Alamein
\nThe United States State Department has approved the potential sale of more than $5bn in arms for Egypt.
\nThe State Department informed Congress on Friday that it had approved the sale of $4.69bn worth of equipment for 555 US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks operated by Egypt, along with $630m in Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and $30m in precision-guided munitions.
\nIn a statement issued that day, it said the sale would support US \u201cforeign policy and national security\u201d by helping to improve the security of a \u201cmajor\u201d non-NATO ally that had acted as an important strategic partner in the Middle East.
\nEgypt and the US have worked increasingly closely since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023, with Cairo playing a role in negotiating a ceasefire.
\nThe deals come despite ongoing concern in Washington over the Egyptian government\u2019s poor human rights record under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
\nLarge US aid recipient
\nUS President Joe Biden took office in 2021 pledging a harder line on Egypt over human rights concerns, but his administration has approved several arms deals.
\nIn 2022, his administration approved the sale to Egypt of 12 Super Hercules C-130 transport aircraft and air defence radar systems totalling an estimated $2.5bn.
\nThe State Department\u2019s notification of the latest potential sale to Congress did not indicate that a contract has been signed or that negotiations have concluded.
\nThe proposed sale would \u201cnot alter the basic military balance in the region\u201d, said the statement, adding that transactions related to the Abrams tanks would take up to a decade to implement.
\nThe US Congress can still block the sales, but such attempts are usually unsuccessful.
\nCairo is one of the largest recipients of US security aid since its peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The largest recipient is Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alamein The United States State Department has approved the potential sale of more than $5bn in arms for Egypt. The State Department informed Congress on Friday that it had approved the sale of $4.69bn worth of equipment for 555 US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks operated by Egypt, along with $630m in Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and $30m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-450865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n