![Luxor dig](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-10/GettyImages-1232215808.jpg?h=07560f10&itok=cFMtX9N1)
Alaa Omran is an Egyptian journalist who writes for Al-Gomhoria newspaper in addition to other newspapers and international websites. On Twitter: @alaaomran4
![Luxor dig](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-10/GettyImages-1232215808.jpg?h=07560f10&itok=cFMtX9N1)
![Remains of an early whale from 40-million years ago lies on the desert pavement of Wadi El-Hutan, 100 kilometers south of Cairo. About 400 skeletons of ancient water life: mammals, reptiles have been identified in what used to be an ancient shoreline.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-06/GettyImages-1228039522.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=AjEzTqNF)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![AHMAD HUSSEIN/AFP via Getty Images](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-04/GettyImages-2563863.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=8G6ylBlh)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![A general view shows the temple of Tasposiris Magna, which was built in honour of the ancient Egyptian deity Isis in the Greco-Roman period, near Borg al-Arab, 50 kms (30 miles) west of Alexandria, on April 19, 2009. Archaeologists searching for the tomb of Marc Anthony and Cleopatra may be closer to locating the burial site of the legendary lovers, Egypt's antiquities council said. A team led by antiquities chief Zahi Hawass believes the tomb may be located in three possible sites near the temple and will](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2021/02/GettyImages-86036241.jpg/GettyImages-86036241.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=jPLEYvhc)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![GettyImages-809300468.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2021/02/GettyImages-809300468.jpg/GettyImages-809300468.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=FOJ8fQ-M)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L) welcomes Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the Maximos Mansion in Athens, on November 11, 2020. - Greek Prime Minister and Egyptian President discussed the tensions in the eastern Mediterranean where Turkey and Greece Turkey and Greece are arguing over the boundaries of maritime zones. (Photo by Yorgos KARAHALIS / POOL / AFP) (Photo by YORGOS KARAHALIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2021/02/GettyImages-1229577516.jpg/GettyImages-1229577516.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=NKOflkPg)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![Egyptian farmer Mohamed Omar (C), 65, supplies his farmland with water from a canal, fed by the Nile river, in the village of Baharmis on the outskirts of Egypt's Giza province, northwest of the capital Cairo, on December 1, 2019. - Egypt has for years been suffering from a severe water crisis that is largely blamed on population growth. Mounting anxiety has gripped the already-strained farmers as the completion of Ethiopia's gigantic dam on the Blue Nile, a key tributary of the Nile, draws nearer. Egypt vi](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2021/02/GettyImages-1186227188.jpg/GettyImages-1186227188.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Cns262Ip)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![An adorned wooden sarcophagus is displayed during the official announcement of the discovery by an Egyptian archaeological mission of a new trove of treasures at Egypt's Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, on January 17, 2021. - The discovery at the necropolis which lies 30kms south of the Egyptian capital, includes the funerary temple of Queen Naert, wife of King Teti, as well as burial shafts, coffins, and mummies dating back to the New Kingdom, dating back to nearly 3000 years. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI /](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2021/01/GettyImages-1230634649.jpg/GettyImages-1230634649.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=5oc4LmIM)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![GettyImages-1228920164.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-1228920164.jpg/GettyImages-1228920164.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Vbf4C0h0)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![BERLIN, GERMANY - JANUARY 19: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (L) attends an international summit on securing peace in Libya at the Chancellery on January 19, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. Leaders of nations and organizations linked to the current conflict are meeting to discuss measures towards reaching a consensus between the warring sides and ending hostilities. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-1200538413.jpg/GettyImages-1200538413.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=cw__41o0)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![A boat sails in the water of the estuary of the Nile river's Damietta branch into the Mediterranean sea in the city of Ras el-Bar in Egypt's northern Damietta Governorate, about 265 kilometres north of the capital, on October 22, 2019. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-1194821247.jpg/GettyImages-1194821247.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=b-ZmgOVs)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran
![Yachts are moored at the marina in Egypt's Red Sea resort town of Hurghada on August 24, 2018. (Photo by AFP) (Photo credit should read /AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-1022944850.jpg/GettyImages-1022944850.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=JVJNvzJ2)
![Alaa Omran](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2020/AlaaOmran.jpg/AlaaOmran.jpg?h=44b0ab69&itok=jpi31C_U)
Alaa Omran