Middle East

Egypt Opens ‘Octagon’ Command Centre East of Cairo

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi inaugurated Egypt’s new State Strategic Command Headquarters, known as the Octagon, in the New Administrative Capital on July 4, according to the Egyptian presidency and state media. The ceremony included a 21-gun salute, Apache helicopter flypasts, an aerobatic display and the signing of the inauguration document before Sisi raised flags over the complex. Egyptian officials describe the site as a command-and-control hub linking the armed forces with ministries, government agencies and national crisis-management structures. Ahram Online said the complex covers roughly 22,000 feddans, or about 92 square kilometres, and is divided into 13 strategic and logistical zones. Israeli Channel 9 described it as possibly the world’s largest facility of its kind, while the Times of Israel called it the largest such complex in the Middle East. Those rankings should be treated as attributed claims rather than independently verified measurements. Officials also said the Octagon includes cloud…