Egyptian General Weighs Options as Unrest Continues Under Morsi

Egyptian Military General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is watching carefully as civil unrest in Egypt continues to test President Mohamed Morsi’s ability to maintain order in the country.

Sisi sees a real threat of collapse looming as Morsi and his political opponents jostle for control of the country. For now, there has been a “large military deployment in three cities along the Suez Canal where a state of emergency has been declared.”

There is been no indication that Sisi is thinking of stepping in and using the military to wrest control of the country away from Morsi, but that is an option. Especially when one considers that it was the military that handed over power to Morsi in June 2012.

Sisi is U.S. trained, having studied at the U.S. Army War College, and is now both the head of Egypt’s military and the nation’s Defense Minister. He is watching intently as “political and social challenges” present “a real threat to the security of Egypt and the cohesiveness of the Egyptian state.”

Because the military is “Egypt’s most powerful institution,” the world is watching to see what Sisi’s next steps will be.