OPEN// Sisi greets Egyptians, Arab, Islamic nations on new Hijri year
CAIRO, June 26 (MENA) - President Abdel Fattah El Sisi greeted the Egyptian people as well as the Arab and Islamic nations on the new Hijri year 1447.
On his Facebook page, the president wrote that Prophet Muhammad's migration will remain an eternal symbol of diligence, patience, and sacrifice.
The president added that the prophet's migration is guideline for the drive of building an advanced nation that enjoys peace and stability.
He concluded by wishing all to enjoy prosperity and welfare in the new year.
Thursday, June 26, marks the first day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. (MENA)
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Contrary to the strongly worded official statements of frustration with Israel's unprovoked aggression against Iran, a Western narrative proclaiming private Arab state support for both the attack on Tehran and regime change prevailed in the mainstream US media and in statements by US officials. In the same vein US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told the Israeli newspaper the Jerusalem Post this week that the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites have 'dramatically' improved the chances of a Saudi-Israeli normalisation deal. While normalisation and its benefits were never off the table for Riyadh despite the continued war on Gaza, Israel's expansionist policy and unchecked regional militarism echoing Netanyahu's ambitions for a leadership role in the Middle East are now posing new challenges to its Arab neighbours. For the Gulf and other Arab states whose normalization policies with Israel served their political interests and enhanced relations with Washington, the prospect of Israeli regional hegemony is cause for new found concern. 'Israel has been betting on very risky moves in the past year and a half concerning its typical adversaries, mostly non state actors, which paid off so they thought they could continue the job with Iran,' Badr Al-Saif a history professor at Kuwait University and non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. Netanyahu's project to establish an Israeli led regional order 'is something that we do not want or project in the Gulf region,' he said in an interview. Iran has been a difficult neighbour, Al-Saif argued, but it is not in the Gulf's national interest to see Israeli or US instigated regime change next door. 'This is destabilizing for to us. 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In south Lebanon, Israeli forces continue to occupy dozens of villages and border areas since November 2024, despite a ceasefire agreement with Hizbullah. For centuries, Syria has been of strategic importance for Egypt's national security beyond its northeastern border. Israel's occupation of swaths of Syrian territories since Assad's fall, as well as its destruction of Syrian defence capabilities and navy has been a major concern for Egypt, he added. 'A weak Syria impacts Egypt strategically,' Matar said in an interview. While Arab states mended ties with Iran, US and Israeli aspirations for a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel since the 2020 Abraham Accords stalled. The UAE and Bahrain signed the Accords and were later joined by Sudan and Morocco during US President Donald Trump's first term in office, ushering in, in his words, the 'dawn of a new Middle East.' 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