President has no right to dismiss SCAF members

An Egyptian military source said that a bulletin dismissing the leaders of the Armed Forces has not yet been issued. This is contrary to rumours that Defense Minister General Abd Fattah al-Sisi issued a decision to dismiss 70 leaders of the Egyptian army and the military council, notably Brigade Refaat Fangari, Major General Mukhtar Mulla and General Ismail Etman. The source added that the Defense Minister will sign a document to dismiss some Generals in the Egyptian army, especially those called by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, former defense minister, to be members of SCAF, notably Brigade Refaat Fangari. The source noted that al-Sisi decided to exclude those who reached the retirement age, yet he has the right to appoint any of them to work as his assistant. Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi called before the January 25 revolution a large number of Generals who reached pension age to serve again. This included Mamdouh Shahin, Assar, Fangary, Ismail Etman, Mamdouh Abdul Haq and Mahmoud Nasr who worked as assistants to the Minister of Defense. The military source said: "The president did not interfere or issue any directives concerning the dismissal of the assistantsto Field Marshal Tantawi. The Egyptian President according to the Constitution and military custom, does not interfere in the internal movement, transfers and dismissals.The Defense minister is the only one who has the right to do this and restructure the military council. General al-Sisi has already finished a new list with new members of the military council in preparation to submit it to the President of the Republic without naming the new director of military intelligence." Gen Nabil Fouad, a former officer in the Egyptian army and a strategical science expert confirmed that referring a brigade to retirement is normal even if the number of expected referrals for retirement is 70 brigades saying: "This number is not large because the armed forces issues during the year two bulletins. One in January and one in July that include retirements and dismissals. As a result of the circumstances of the revolution, some generals were not dismissed or retired in order to preserve the military council." The Guidance Bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood refused to comment on the dismissals expected inside the Egyptian army stressing: "No official decision has been issued yet so I could not comment on decisions that are still unknown and unconfirmed especially before the final declaration of the formation of the new SCAF." the Security Council of the Armed Forces to be formed will include (according to internal regulations in the army): Gen Abdel Fattah Sisi as General Commander of the Armed Forces, Minister of Defense and Military Production,Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces General Sedky Sobhy,Air Force Commander Maj Gen Younis Sayed Hamid al-Masry, commander of Navy troops General Osama Ahmed Ahmed al-Gendy, the commander of Air Defence Forces Major General Abdel Moneim Ibrahim Bayoumi, chief of the armed forces operations Major General Mohsen El Shazly, the commander of the central military region General Tawhid Tawfiq, commander of the northern military region General Jamal Shehata, the commander of the southern military region General Mohammad Arafat, the commander of the western military region General Mohamed el-Masry, the commander of the border guards brigade Ahmed Ibrahim, the commander of the Second Field Army Brigade Ahmed Wasfy, commander of the Third Field Army Brigade Osama Askar, Assistant Secretary of the Defense Minster for Constitutional and Legal affairs General Mamdouh Shahin, head of engineering commissions of the Armed Forces General Taher Abdullah, Director of Morale Affairs Brigade Ahmed Abul Dahab and Assistant Secretary of Defense for reinforcing Gen Mohammed Assar.