Syria arrests Ahmed al-Mansour after calling for Egypt uprising

The head of a Syria-based Islamist group who called on Egyptians to overthrow President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi‘s government in Cairo has been arrested in Damascus, according to reports.

The group “25 January Revolutionaries” announced a statement on Tuesday saying that its Syria-based Egyptian leader Ahmed Al-Mansour was detained after he was invited by Syrian security officials for a meeting.

“We regret to begin our first statement with the news of the arrest and disappearance of the movement’s leader Ahmed Al-Mansour in Damascus along with some of his comrades,” the group said in a statement.

“We ask our brothers in the Syrian leadership to quickly release the leader of the movement, Ahmed Al-Mansour.”

Al-Mansour went viral this month after a social media post that called on Egyptians to fight the Cairo government.

“The state of terror that Sisi has us living in requires our initiative to reignite the revolution,” he said in a video accompanied by the hashtag “It’s your turn, dictator”.

His post on X, which went viral online, was viewed 7.5 million times by 14 January.

On 11 January, he announced the establishment of the 25 January Revolutionaries and posted a photo of himself surrounded by masked fighters in a room decorated with a flag associated with the Egyptian monarchy.

Al-Mansour was until recently a member of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which led the rebel force that toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.

He used the momentum of the Syrian revolution to urge an armed uprising in his home country, Egypt. 

He is believed to have participated in the Rabaa Square sit-in in Egypt against the overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Mohamed Morsi, before fleeing to Syria to join the rebels fighting Assad.

Until recently, he appeared to have kept a low profile among foreign fighters in Syria who were reportedly rewarded by HTS with senior military positions in the new Syrian administration in recognition of their loyalty.

According to Egyptian media, Mansour is originally from Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria. 

Mansour, who has said he travelled to Syria in 2013 and later joined HTS, posted in December to say that Egyptian security forces had raided his home in Alexandria and arrested some of his family members, in connection with his recent declarations in Syria.

The reasons for the arrest remain unclear though 25 January Revolutionaries’ statement suggested that Al-Mansour’s behaviour has complicated the interim government’s outreach with Egypt.

“The leadership of the movement does not want in any way to cause the Syrian brothers any embarrassment in their international and regional relations,” it said.

Since the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, Egypt’s government has been wary of political Islam and its response to HTS’ ousting of Assad has been colder than other Arab nations, although Sisi has repeatedly said he does not have “blood on his hands”, apparently in reference to Bashar Al-Assad.

The foreign ministers of countries including the UAE, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have all held high-level talks with Syria’s new government although Egypt is yet to follow suit.

The New Arab was unable to reach Syrian authorities for comment on the arrest.