Mubarak's long-time defence minister Tantawi dies at 85

He was Egypt's de facto ruler for 17 months after Hosni Mubarak stepped down in 2011

(FILE) - Egyptian Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi during a meeting in Cairo, Egypt, 31 January 2012 (reissued 21 September 2021). Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, long-serving minister of defense during the rule of former president Hosni Mubarak died in Cairo on 21 September 2021 at the age of 85. Tantawi was also the former head of the military council that ruled the country in 2011 after the ousting of Mubarak EPA / AMEL PAIN *** Local Caption *** 50483163

Egypt's military ruler, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi (L), pictured in 2011 at the funeral of Khaled Abdel Nasser, the son of late president Gamal Abdel Nasser. AP

Mohammed Hussein Tantawi attends an iftar in Rafah, northern Sinai, in 2012. He led the junta that ruled Egypt after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. AFP

A supporter of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik holds a poster of Mohammed Hussein Tantawi at a Cairo rally in 2012. Reuters

Mohammed Hussein Tantawi (C) attends the funeral of Egypt's former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo on July 21, 2012. Reuters

Mohammed Hussein Tantawi at a meeting with Egypt's then-president, Mohammed Morsi, at the presidential palace in Cairo on July 31, 2012. Reuters

Field Marshal Tantawi announcing in a televised speech in Cairo on January 24, 2012, the lifting of a decades-old state of emergency. AFP

Field Marshal Tantawi, head of Egypt's ruling military council, in Cairo on September 13, 2011. AFP

Mohammed Hussein Tantawi talks to anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo, during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president at the time. AFP

Mohammed Hussein Tantawi (1935-2021). Kagan McLeod for The National

Former Egyptian defence minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi died on Tuesday. He was 85.

Field Marshal Tantawi served under the late president Hosni Mubarak for 20 years before he became Egypt’s de facto ruler when Mubarak was forced out by a popular uprising in 2011.

He remained at the helm for nearly 17 months before he handed power to Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was elected president in June 2012.

Morsi sacked Tantawi in August 2012, replacing him at the defence ministry with Abdel Fattah El Sisi, then the head of military intelligence. Mr El Sisi led the military’s removal of Morsi in July 2013 amid a wave of street protests against his divisive rule. He was elected president a year later.

Tantawi fought in Egypt’s 1967 Arab-Israeli war, the 1967-1970 so-called war of attrition against Israel, and in the 1973 war, when Egyptian troops stormed the Suez Canal to liberate the Sinai Peninsula from Israeli occupation.

“He was a leader and a statesman who took over at the nation’s helm at a very difficult time during which he faced with wisdom and professionalism the dangers that surrounded Egypt,” the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

“President Abdel Fattah El Sisi offers his condolences to the nation on a man who had heroic qualities,” it added.

Egypt will now see a nationwide three-day state of mourning. President El Sisi led mourners when a military funeral was held for the late field marshal outside a suburban mosque named after him in east Cairo.