Intel: US announces missile sale to Egypt after American activist’s relatives detained

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The ship French Navy Belier crosses the Suez canal off the coast of Ismailia port city, east of Cairo, on its way to the Mediterranean sea. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)
The French navy coastal tug Belier crosses the Suez canal off the coast of the port city of Ismailia, east of Cairo, on its way to the Mediterranean sea. The US State Department announced a plan Tuesday to sell naval surface-to-air missiles to Egypt to help protect the canal. - AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

The Biden administration announced a plan to sell nearly $200 million worth of naval surface-to-air missiles to Cairo on Tuesday, just hours after Egypt’s government arrested two relatives of an Egyptian-American activist.

The State Department on Tuesday afternoon informed Congress of the proposed $197 million sale of up to 168 naval surface-to-air Rolling Airframe Missiles to Egypt to bolster the country’s coastal and Suez Canal defenses.

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