Egypt’s Sisi fires military intelligence chief

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Saturday dismissed the director of the country’s military intelligence service, Mohamed Al-Shahat, after he served more than three years in post.

Local official sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the decision was made in “complete confidentiality” right after Al-Sisi’s meeting with the Defence Minister, Mohamed Zaki.

He later appointed Major General Khaled Megawer, who had previously served as deputy head of the military intelligence body, Commander of the Second Field Army and defense attaché at the Egyptian embassy in the US, as Al-Shahat’s successor.

The sources did not give a reason for Al-Shahat’s dismissal, but Al-Sisi has replaced several high-ranking security officials in the military, interior ministry and the general intelligence service over the last couple of years.

Last year, over 130 high-ranking state officials were replaced, including the former head of the country’s General Intelligence Service (GIS) Khaled Fawzi, who was replaced by Abbas Kamel. The country’s defensce and interior ministers were also fired.

Egypt’s military and intelligence services play a leading role in top level decision making, taking a more public role since Al-Sisi led the 2013 military coup, which overthrew the country’s first freely-elected President, Mohamed Morsi.

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