What is behind the Egyptian Media Coverage in Aleppo?

Under the auspices of the Syrian regime and Bashar al-Assad’s intelligence, the Egyptian T.V. host Youssef al-Hosseini recorded an episode for his show at ON T.V.  Al-Hosseini noted that “This is the first Arab program that goes to Aleppo.”

Al-Hosseini said in his show that he called his journey “The Escape to Aleppo” which was launched from Cairo to the Syrian capital Damascus and then to Aleppo that is 440 km far from the Syrian capital.

He said, “The Syrian city of Aleppo is filled with the smell of death and taste of blood and there you can watch the great destruction and devastation,” he also pointed that he has seen,“a tragedy in travelling for 6 or 7 hours because of the security checkpoints until he reached Aleppo.

According to many observers, the the Egyptian media’s coverage to Aleppo has several indications either related to al-Sisi’s foreign policy regarding the Syrian crisis or the timing of the episode that aligns with the sixth anniversary of January Revolution.

Some said that al-Hosseini’s visit can be interpreted in the light of Egyptian regime bias and support for  the Syrian regime, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah against the Syrian opposition supported by Saudi Arabia.

It is worth to mention that al-Sisi expressed his support for the Bashar al-Assad’s military forces in its war against “terrorists” last November, a position at odds with his country’s Gulf benefactors especially Saudi Arabia.

In response, al-Assad welcomed Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s statements on supporting his army last December in an interview with al-Watan, a Syrian newspaper, saying, “We hope that al-Sisi’s statements would be reflected on improving the relations between both countries.”

Moreover, the Syrian crisis has triggered the tensions between Egypt and Saudi Arabia when Egypt voted in favor of a Russian-backed draft resolution, which was opposed by Saudi Arabia, in the UN Security Council on Syria last October.

Egypt’s major Gulf backer which condemned Egypt’s vote and described it as a “painful” stance.

After the voting, the Saudi ambassador to the UN, Abdullah al-Mouallimi said, “It was painful that the Senegalese and Malaysian stance was closer to the Arab’s consensus than the Egyptian delegation.”

He also said that he feels pity for these countries that voted for the Russian resolution, stressing that his country will continue backing the Syrian people by all means.

Two days following the voting, Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco announced halting oil product supply to Egypt.

The sudden halt, triggered a scornful media campaign against Saudi Arabia, as it was seen as a political decision.

On the other side, Saudi journalists and media men criticized the Egyptian regime and blamed the kingdom or its financial generosity to the al-Sisi regime.

However, although al-Hosseini’s visit can be viewed in the light of al-Sisi’s regime support to Bashar al-Assad, but the visit aligns with the current Egyptian regime propaganda that aims to speared the fear from its opposition under the banner of, “We don’t want to be as Syria.” A popular slogan that has been spread regularly by the pro-regime channels to eradicate any possible opposition that would lead to the same results on January Revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime in 2011.