Former Supreme Council Head Mohamed Tantawi Dies at 85

Mohamed Hussien Tantawi, Former Defence Minister and Field Marshal, died on Tuesday at the age of 85 after battling health complications since July 2021, announced the Egyptian Presidency.

“Egypt has lost one of its most loyal sons and military symbols,” mourned President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in a press release. On behalf of himself and Egypt, he expressed his sincere condolences to the late marshal’s family.

Tantawi was born on October 31 in 1935, and graduated from Egypt’s Military College in 1956. He participated in the Six-Day Arab-Israeli war of 1967, and later in the October war of attrition in 1973. He served as Minister of Defence and Military for 21 years, before becoming General Commander of the Armed Forces in 1995.

As Head of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, Tantawi assumed sovereignty of Egypt in February of 2011 after the resignation of Former President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

After handing over the presidency and taking a constitutional oath under Former President Mohamed Morsi in 2012, Tantawi was pushed into resignation by the Muslim Brotherhood.