Troop Reinforcements Head to Egypt’s Major Cities Ahead of Protests

Military Poised to Act, But Against Whom?

Though the scope of this weekend’s Egypt protests has yet to be determined, they’re expected to be big. Resentment at the Morsi government remains a major driver of demonstrations, and a huge turnout is likely in the major cities, especially Cairo.

The expectations are so high that the US is deploying troops in Sinai just to keep the “rioters” out of Israel, and Egypt’s own military is sending reinforcements, en masse, to all the major cities.

Publicly the Morsi government is treating everything as a “business as usual” situation, but so many troops make it clear the military plans to act, and Army Chief Gen. Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has insisted the military would “intervene,” but there is a big question remaining: intervene against whom?

Tensions are ever growing, but not just between the Morsi government and the public. The military was never too keen on Morsi in the first place, and the fear that the “intervention” will amount to a coup is a palpable fear among cabinet members, who have openly accused the protesters of trying to provoke a military action since they can’t win at the ballot box.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.