Stop Egyptian crisis escalating into war

The situation in Egypt has continued to deteriorate drastically this week with more bloodshed and no signs of reconciliation between the different political forces in the country. With a major political reshuffling underway, the road to political transition in the world's most populated Arab country now looks bumpier than ever, and this will only add more uncertainties to the crisis-ridden Middle East region.

Since Egyptian security forces began to clear out sit-ins staged by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood last week, the ensuing violence has claimed some 1,000 lives. On Monday, suspected militants ambushed two buses carrying off-duty security forces in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 25 and injuring three others. The bloodshed came a day after 36 members of the Muslim Brotherhood died in what the authorities described as an attempted jailbreak on the outskirts of Cairo.

After the Egyptian armed forces ousted Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, on July 3, the situation has only gone from bad to worse as the country has become mired ever deeper in a bloodbath. Yet, as if all these are not enough, news came on Monday that former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in February 2011 during a popular uprising, is being released this week.