USA Renews Approval Of Military Aid For Egypt

USA has approved sending twelve (F-16) fighter jets, 20 Harpoon missiles and 125 M-1 tank modernization kits to Egypt, the White House official said in Deutsche Welle German radio Tuesday.

Obama notified in telephone call to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about his decision to lift a hold on military aid, allowing delivery of twelve F-16 fighter jets, 20 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and 125 M1A1 Abrams tanks.

Obama also said that he will continue to ask Congress for $1.3 billion (1.2 billion euros) in military aid for Egypt every year. 

The military aid had been suspended after the army seized power in Cairo in 2013. USA decided to release the military equipment in an effort to help Egyptian forces in their fight against extremist threats in the country's turbulent region.

The US froze some $650 million in military aid after the Egyptian army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.

El-Sisi's government, which took over a year later, has been sharply criticized for its violent crackdown on dissent, with activists accusing the new regime of being more repressive than the longtime Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, toppled in the 2011 revolution.