After toppling the Assad regime – Egypt’s president, Al-Sisi is in the crosshairs

Ahmed Al-Mansour He was a relatively unknown figure until a few weeks ago, but managed to gain supporters in his home country, Egypt after the Syrian rebels overthrew the Assad regime. Al-Mansour is an Egyptian citizen who began fighting alongside the Syrian rebels against Bashar al-Assad In 2013, and now he is calling for the overthrow of the Egyptian president’s regime, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. This is according to a publication on the media channel “The Middle East Eye”.

Since the rebels took over Damascus, he has been publishing videos calling for Egyptian President al-Sisi to resign, under the tagline “It’s your turn dictator”, a phrase influenced by the calls in Syria. Mansour publishes almost daily content expressing regret over the poor political and economic situation in Egypt under the rule of al-Sisi.

In a video recently published on the X platform, Mansour said: “The state of fear in which al-Sisi lives requires us to re-initiate the revolution.” In recent months, Egypt’s president has been dealing with growing public anger due to the war in Gaza and due to the country’s failing economy.

Al-Sisi repeatedly tried to disclaim any responsibility for the country’s problems, and also tried to distance himself from any comparison to Assad. In many speeches he said that his hands are not stained with the blood of the Egyptians and that he did not “loot” the state’s treasures.

Following the overthrow of Assad, which was initially condemned by the Egyptian government, it was reported that Cairo began preparing lists of Egyptians who decided to fight in Syria after the start of the revolution. The official Saudi media reported, from Egyptian sources, that some of the people on the lists were allegedly involved in terrorist activities in Egypt before leaving for Syria.

Mansour, who has since broken away from “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham”, which took over Damascus – mocked the actions of the Egyptian government, claiming that Sisi is “scared”. Days later, Mansour announced in another video four main demands, including the resignation of President al-Sisi.

Since Mansour launched his social media campaign, It was reported that the Egyptian officials were so worried that the Minister of the Interior recently held a meeting with senior security officials and raised the level of security alertness in the country to its highest level.

An associate of Mansour told the “Middle East Eye” website that “despite the Egyptian government’s attempts to discredit the fighter’s name as a terrorist, Mansour’s decision to join the rebels actually occurred after the coup of Al-Sisi and the brutal campaign of repression that followed.” The source added that: “Mansour left Egypt for Syria two months after the civil war began, to join the fight against the Assad government.”

The concern surrounding the developments in Syria led to increased security measures taken by the Egyptian authorities towards the Syrians, most of whom are refugees, living in Egypt. When members of the Syrian community in Cairo took to the streets to celebrate the fall of Assad, they were arrested on the grounds that they were demonstrating without permission.

At the same time, it was reported that the Egyptian authorities informed travel and aviation companies operating in the country not to allow Syrian citizens to enter Egypt from anywhere in the world, with the exception of those holding temporary residence visas.