In early 2026, Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate, under the direction of Major General Hassan Rashad, in cooperation with China’s Ministry of State Security (the de facto Chinese intelligence agency), launched an extensive security and diplomatic campaign across the African continent to counter Israeli intelligence activities, particularly those of Mossad, which it said were “detrimental to the interests of both Egypt and China.” The operation coincided with deepening Egyptian intelligence and technical cooperation with China to monitor Mossad activities in Africa. Both Egypt and China are pursuing a strategy of “putting pressure on Mossad,” and Chinese intelligence agencies are developing strategies to support Egyptian efforts aimed at curbing Mossad’s ambitions in the region, in order to ensure stability on Egypt’s borders and protect Chinese interests. This was also revealed by the Israeli newspaper “Israel Hayom”, which reported on Egypt’s intensive efforts to counter what it called “Israeli expansion” in Africa, especially Libya. The Israeli newspaper “Israel Hayom” reported that senior Egyptian intelligence officials, especially Major General Ahmed Abdel Khalek, exerted significant pressure to prevent the expansion of ties between the Israeli security services and the sons of eastern Libyan commander “Khalifa Haftar,” who hold prominent leadership positions within their father’s army. Major General Abdel Khalik’s visit to Libya included a warning against increased communication between Israeli security services and Haftar’s sons (Sadad and Khalid), who head the region’s security apparatus. The Israeli newspaper also revealed “extensive operations and covert visits carried out in several African countries by teams led by senior Egyptian intelligence officials,” noting the visits of Major General Abdel Khalik to African countries to disrupt, limit and restrict Israeli Mossad activities there.
The details of Egypt’s moves in Africa with Chinese help can be summarized as follows: (Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate, in cooperation with China, is leading a non-declared operation to limit Mossad infiltration into sensitive regional issues). Its most notable features include, first, regarding the Sudanese file, Cairo cooperated with China to detect Mossad activities related to the Sudanese crisis, especially those related to support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This prompted Egypt and China to take security measures to contain this role. This was underlined by Major General Ahmed Abdel Khalek’s visit to Sudan at the end of January 2016. The major general met with Abdel Fattah El Burhan, Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Chairman of the Sovereign Council, as well as senior military and security officials to coordinate efforts to monitor Israeli intelligence and Mossad activities in Sudan. Egypt and its General Intelligence Directorate believe that Israel supports Hemedi militias, in addition to other issues related to the recognition of the breakaway region of Somaliland, the Nile water dispute, and Israel’s role as a party to the conflict, which is seen as opposing Egypt’s interests in the important Nile basin.
Regarding the second file, related to the Horn of Africa and the Nile River Basin: Israel and Taiwan’s recognition of Somaliland, in addition to Israel’s support to Taiwan in the development of Taiwan’s air defense system “T-DOM” and its link with Israel’s Iron Dome system, has increased the tension in Sino-Tel Aviv relations in the Horn of Africa and East Africa regions sensitive to Chinese interests and China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The strait is of paramount importance to China’s supply chain flows in the region, Africa, and around the world. Therefore, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Somalia’s legitimate capital Mogadishu and the Horn of Africa region in early 2026 served as a direct warning to Israel and the breakaway Somaliland region against China’s actions against its interests in the region. Additionally, Major General Ahmed Abdel Khalek, who is in charge of Palestinian issues at the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, made a shuttle visit to Uganda in January 2026 to counter Israeli attempts to interfere in Nile River basin issues. In Uganda, Egyptian security official Maj. Gen. Ahmed Abdel Khalek delivered several warning messages to local Ugandan officials after observing a meeting between Israeli and Ugandan officials that addressed Nile Basin issues of vital importance to both Egypt and the Nile Basin. During the same period, Major General Abdel Khalik, head of the African Office of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, also visited other countries important and sensitive to Egyptian interests: Rwanda, Uganda, Libya, Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan. It is worth noting that his appointment to head Egypt’s diplomatic and intelligence mission to Africa was largely due to his extensive experience in dealing with Israeli officials, gained through years of managing files in the Gaza Strip and Palestine.
It is against this background that joint Chinese and Egyptian support for Somaliland and its legitimate capital, Mogadishu, arose. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi affirmed in February 2026 that Egypt fully supports the unification of Somalia and rejects any action that violates Somalia’s sovereignty, a clear reference to Israeli activities in the breakaway region of Somaliland. On the Libyan front, China cooperated with Egypt to maintain internal stability in Libya. This coincides with the visit of an Egyptian intelligence delegation to eastern Libya, warning local officials not to expand their contacts with Israeli security officials, and stressing that Egypt will not tolerate the presence of Israeli intelligence on its western border, a position also shared by China and Egypt.
Regarding China’s role and joint intelligence cooperation with the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate, led by Major General Hassan Rashad, 2025-2026 saw a strategic change in the relationship between Egyptian intelligence and China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), which acts as China’s intelligence agency.
This change included working together to counter and limit Israel’s Mossad influence in Africa and the Middle East through a technological partnership between China and Egypt. China’s intelligence cooperation with Egypt has shifted from an economic framework to an intelligence-technical partnership aimed at reducing Israel’s qualitative advantages in the areas of espionage and aerial reconnaissance. Additionally, China has provided Egypt with advanced radar and electronic warfare systems, giving Egypt advanced capabilities to detect air threats independently of systems technically tied to the United States and Israel. Cooperation between China and Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate (GID) in waterway protection: The two countries worked together to protect critical waterways (Suez Canal, Bab el-Mandeb, Gulf of Aden) to limit Israeli and US actions that could undermine China’s regional interests and the Belt and Road Initiative.
2025-2026 saw a strategic shift in the level of coordination between Egypt’s “GID” and China’s Ministry of State Security. This cooperation has emerged as an important means of limiting Israeli (Mossad) activities targeting Egyptian interests in Africa. The most notable features of these movements and cooperation are: Joint intelligence cooperation between Egypt and China to contain Israeli activities on the African continent coincides with covert security and intelligence operations between Egypt and China. Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate, under the direction of Major General Ahmed Abdel Khalek (in charge of critical files), launched a series of unannounced security and diplomatic operations in several African countries to counter Israeli intelligence operations deemed harmful to Egypt’s national security. This coincided with a similar Chinese visit aimed at thwarting Israeli expansion and influence in Africa. Here, Egyptian and Chinese intelligence focused on limiting Mossad incursions into areas where Israeli support for the parties to the conflict was believed, such as the Sudan and Libya crises, and sensitive areas of East Africa and the Horn of Africa, particularly the breakaway region of Somaliland. Additionally, China has strengthened military partnerships with countries such as Somalia, working with Egypt, to secure entry to the Red Sea and Suez Canal, which are crucial to China’s national interests and the Belt and Road Initiative.
This intelligence cooperation between China and Egypt has deepened into technical cooperation and intelligence cooperation. The Israeli report accuses Egypt of working with China to use advanced surveillance technology for air superiority and reconnaissance, such as China’s KJ-500 early warning aircraft, to penetrate or test Israeli air defenses and monitor troop deployments. In addition to the Egypt-China joint Eagle of Civilization exercise (April-May 2025), Egypt and China conducted the first-ever joint air exercise in April and May 2025 aimed at unifying warfare concepts and exchanging information and technical expertise. This raised serious concerns among Israeli security officials. Additionally, the Egyptian-China intelligence and military agreement to localize Chinese defense technology in Egypt included the signing of memorandums of understanding between the Egyptian military and Chinese military and defense companies such as Norinco & Shadow Wings.
These agreements aim to localize sensitive defense industries and use Chinese technology to develop Egyptian defense systems such as the Raad-300. This reduces reliance on Western intelligence sources, which may be susceptible to Israeli pressure.
The most prominent feature and objective of the Egyptian-Chinese joint intelligence strategy is to counter Israeli Mossad infiltration on the African continent through the theory of breaking Israel’s “belt-tightening” strategy. Egypt, with the help of China’s economic and security influence, is trying to thwart Israel’s old strategy known as the “periphery alliance” or “belt-tightening” strategy, which aims to encircle Egypt through strong ties with neighboring African countries. This is linked to the use of China’s Belt and Road project as an alternative. Egypt is leveraging China’s massive investments in infrastructure and communications in Africa as an alternative development tool that reduces the need for African countries to cooperate with Israel on security and technology matters. Furthermore, expanding space cooperation between Egypt and China will strengthen Egypt’s cyber, digital, and technological capabilities to counter Israeli Mossad infiltration into critical cyber and digital sectors within the African continent. China is a major investor in Egypt’s space program, which strengthens Egypt’s surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities on the African continent and region, which Israel views as a threat to its information dominance in the region.
These joint intelligence operations between Egypt and China are therefore aimed at disrupting and limiting Mossad’s influence and activities in Africa. This comes at a time when Cairo is seeking to regain its role as the region’s “center of gravity” with Chinese help through a combination of soft power and military cooperation with major powers like China. This is aimed at balancing strategic challenges on the African continent, particularly in East Africa and the Horn of Africa, as it has the ability to control maritime routes and straits, including the Suez Canal, which is of paramount importance to China’s interests in the Middle East and Africa. Furthermore, in order to solidify China’s presence in cooperation with Egypt, the African Union Headquarters has declared 2026 as the “Year of People-to-People Exchanges between China and Africa.”
