close intelligence cooperation. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, unlike his predecessor Mohammed Morsi, is considered to be close ally of Israel and US and their partners in the region.

The NY Times alleged that Israeli attacks were aimed at Takfiri militant targets, a term generally used for Daesh (IS) terrorists. There are reports of several groups involved in terror activities in Sinai Peninsula. However, Daesh terrorists have never been involved in attacks against Israel either from Egyptian and Syrian sides.

The report further say that Israeli airstrikes are being conducted with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s approval. Sisi had reportedly kept the Israeli strikes secret. Northern Sinai is a closed military area, barring reporters from the region.

Meanwhile,Associated Press has reported that the Egyptian Army was demolishing homes and olive groves to build “a buffer zone” around North Sinai Province’s only airport in the city of el-Arish.

The Israel-Egypt collaboration “is the most dramatic evidence yet of a quiet reconfiguration of the politics of the region,” indicating Arab countries’ growing interest in developing ties with Israel.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have reportedly made significant overtures to Tel Aviv over the recent years.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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War planes attack terror hideouts

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has condemned the attack on Sufi mosque in Sinai Peninsula describing it as a “criminal” and “cowardly” act, expressed condolences to the victims and vowed that the attack “will not go unpunished”.

While addressing the nation on a live telecast on Friday evening, President said, “The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force.” The Egyptian government has declared a  three-day mourning for the victims.

The Egyptian military launched air strikes on targets in mountainous areas around Bir al-Abed hours after the attack, security sources and witnesses told Reuters news agency.

Latest reports, quoting military spokesman Tamer Rifai said in Cairo, on Saturday, said that Egyptian warplanes conducted airstrikes on “terrorist outposts” and vehicles after attackers killed 235 people in Bir al-Abed, in northern Sinai.

“The Egyptian Air Force pursued the terrorist elements, discovered and destroyed a number of vehicles that carried out the brutal terrorist killings, and killed all terrorists inside those vehicles,” the spokesman said.

Terrorists attacked the worshippers on Friday with a bomb and guns on at Al-Rawdah Sufi mosque in Bir al-Abed, 40 km west of El Arish the provincial capital of north Sinai. Egyptian media reports that 235 people were killed and over a hundred people were injured in the attack.

The Bir al-Abed mosque was considered to be an easy target as it is situated outside the main cities. The worshippers coming to the mosque follow Hanafi Sunni sect. Saudi groomed Wahabis consider them as infidels.

The mosque was frequented by Hanafi Muslims. Large numbers of security personnel attend prayers in this mosque.

So far no group has claimed responsibility. A local terror group Velayat Sinai, considered as an affiliate of Daesh IS has claimed earlier terrorist attacks.

The terrorists arrived in four when driven vehicles and carried out their attack during the sermon after Friday prayers. The attackers had reportedly planted explosives and then opened fire on worshippers. The fleeing worshippers were also gunned down in large number.

The region has previously witnessed several attacks targeting security forces and members of Egypt’s Coptic Christians community.

In 2016 IS terrorists released pictures of executing a 100 year old Sufi religious leader accusing him of “witchcraft”.

Timothy Kaldas, a professor at Nile University in Cairo, believes that the attack “fits the pattern of ISIS attacks”. He understands, “Potentially, it’s another attack against Sufis in northern Sinai. Potentially, it’s retaliation for tribes co-operating with the state in the crackdown on ISIS.”

Almost all terrorist groups including Daesh (IS) responsible for creating havoc in Syria, Iraq and Libya, Al-Qaeda and Taliban active in Afghanistan, Al-Shabab and Boko Haram, indulged in destructive activities in some of the African countries are considered to be followers of the Wahabi ideology.

Last month Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman had vowed to destroy “extremist ideologies” in a bid to return to “a more moderate Islam.”

He was quoted saying, “Seventy percent of the Saudi population is under the age of 30. In all honesty, we will not spend 30 years of our lives dealing with extremist ideologies. We will destroy them today and immediately.”

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