Why did Egypt's Sisi remove his long-time aide, spy chief Abbas Kamel?

Shortly after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi laid off his long-time closest aide, spy chief Abbas Kamel, a key figure in the Hamas-Israel negotiations and was also tasked with other major regional security files, several scenarios re-surfaced about the sudden, unexpected move. 

The former head of Egypt's General Intelligence Agency has been the president's brother-in-arms for many years, even before Sisi seized power. Kamel was the director of his office at the time when Sisi was the head of military intelligence and then the defence minister.

Kamel is known for building strategic ties with Israeli intelligence officials, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Palestinian Hamas and Fatah organisations after he was assigned his previous role back in June 2018.

Unconfirmed Israeli news reports indicated a state of dissatisfaction inside Israel's government towards the removal of Kamel since he was apparently instrumental in the hostage negotiations with Hamas leaders.

Demoted or promoted?

On Wednesday 16 October, Kamel was designated as Sisi's security advisor, the president's special envoy, and the general coordinator of the country's security bodies, raising questions about whether the new posts, which have not officially existed before, are a way to demote rather than promote the arguably second-most powerful man in Egypt.

Kamel's former deputy, veteran intelligence officer Hassan Rashad, has been sworn in as the new head of the General Intelligence Agency. Unlike his predecessor, limited information is available on Rashad.  

"Abbas' has been laid off during turbulent times as Israel's deadly war on Gaza has entered its second year, a war in neighbouring Sudan, tensions in the Red Sea…and conflict with Ethiopia over Egypt's share of the water of the River Nile… Rashad indeed has big shoes to fill," a security expert told The New Arab on condition of anonymity due to the political sensitivity of the subject.

While regime critics view the decision as proof of political failure, criticising Sisi on social media platforms, pro-regime media outlets quickly commended the decision.

On the other hand, statesmen, including the Grand Mufti of Egypt, publicly congratulated Kamel for his new posts, even though his job description is still unclear.

Growing political influence

Rashad, who formerly served as Kamel's deputy, has already been handling major political and security matters involving the recent rapprochement with Iran, according to recent news reports.

But unlike Kamel, Rashad has not made many recent media appearances, leaving the public to wonder who he is and what his expected roles are in the coming phase given the numerous regional challenges for Egypt. 

On Thursday, less than 24 hours after Rashad's new assignment, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Sisi in Cairo, marking the first visit of an Iranian senior official to Egypt in almost a decade amid already mounting tensions in the region due to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and invasion of Lebanon.

Social media activists, meanwhile, suggested conspiracy theories that may have allegedly led to the seemingly random removal of Kamel, pushed forward by reports of an undeclared meeting he had held in Cairo over the weekend with a senior Israeli security official.    

On Monday, The Times of Israel reported that Ronen Bar, the director of Israeli Shin Bet, also known as Shabak, met Abbas in Cairo a day earlier. Egypt has yet to officially deny nor confirm the meeting.

According to the Israeli news site, citing an unnamed source as telling the Walla outlet, the meeting did not reach any breakthroughs.

"Kamel's growing influence in the local and international intelligence circles and inside the Egyptian military may have been alarming to Sisi. The president may have chosen to play it safe and keep him close by offering him honorary or advisory posts while stripping him of his authorities in the process," the security expert opined to TNA.

In 2013, the then-defence minister Sisi led a military coup, overthrowing Egypt's first democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi, and seized power as the de facto leader of the country before he was elected president a year later.