Senior figures in the Egyptian military held talks on Tuesday with the British military's top advisor for the Middle East, with military cooperation against the "Islamist State" (IS) terrorist group high on the agenda. General Mohamed Al-Shahat, General Mohamed Al-Keshky and other senior officials in the Ministry of Defence met with the British Defence Senior Advisor for the Middle East Lieutenant General Tom Beckett in Cairo. General Beckett reaffirmed the strong military relationship between the UK and Egypt and welcomed the strong, continued partnership between the two countries in the fight against IS, according to a press release from the British embassy in Cairo. Regarding the fight against IS, Beckett briefed the defence ministry officials on UK airstrikes, which are currently targeting IS in Syria as part of wider international operations to counter the terrorist group. Last week, the British parliament voted for military action against IS in Syria. This was directly followed by airstrikes targeting IS fighters in their Syrian stronghold of Raqqa. Cutting off the terrorist group's sources of funding is also a stated aim of the UK offensive. Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with Minister of Defence General Sedki Sobh on Monday for talks on military and security matters. Al-Sisi stressed that terrorist attacks and criminal actions would be dealt with by security forces.
