http://rt.com/news/egypt-elections-referendum-timeframe-804/
In line with this perception, Provisional President Justice Adli Mansour issued a decree Tuesday for elections to a new parliament in February 2014, followed immediately by voting for a new president. He did not fix a precise date. No one expects this decree to tranquilize the turmoil in the country or deter the Brothers from an uprising (intifada) declared against the powers that unseated them after Egyptian soldiers shot dead at least 51 of their supporters. They were accused by the army of trying to storm the Republican Guards Club in Cairo where deposed president Mohamed Morsi is held. The Brothers claimed they were just holding a peaceful sit-in.
The generals have geared up to meet this threat, which appears to have been kicked off Monday with attacks on strategic targets across Egypt - carried out, according toDEBKAfile’s military sources, by the Brotherhood’s armed underground, Al-Gihas al-Sirri.
Iran and Moscow are speeding extra military and arms supplies to aid this effort by airlift. Refusing to brook any further delays in the battle for Aleppo, Assad turned down a proposal by UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon’s and the new Syrian opposition president Ahmad Jabra to declare a bilateral ceasefire for the month of Ramadan.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has rejected a timetable for elections proposed by interim leader Adly Mansour. The plan calls for a parliamentary vote in six months after amendments to the constitution are approved in a referendum.
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Essam el-Erian, deputy head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, said that the plan would bring Egypt back to “square one.”
The decree has allowed a four-and-a-half month period for any amendments to the former constitution, which was suspended after the overthrow of the country’s former president, Mohammed Morsi, amid mass protests.
A presidential election will be held after the new legislative chamber’s first meeting.
The text of Mansour’s decree states that a panel for the review of the new constitution must be formed within 15 days.
In the run-up to parliamentary elections, the document also gives the interim president powers to issue new laws after consulting with the new government, which is to be formed soon.
Certain controversial Islamist-influenced articles of the previous constitution have been left in the decree. They have to do with the principles of the Sharia law. This has already aroused criticism from Egypt’s liberal and Christian populations.
The developments took place as investigations got underway into violent clashes between the country’s armed forces and the supporters of the former Islamist president earlier in the day. The violence took place outside the Republican Guard headquarters in the Nasr City district of Cairo, claiming at least 51 lives and injuring more than 430 people, according to the Ministry of Health.
How the clashes started exactly remains a topic of dispute, with eyewitnesses saying that they were fired on and the army insisting they were provoked.
Adly Mansour has expressed grief at the deaths and has called for calm and restraint.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has condemned the reported killing of over 50 anti-Morsi protesters in Cairo, urging both sides to “do everything to avoid further escalation” of violence which has intensified since the former president’s ouster.
Ban’s spokesman issued a statement, saying the UN chief is “deeply disturbed” by the bloody clashes outside the capital’s Republican Guard headquarters early on Monday. He has offered his condolences to the families of the victims.
“The Secretary-General condemns these killings and calls for them to be thoroughly investigated by independent and competent national bodies, and those responsible need to be brought to justice,” read the statement.
A variety of weapons, including gun ammo and Molotov cocktails, were discovered at the scene, near the Republican Guard headquarters in the Nasr City district of Cairo.
Military spokesman Ahmed Aly spoke at a press conference on Monday, saying that armed groups had attacked the Republican Guard at dawn – not the other way around. According to him, there is much evidence to support this:
"A colleague is in Maadi hospital undergoing a four-hour surgery; he was shot with live ammunition to the head, which caused his skull to fracture," said Aly, who stressed the officer's injury proves that there was firing from building rooftops.
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http://www.debka.com/article/23105/Violent-Ramadan-ahead-Egypt%E2%80%99s-army-chief-says-no-to-dialogue-with-Brotherhood-Assad-nixes-ceasefire
The holy Muslim month of Ramadan beginning in the Middle East Tuesday, July 9, heralds more, rather than less, bloodshed. After at least 51 deaths in a Cairo shootout Monday, Egypt’s military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi rebuffed US diplomatic efforts to bring the various political forces in the country around the table for dialogue. The high military council is divided on this: One faction urges a relentless crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its deposed president; a second, led by Gen. El-Sisi, says they mustn’t be cowed by the backlash to Monday’s incident, but should keep the political process for a new and stable government on track.
In line with this perception, Provisional President Justice Adli Mansour issued a decree Tuesday for elections to a new parliament in February 2014, followed immediately by voting for a new president. He did not fix a precise date. No one expects this decree to tranquilize the turmoil in the country or deter the Brothers from an uprising (intifada) declared against the powers that unseated them after Egyptian soldiers shot dead at least 51 of their supporters. They were accused by the army of trying to storm the Republican Guards Club in Cairo where deposed president Mohamed Morsi is held. The Brothers claimed they were just holding a peaceful sit-in.
The generals have geared up to meet this threat, which appears to have been kicked off Monday with attacks on strategic targets across Egypt - carried out, according toDEBKAfile’s military sources, by the Brotherhood’s armed underground, Al-Gihas al-Sirri.
In parallel, the military is also deploying for a major offensive to curb the armed Salafi Bedouin rampant in Sinai and now harnessed to the Brotherhoods uprising. The generals believe this center of revolt must be nipped in the bud without delay for the sake of confining the MB uprising to mainland Egypt.
To this end, heavy military reinforcements were seen pouring into Sinai in the early hours of Tuesday. The urgency of cutting down the Brotherhood’s capabilities for making trouble was attested to by the risk the Egyptian army took by withdrawing substantial military strength from the Suez Canal towns of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez and redeploying them in Sinai. They acted on the assumption that, in the short term, the Brothers would concentrate their defiance on street protests and clashes with the army to Cairo.
Our military sources report that Maj. Gen. Ahmad Wasfi, head of the Second Army, arrived Monday in the northern Sinai town of El Arish to set up a command center for the forthcoming campaign against the Islamist opposition and its allies, the Salafist networks linked to al Qaeda and the radical Palestinian Hamas.
The outbreaks in Egypt this week overshadowed the disastrous situation in Syria.
The outbreaks in Egypt this week overshadowed the disastrous situation in Syria.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that alongside thrusts on other fronts, such as Homs, the Syrian army and Hizballah are in the final stages of preparations for their big push to liquidate rebel strongholds in Aleppo and recapture Syria’s second city.
Syrian President Bashar Assad decided to go ahead with this offensive despite the onset of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from sunup to sundown for a month.
Iran and Moscow are speeding extra military and arms supplies to aid this effort by airlift. Refusing to brook any further delays in the battle for Aleppo, Assad turned down a proposal by UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon’s and the new Syrian opposition president Ahmad Jabra to declare a bilateral ceasefire for the month of Ramadan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/explosion-heard-in-hezbollah-stronghold-in-south-beirut/2013/07/09/6a8d2564-e870-11e2-818e-aa29e855f3ab_story.html
BEIRUT — A car bomb rocked a stronghold of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group south of the Lebanese capital Tuesday, setting several cars on fire and wounding 37 people in a major security breach of a tightly-guarded area, security officials said.
The powerful blast in a bustling commercial and residential neighborhood came as many Lebanese Shiites began observing the holy month of Ramadan, and is the worst explosion to hit the area in years — likely direct fallout of the civil war raging in neighboring Syria.
A group of about 100 outraged Hezbollah supporters marched in the area after the blast, carrying pictures of Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and shouting in support of their leader and sectarian slogans.
Hezbollah operatives fired in the air to disperse people who attacked the interior minister with stones after he inspected the scene of the blast, trapping him for 45 minutes in a building before he was escorted through a backdoor.
“The Shiite blood is boiling,” the Hezbollah supporters shouted.
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