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| Mahmoud Hegazy | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mahmoud Hegazy |
| Native name | محمود حجازي |
| Birth date | 1956 |
| Birth place | Cairo |
| Allegiance | Egypt |
| Branch | Egyptian Army |
| Serviceyears | 1977–2017 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands | Egyptian Armed Forces General Staff |
| Battles | Yom Kippur War (postwar generation), Gulf War (context) |
Mahmoud Hegazy
Mahmoud Hegazy is an Egyptian Lieutenant General and former Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces. He served in senior Egyptian military positions during the presidencies of Hosni Mubarak, Mohamed Morsi, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, influencing relations with Israel, United States, and countries involved in the Arab Spring. Hegazy's career spans operational command, intelligence, and strategic posts within institutions such as the Republican Guard and the General Intelligence Directorate context.
Born in Cairo in 1956, Hegazy attended military academies associated with the Egyptian Military Academy and later completed advanced staff courses at the Nasser Military Academy. His formative training connected him to officers who served in conflicts like the Yom Kippur War and to doctrines shaped by partnerships with the United States Department of Defense and the Soviet Armed Forces during the Cold War era. Hegazy's education included exposure to curricula and seminars involving institutions such as the Arab League military committees and the NATO Partnership for Peace dialogues.
Hegazy rose through ranks in units influenced by the legacy of commanders like Anwar Sadat era leaders and successors from the Free Officers Movement line. He held command and staff positions within formations that cooperated with counterparts from Jordan Armed Forces, Saudi Arabian National Guard, and United Arab Emirates Armed Forces in multinational exercises. His career intersected with operations and planning linked to security environments shaped by events like the Camp David Accords repercussions, the Gulf War, and the upheavals of the Arab Spring across Tunisia, Libya, and Syria. Hegazy served in roles that interfaced with agencies such as the Ministry of Defence (Egypt), the Republican Guard, and tactical groups addressing insurgencies in the Sinai Peninsula amid tensions involving Hamas and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Appointed Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Hegazy succeeded predecessors who had shaped civil-military relations after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. In this capacity he coordinated with foreign defense establishments including the United States Central Command, the Israeli Defense Forces, and military staffs from France, Russia, and China on matters of joint training, arms procurement, and border security. Hegazy's tenure involved strategic planning on counterterrorism operations in the Sinai against groups linked to Ansar Beit al-Maqdis and later Islamic State, and he engaged with security dialogues involving the African Union and the United Nations peace and security architecture. Policy and operational decisions under his office intersected with domestic leadership decisions by Adly Mansour interim authorities and later by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Beyond purely military duties, Hegazy participated in diplomatic exchanges with defense ministers and chiefs of staff from United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, and with delegations from Turkey and Qatar in contexts of shifting alliances after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. He took part in bilateral talks addressing the Israel–Egypt peace treaty guarantees, Nile Basin security concerns involving Ethiopia and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and regional stability initiatives concerning Libya's factions and the Palestinian Authority. Hegazy also interacted with international organizations such as the World Bank and the European Union when security dimensions overlapped with development and migration issues.
Hegazy's career drew scrutiny amid debates over military involvement in politics following the removal of Mohamed Morsi and the rise of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, prompting criticism from activists affiliated with groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and commentators in outlets connected to Al Jazeera and BBC News. Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International raised concerns about measures taken under security pretexts, with references to practices criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Hegazy faced allegations in political discourse about the armed forces' role in transitional justice, the handling of protests during the post-2011 period, and rules of engagement in counterinsurgency operations in the Sinai, attracting attention from scholars at institutions like Chatham House and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Hegazy's family and private life have been discussed in regional media outlets including Al-Ahram and Al-Masry Al-Youm, while his professional legacy is debated among analysts at the Brookings Institution, the Atlantic Council, and the International Crisis Group. His career is referenced in studies of Egyptian civil-military relations alongside figures like Omar Suleiman, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Hegazy's influence on doctrine, interoperability with partners such as the United States Military and the Russian Armed Forces, and responses to asymmetric threats contribute to continuing assessments of security and political trajectories in Egypt and the broader Middle East.
Category:Egyptian military personnel