US Department of State Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf denied reports circulating last week announcing the new delivery of 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt.
The 10 Apache helicopters were already delivered to Egypt in mid-November, Harf explained in the recent press briefing. "There was no new delivery. I'm not sure why the press picked it up," she said.
"In the end of August if you all remember, we released the 10 Apache helicopters that had been held and they arrived in Egypt in November," Harf said. "So this is the same delivery."
According to an earlier report by Reuters, security sources said Saturday that the new delivery was "a sign of easing tensions between the long-time allies confronting Islamist extremism across the region."
The arrival of the Apaches mid-November followed Washington's decision in April to lift its hold on the delivery of the attack helicopters, imposed last year after the military overthrow of Mohamed Morsy and the crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters. The US administration put a hold on all military aid to Egypt after the military dispersed the Rabaa al-Adaweya and Nahda squares, killing about 800 mostly peaceful protesters in one day.
