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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Egypt Update: Mubarak out/ Omar Suleiman in

NBC news reports that Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak will resign tonight and will be succeeded by his newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman.

USA Today has reported that at 10:50 a.m. ET: Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, tells thousands of protesters in central Tahrir Square: "All your demands will be met today."

Suleiman was the former head of Egypt's Intelligence Services and his succession would fall into a scenario described in a newly released wiki-leak of a US report about a meeting between an Israeli delegation and Egyptian leaders in 2008:
(S) In terms of atmospherics, Hacham said the Israeli delegation was "shocked" by Mubarak's aged appearance and slurred speech. Hacham was full of praise for Soliman, however, and noted that a "hot line" set up between the MOD and Egyptian General Intelligence Service is now in daily use. Hacham said he sometimes speaks to Soliman's deputy Mohammed Ibrahim several times a day. Hacham noted that the Israelis believe Soliman is likely to serve as at least an interim President if Mubarak dies or is incapacitated. (Note: We defer to Embassy Cairo for analysis of Egyptian succession scenarios, but there is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Omar Soliman.)

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