Syria detains Egyptian videoed threatening Sisi
Syria has detained detained an Egyptian militant who had fought Islamists against toppled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad over threats made on social media towards Cairo, a source from Syria’s interior ministry and an Arab security source told Reuters on January 15th.
The move could ease Cairo’s worries over the ascension of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, who led the overthrow Assad last month, to power in light of Egypt’s opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Egyptian, named Ahmed al-Mansour, posted a video this week where he said Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would meet the same fate as Assad. The source said he is currently in a detention centre after an arrest over that video and other posts.
While most official statements from the Egyptian government have expressed support for the Syrian people, state media has been critical of expressed fears of the resurgence of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood encouraged by Syria’s rulers, who are led by Islamist group HTS.
“(Syrian authorities) are the ones who arrested him, but the Egyptian media campaign sent the message,” the Arab source said. “This is a signal to Cairo, which sees this issue as extremely important.”
Reuters
