Interim President Adly Mansour has released a presidential decree on Wednesday changing the armed forces’ oath of loyalty, removing from the old version the phrase “to be loyal to the president of the republic.”

The new oath issued by decree number 562 for the year 2013 as published in the official gazette on Wednesday will be as follows:

“I swear to God to be a loyal soldier to the Republic of Egypt...protecting its security and peace...protecting and defending it on land, at sea or in air, inside and outside the republic...obeying military orders, implementing my leaders’ orders, protecting my weapon which i will not leave until death...God is witness to what I say.”