Latest news with #StateSecurity
LBCI
5 days ago
- Politics
- LBCI
State Security marks Beirut Port explosion anniversary
On the anniversary of the August 4 Beirut Port explosion, the General Directorate of State Security posted on X: "We remember our victims, both military and civilian, and we remain committed to protecting the homeland above all pain."
Middle East Eye
29-07-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Two men forcibly disappeared in Egypt after storming police station over Gaza blockade
Two men have been forcibly disappeared in Egypt following their alleged participation in the storming of the State Security headquarters at the Ma'asara police station in Helwan in southern Cairo in protest of Egypt's alleged complicity in the Gaza siege, Middle East Eye has learned. Twenty-seven-year-old Mohsen Mustafa and his 23-year-old cousin Ahmed Sherif Ahmed Abdel Wahab have not been heard from since Mustafa posted on Facebook claiming responsibility for the raid, shortly before his profile was removed. The men were reportedly involved in the storming of the police station on 25 July, where a group who identified themselves as 'Iron 17' raided the facility and detained several security personnel for hours. Footage of the raid showing the young men holding the officers captive went viral. The videos, which were published on a Telegram channel and viewed millions of times, showed the men condemning the closure of Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza and the arrests of activists collecting aid for Palestinians in the territory. In one clip, a detained officer said that the opening of the crossing was 'impossible'. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Egypt's interior ministry promptly issued two statements claiming the footage was fabricated as part of a Muslim Brotherhood-led plot, and that those involved in circulating it had been arrested. The ministry accused the Muslim Brotherhood of attempting to undermine Egypt's support for Palestine. The Telegram channel disappeared shortly after. Police station stormed in Egypt as outrage over Gaza blockade reaches boiling point Read More » The Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR) said the videos had been verified by former detainees who were held at the facility, while Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr cited lawyers who said documents visible in the footage belong to detainees who are currently under surveillance. Hours before the channel disappeared, the group released an audio statement, attributed to Mustafa and Wahab, claiming responsibility for the operation. In the statement, they rejected any political affiliations and described themselves as 'heirs of Omar ibn al-Khattab and Amr ibn al-As', in reference to early Islamic military and political leaders. A friend of the men's families told Middle East Eye that the pair were last heard from on the morning of the raid, when they said Mustafa was due to report to the station as part of his probation - Wahab accompanied him. The family then saw a post by Mustafa on his Facebook page, claiming that he had seized the police station. Shortly after, his Facebook profile was taken down, and he and Wahab disappeared. 'Full of Anger' Mustafa and Wahab's involvement in the raid came as a shock to the family - particularly Wahab, who they said had no history of political activity and had never even entered a police station. Mustafa, however, was previously detained and forcibly disappeared for months in 2020, during which time he was subjected to torture. According to the family friend, he was detained while security forces raided his home searching for one of his relatives. As he was the only male at home, they detained him to force his relative to hand himself in. The authorities denied his detention, and banned him from travel following his release. In the five years since his release, he was required to report to the police station on a monthly basis. The family friend said Mustafa was 'full of anger' over his treatment by the authorities - his detention had interrupted his last year of university, forcing him to repeat the academic year. Second detainee death in Egypt police custody recorded within 24 hours Read More » Since the storming of the police station, all male members of the family have been arrested, and the whole family is now under informal house arrest and subject to 24/7 surveillance. With no news of Mustafa and Wahab's whereabouts, and the total refusal by the authorities to acknowledge that the raid ever happened, the families are fearing for the young men's lives. 'There is no chance of accountability for something that never happened,' the family friend told MEE. Meanwhile, Mada Masr reported a surge in arrests in the aftermath of the raid, with security forces setting up a security cordon around the area. Rights lawyer Nabih al-Genady reported an uptick in arrests in Helwan even before the footage was circulated. He noted that the arrests did not appear to be targeting a specific group, and that some of them were in connection with content posted on personal Facebook pages. The storming of the police headquarters comes amid mounting public anger against the Egyptian authorities for failing to do more to open the Rafah crossing and ensure the entry of aid into the besieged Gaza strip, where dozens are dying of Israeli-imposed starvation. The action follows a wave of protests the previous week outside Egyptian embassies in European capitals, sparked by activist Anas Habib in the Netherlands, who symbolically locked embassy gates to protest the Rafah closure. The men's disappearances also come after rights groups reported that two detainees had died in Egyptian police custody within 24 hours.
L'Orient-Le Jour
27-07-2025
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Seperate arms smuggling attempts, foiled along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
BEIRUT — The fight against arms trafficking continues on both sides of the particularly porous border between Syria and Lebanon. France has recently reiterated its willingness to "support cooperation between Beirut and Damascus in controlling their shared border," several operations have been carried out — both on Syrian and Lebanese territory — against arms smuggling. On Saturday night, the Syrian News Channel al-Ekhbaria reported, citing a Syrian security source, that internal security forces in the Nabek area of rural Damascus seized a shipment of weapons that was intended to be smuggled into Lebanon. Meanwhile, Lebanon's State Security announced on Sunday that it arrested a person wanted for trafficking in military weapons. "In implementation of plans aimed at curbing arms trafficking, (...) a patrol (...) arrested a Lebanese national [M. T.] who is wanted under several judicial warrants for trafficking in military weapons, shooting, throwing hand grenades, and theft", the State Security statement reads. "A search of his home yielded military equipment, wireless devices, a large quantity of hashish, and counterfeit U.S. $100 bills", the statement adds. The Lebanese Army has been heavily deployed at the border between the two countries after the fall of the regime, in an attempt to address issues related to the border's porosity, in the fight against smuggling and trafficking on Lebanon's northern and eastern borders. With the fall of Assad regime, Hezbollah lost one of its arms importation routes from Iran, which used to pass through Syria. Army units, supported by patrols from the Intelligence Directorate, raided the homes of wanted individuals in the towns of Khodr (Baalbek) and Sheikh Ayash (Akkar), arresting citizens (A.H.) and ( for multiple crimes including kidnapping, arms trafficking, and shooting. A quantity of weapons, ammunition, and military gear was seized in their possession. In a separate operation in Hay El Sellom, Beirut's southern suburbs, an Intelligence Directorate patrol arrested Syrian national (M.J.) and Lebanese citizens (H.H.) and (N.H.) for drug use, drug dealing, and shooting. Weapons and ammunition were also found in their possession. The confiscated items were handed over, and investigations are underway under the supervision of the competent judiciary.
Middle East Eye
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Police station stormed in Egypt as outrage over Gaza blockade reaches boiling point
On the night of 25 July 2025, a group of young Egyptians launched a bold attack that shook Egypt's political order. Calling themselves 'Iron 17,' they stormed the State Security headquarters at the Ma'asara police station in Helwan, detaining several security personnel for hours in an unprecedented act, the first of its kind since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's rise to power in 2013 as president. More than just an attack on a government building, the raid, captured in viral videos, exposed mounting public fury that could threaten Sisi's grip on power. Much of this anger stems from Egypt's role in the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the closure of the Rafah crossing. Since Israel seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in May 2024, Gaza's humanitarian crisis has worsened, with dozens, mainly children, dying of starvation according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Egyptian regime, denying responsibility for the closure, faces accusations of failing to pressure for its reopening. This stance has fuelled public outrage, with many seeing it as capitulation to Israeli and US pressures at the expense of the Palestinian cause. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Adding fuel to the fire, North Sinai Governor Khaled Megawer, in a Friday interview with pro-regime journalist Mustafa Bakri, admitted Egypt cannot forcibly reopen Rafah due to US opposition, a statement critics view as an implicit admission of Cairo's role in the closure. Security lapse exploited during Friday prayers Through the Telegram channel 'Nation's Flood,' which has nearly 50,000 subscribers, footage emerged showing young men inside the Ma'asara State Security office, holding officers captive for hours. The videos, viewed millions of times, showed the group condemning the closure of the Rafah crossing, a lifeline for Gaza's besieged population, and the arrests of activists collecting aid for the enclave. In one chilling exchange, a detained officer responded to demands to reopen Rafah with a single word: 'Impossible.' These clips are not just documentation; they stand as a testament to a people fed up with a regime they accuse of complicity in Gaza's suffering. The question of how the group accessed a high-security facility was quickly answered. Displaced Palestinian children chat with an Egyptian soldier standing guard behind the fence between Egypt and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 (AFP) Leaked documents, posted on the same Telegram channel, revealed lists of individuals under Egypt's notorious 'security monitoring' programme, which requires released prisoners to check in regularly at police stations. One video explained that the group chose Friday prayers on 25 July for their operation, taking advantage of lax security during that time. Former detainees corroborated this, noting the ease of accessing the State Security office on the fourth floor for routine check-ins, a gap the group exploited to enter and detain personnel. The leaked documents also exposed names of current detainees and forcibly disappeared individuals linked to charges like protesting or alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. They included security classifications, labelling people as Brotherhood members, Salafists, or sympathisers. The FactCheckar, an independent fact-checking initiative, in a detailed analysis on its official Facebook page, confirmed the authenticity of some names, including Fathi Rajab Hassan Ahmed and Ahmed Nadi Haddad Darwish, both tied to the 'Helwan Brigades' case, and Abdel Rahman Ramadan Mohamed Abdel Shafi, previously listed as forcibly disappeared in a 2024 report by the Shahab Center for Human Rights. Egyptian response: denial and deflection Egypt's Interior Ministry quickly issued a statement denying the videos' authenticity, claiming they were fabricated as part of a Muslim Brotherhood-led conspiracy. Exclusive: Egypt presidency forced Al-Azhar to delete statement condemning Israel's starvation of Gaza Read More » While it announced arrests of those involved in spreading the footage, it avoided addressing the validity of the leaked documents, merely stating they were unrelated to the incident. This knee-jerk denial, a familiar tactic, failed to mask the ministry's embarrassment and fuelled criticism that the regime is trapped in denial, dismissing legitimate grievances as foreign plots. A subsequent video from 'Nation's Flood' showed one of the young men, bloodied and with torn clothes, insisting they were not terrorists and had used an empty sound pistol, aiming only to send a message. He sought assurances from a detained officer that they would not be harmed if released. Still, communication with the group abruptly ceased, and all prior messages on the Telegram channel vanished, raising questions about whether security forces had seized control of the channel or its administrators had deleted the content. Iron 17's manifesto: a call to awaken society Hours before the channel went silent, it released an audio statement styled like Palestinian faction communiques, claiming responsibility for the 'Iron 17' operation. The statement, attributed to Ahmed Abdel Wahab and Mohsen Mustafa, rejected any political affiliations, describing themselves as 'heirs of Omar ibn al-Khattab and Amr ibn al-Aas' seeking to revive Egypt's national spirit. The figures in question refers to invoking early Islamic military and political leaders that symbolised strength, justice, and national revival. Their message was clear: end the genocide in Gaza and stop repressing Egyptians. Addressing the Egyptian people, they decried the 'severe blows' inflicted on the nation and vowed to rouse it from its 'death.' Italian and European parliament members hold placards during a protest in front of the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, calling for aid to be allowed into the Gaza on May 18, 2025 (AFP) Social media buzzed with polarised reactions. Some doubted the videos' authenticity, while others saw them as a genuine outcry. Critics blamed the regime's relentless repression and heavy-handed security measures for pushing people to such extremes. Others, echoing the government narrative, accused the Muslim Brotherhood and regional actors of orchestrating a plot to destabilise Egypt with fake videos and misinformation. On Saturday morning, the Egyptian presidency's spokesperson posted a brief statement about a meeting between Sisi and Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfiq, without detailing its agenda. Pro-regime outlets suggested it discussed security updates and an upcoming reshuffle of Interior Ministry officers, though it remains unclear whether Sisi addressed the Ma'asara incident or considered dismissing Tawfiq. Political fallout: a regime under pressure The Ma'asara incident was not an isolated act. It followed a wave of protests the previous week outside Egyptian embassies in European capitals, sparked by activist Anas Habib in the Netherlands, who symbolically locked embassy gates to protest the Rafah closure. These actions spread to other cities, amplifying the message that Egyptians, both at home and abroad, reject what they see as complicity in Gaza's plight. The Ma'asara operation builds on this momentum, showing that anger is translating into bold action. Lebanese security forces block the road leading to the Egyptian embassy in Beirut during a protest against the closure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip (AFP) The Ma'asara storming, coupled with embassy protests, signals growing pressure on a regime already grappling with economic and social crises. These actions could embolden opposition forces to organise further, especially amid intensifying repression. Sisi's reliance on brute force may backfire if public demands for Gaza and domestic reform are ignored. The current unrest echoes the spirit of the January 25 Revolution, hinting at a potential turning point where Egyptians reclaim their voice. Ultimately, the Ma'asara incident stands as a resounding cry against injustice, both in Gaza and within Egypt. The regime faces a critical test: heed these voices or risk an escalation that could reshape the political landscape.
L'Orient-Le Jour
24-07-2025
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Clash in Kfar Roummane between Lebanese and Syrian residents
A violent clash broke out Wednesday evening between Syrians and Lebanese residents in Kfar Roummane (Nabatieh district), according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South. The incident erupted after a Syrian national working in the village was accused of attacking the home of a Lebanese resident. The situation escalated into a violent brawl. A State Security patrol intervened to end the clash and arrested several Syrian nationals.
