The airwaves were abuzz last night as the talking heads dissected President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s interview with Portuguese state television (the highlights of which we covered yesterday morning). Amr Adib spent the better of his time on ONTV last night defending comments the president made that were widely taken as supporting the Syrian National Army of Bashar Al Assad (watch, runtime: 2:49). “From what I could gather, the President supports the role of national state armed forces as opposed to the proliferation of militias … this doesn’t mean he supports the Assad regime,” he said (watch, runtime: 27:53).

Alex construction project under fire: Adib then spent the rest of the episode discussing the hotel and parking garage that the military is building in the Al Salam Theater area in Alexandria, a project that has drawn the ire of civil society leaders, business owners and academics in the nation’s second city. (watch: runtime: 30:23)

Al Qahera Wa Al Nas’ Ibrahim Eissa said it was significant the Portuguese asked no economic questions during the interview, which focused exclusively on politics and human rights (watch, runtime: 1:08). That says a lot about how the world views Egypt, the voluble host said, and is a consequence of the country being tightly in the grip of the security apparatus, he said. “No minister in Egypt is stronger than a national security officer,” Eissa said (watch, running time: 1:12). The rest of Eissa’s episode looked into the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen 20 months on.

Press Syndicate Yahia Qalash appeared on Mehwar TV’s 90 Minutes, speaking to remarks the president made about Qalash’s two-year sentence for harboring a fugitive (watch; runtime: 20:06). Qalash rejected El Sisi’s classification of him as a “criminal defendant” in a criminal case. It is not the Syndicate’s role to turn over its members to the police, he added, which could amount to a tacit confession that he harbored fugitives.

Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer hosted political commentator Mostafa El Fekki to speak about what Qalash’s sentencing has meant to Egypt’s image abroad. El Fekki says the case has eaten into the goodwill created by the Ismail government’s economic reforms. You can view the full episode here (runtime: 41:29)

Lamees El Hadidy was off last night.