Central Security Forces

The 350,000 strong Central Security Forces ( Quwwāt al-Amn al-Markazī, often shortened to Al-Amn al-Markazī) CSF organization is an Egyptian Paramilitary force which is responsible for assisting the Egyptian National Police (ENP) for the security of governmental fixed sites, foreign embassies & missions, riots & crowds control, publicly crowded events, high risk arrests, disaster response and SWAT operations.

History

In 1966, a decision was made to create the Central Security Forces from well trained and equipped police forces on large scale covering the whole country under the command of the Ministry of Interior to conduct special police operations in response to operational needs. The creation of those forces followed the Paramilitary model, and became close – in formation, training, equipping and functioning – to the French Gendarmerie and the Italian Carabinieri.

Following the 1973 Arab Israeli War between Egypt and Israel – then settling the 1973 & 1974 Ceasefire agreements; the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty was signed and the subsequent Israeli withdrawal from the rest of Sinai Peninsula occurred. The Treaty stipulated the Egyptian government refrain from deploying regular Egyptian Armed Forces units in the eastern part of Sinai that directly border Israel (Zone “C”). The Egyptian government then tasked the Central Security Forces to take up the task. The CSF force deployed is effectively a motorized light infantry force without the...
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