Lieutenant General Osama Askar is an Egyptian Army officer. He commands the Unified Command of the area east of the canal. Askar was born in 1957 and attended the

Nasser Military Academy Nasser Military Academy ( ar, أكادمية ناصر للعلوم العسكرية; Nasser Academy for Military Science) or Nasser Higher Military Academy (NHMA) is a higher military academy inaugurated in March 1965 after a republican decree wa ...

. He has commanded a mechanized infantry brigade and the

23rd Mechanised Infantry Division Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

, part of the Third Army. Up until 2015 he commanded the Third Field Army. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued two declarations in January 2015. The first changed the force structure of the army by creating a "unified command" to oversee

counterterrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that Government, governments, law enforcement, business, and Intelligence agency, intellig ...

operations east of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

. The new command was created on Saturday, 31 January 2015. The second promoted Osama Askar, Third Army commander, to lieutenant general—one of a handful in the armed forces—and placed him in charge of the "unified command." He retained his seat on the

Supreme Council of the Armed Forces The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF; ar, المجلس الأعلى للقوات المسلحة, ', also Higher Council of the Armed Forces) is a statutory body of between 20 and 25 senior Egyptian military officers and is headed by Fi ...

. Askar's former deputy, Muhammad Abdullah, was appointed commander, and Tarek Anwar Helal the chief of staff, of the Third Field Army. On 27 October 2021, Askar was appointed Chief of the General Staff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Askar, Osama 1957 births Living people People from Dakahlia Governorate Chiefs of the General Staff (Egypt)