Syrian authorities arrest Egyptian founder of anti-Sisi militant group

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham member and Egyptian national Ahmed al-Mansour was detained by Syrian authorities on Tuesday, according to a Syrian Defense Ministry source who spoke to Mada Mar on condition of anonymity.

With Syria undergoing a transitional period led by the government formed by HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, Mansour founded a group in Syria and began over recent weeks to share multiple social media posts in which he claimed to be organizing a movement to topple the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The Syrian ministry source said that Mansour’s actions had posed a threat to Syria's national security, especially as the country, under its new regime, seeks to establish good relations with all Arab nations. 

“Syria doesn't want to become a ground for settling scores and it won't be what it once was under Bashar al-Assad, who isolated himself,” the source said, from partners in the region and in the West in order “to appease Iran and Russia — and the Syrian people paid the cost.”

Egypt has been cautious regarding the new state of affairs in Syria, taking slow steps toward establishing diplomatic relations and requesting earlier this month the extradition of another Egyptian national who criticized Egypt from Syrian territory, the son of Islamic cleric and scholar Youssef al-Qaradawi.

The group Mansour founded, named the January 25 Revolutionaries Movement, put out its first statement on X on Tuesday following his arrest. The statement was signed by Hazem al-Mansour, in his capacity as official spokesperson, and thanked those he said had supported the group following the detention of its founder.

In the statement, the group said that Mansour had not been seen since Tuesday afternoon, following a “kind invitation” by the Syrian General Security to meet with the Syrian Defense Minister Major General Murhaf Abu Qasra. The statement said that Mansour had worked “on the fronts of the Syrian revolution” under the command of Abu Qasra, a senior HTS commander before his appointment into Sharaa’s transitional government. The statement then expressed “confidence” in the Syrian government’s leadership and said it did not wish to cause any “embarrassment” to Syria in “international and regional relations.” 

The Syrian Defense Ministry source told Mada Masr that Mansour’s fate is yet to be decided, but that it is likely he will face deportation.

MP and journalist Mostafa Bakry suggested on his X account on Tuesday that Mansour could be handed over to Egyptian authorities but qualified that there was no official confirmation of this yet. Bakry later posted again to say that “this is the fate of any traitor.”

The January 25 Revolutionaries Movement urged Syria’s government to release Mansour, arguing that Egyptians are exercising their rights and duties against the “violations committed by Sisi, just as the Syrian people confronted the murderer Bashar al-Assad.”

In the wake of Assad’s fall, Egypt initially announced only its support for the Syrian people. Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty has since spoken with the new Syrian foreign minister via telephone, yet Egypt remains cautious, stressing during a recent meeting to support Syria in Saudi Arabia the importance of “not allowing the harboring of terrorist elements on Syrian territory.”

Egypt had requested in the first week of January that Lebanon extradite to Egypt the poet Abdel Rahman Youssef, the son of Qaradawi, who was apprehended by Lebanese authorities when he crossed into Lebanese territory via Syria. 

From Syria, Qaradawi’s son had broadcast criticism online of governments in the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia from Syria in the wake of Assad’s fall. Lebanon later deported him to the UAE.

The Syrian source said that Syria will no longer allow individuals fleeing their countries to use its territory for recording damaging political messages, particularly against other Arab countries.