CAIRO — On Dec. 19, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior announced the death of Mohammed Ashour Dashisha, one of the Hasm movement’s most dangerous members, after an exchange of fire with the police in a residential neighborhood in 6th of October City.
The ministry said in an official statement that Dashisha had been using an apartment there along with a number of Hasm members to hold meetings and manufacture explosive devices to be used in a series of hostile operations against the army, the police and the judiciary. Once the security forces got close to the apartment, Dashisha opened fire on the troops who fired back and killed him, while a soldier was shot dead as well, according to the statement.
Following this incident, the Hasm movement declared a new phase, which it dubbed “jihad and resistance," against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime. This raises several questions about the future of this movement, its financiers and backers, as well as the extent of its affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.
On July 16, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior announced the assassination of Maj. Mahmoud Abdel Hamid, the head of investigations at the Tamiya police station in Fayoum governorate. Three masked men on a motorcycle opened fire at a police car, killing Abdel Hamid and wounding two policemen.
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