U.S. Ends Military Aid Freeze on Egypt

President Barack Obama announced Tuesday he will resume sending military aid to Egypt, two years after freezing the delivery of weapons in the wake of a military coup. Obama told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that he would begin sending equipment, including F-16 fighter jets, missiles, and M1A1 tank kits, as well as the $1.3 billion in aid that the U.S. had been giving to Egypt each year. The White House issued a statement explaining the renewed assistance is to help “address the shared challenges to U.S. and Egyptian interests in an unstable region,” but expressed concern about the nation’s human-rights abuses. Egypt is part of the Saudi-led coalition against Houthi rebels in Yemen as well as an offensive battling the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Libya.