Lt. Col. Eli Dekel, a former intelligence officer who specializes in Egypt studies, elaborated on his knowledge about Cairo's building of mass emergency weapons warehouses to reduce global dependency.
During Dekel's Thursday Marriv interview, he began by explaining that Egypt has been working on the building of warehouses for an extended period of time, dating back to 2003.
“Egypt, fundamentally—and not just because of [US President Donald] Trump—has been working since 2003, and especially over the past five years, to build national emergency stockpiles for wartime,” Dekel explained.
Elaborating on the weaponry within the stockpiles, he explained, "These stockpiles include weapons like tanks, artillery, and tractors, and likely also medicine and food. The total area covered by these facilities exceeds 2.5 million square meters."
"It’s an enormous scale," Dekel emphasized regarding the stockpiles.
According to Dekel, the goal of building these reserves is to avoid reliance on foreign powers.
“This construction is deliberate, meant to ensure that Egypt won’t be dependent on any superpower dictating its actions," Dekel said.
"Egypt is preparing itself to withstand pressure from countries like the US, Russia, or France,” he added.
US leverage over Cairo
Still, Dekel emphasized his belief that the US holds significant leverage over Cairo, despite Egypt’s preparations.
“Practically speaking, the US—despite all the warehouses Egypt has—still holds the ability for influence. Maybe not in terms of direct military aid, which Egypt could easily forgo, but the US has other levers," Dekel said.
"A large part of the global economy revolves around it. If the US seriously decides to harm Egypt economically, Egypt will have to think eight times over whether it can handle it," he added.
Dekel used the Yom Kippur War as a historical example to illustrate the tension between foreign dependence and military autonomy.
“If today Egypt is only partially dependent on the US, then during the Yom Kippur War, it was deeply dependent on the Soviet Union. At the time, the Soviets didn’t want Egypt to go to war, but Egypt didn’t listen. In May 1973, Egypt began preparing for war, and when the Soviets realized this—they were the ones who eventually gave in," he explained.
What questions are to be asked now regarding Egypt?
A key question that remains is whether Egypt could withstand US economic pressure if it came in response to Trump’s plan.
“I can’t predict what kind of pressure the US will apply, or whether Egypt will withstand it. But Egypt is undoubtedly preparing very seriously for a scenario in which it faces an economic siege. That’s why it’s building these massive warehouses,” Dekel concluded.
Dekel's interview comes after a recent phone call between Trump and President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
The call focused on possible solutions for the situation in Gaza, and it reignited questions about Egypt’s ability to withstand political and economic pressure from Washington.
Trump announced his plan in February to take US control of the Strip Gaza and evacuate it. He then explicitly named Egypt as a destination for absorbing Gazans from the Strip.