Hamas is part of this, and the US could be drawn into another battle front depending on what the Islamic State accomplishes.
From Brietbart July 3 by Donna Rachel Edmunds
ISRAEL CLOSES EGYPTIAN BORDER, COUNTRY ON HIGH ALERT AFTER ISIS CLASHES IN SINAI
From Brietbart July 3 by Donna Rachel Edmunds
ISRAEL CLOSES EGYPTIAN BORDER, COUNTRY ON HIGH ALERT AFTER ISIS CLASHES IN SINAI
Israel has closed border crossings into Egypt and shut off a highway running along the border. This follows a wave of attacks by ISIS in Egypt which have been described as “full-fledged war”. Hamas is believed to be working with the jihadist insurgents.
As the world mourned the victims of the terrorist atrocities in France, Tunisia and Kuwait which between them claimed dozens of lives, Egypt was fighting its own battles with a home-grown ISIS insurgent group known as “Sinai Province”.
On Monday, the Egyptian state prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed when a car bomb detonated as his motorcade made its way from the Misr al-Jadida quarter of Cairo to his office. A number of Barakat’s security personnel and passers-by were injured, and 30 cars damaged in the blast, the first in many years to successfully claim the life of a senior official, according to Haaretz.
Then on Wednesday, Sinai Province unleashed a wave of attacks on towns all along the coast, including Rafah on the Gaza border, Sheikh Zuweid and El-Arish. There are conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties; The Guardian reported a source in the Egyptian army putting the death toll at 17 soldiers and 100 militants, although both figures are likely to have been massaged for PR purposes. The paper notes that others have estimated the military’s death toll at around 30, while Haaretz puts the total death toll atat least 50.
A spokesman for the Egyptian military, Mohammed Samir Abdelaziz Ghaneem posted to his Facebook page: “70 terrorists attacked 5 checkpoints simultaneously in North Sinai.” The jihadists appear to be adopting techniques used in Syria and Iraq by ISIS, in which towns are laid siege to and overtaken, allowing the group to then lay claim to the surrounding villages and rural areas.
Haaretz said that the battles have gone further than mere insurgency, noting: “the fighting raging in Sinai since Wednesday has crossed the line between combating “terror cells” and turned into a full-fledged war. This is a war on many fronts – similar to the war waged in Iraq against Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL). Some of this war is taking place in the big cities like Cairo, Faiyum, El Arish and Rafah; and some in open areas. It’s like a war against a foreign enemy, although most of the enemy consists of Egyptian citizens.”
Most of Wednesday’s fighting was based around Sheikh Zuweid on the Mediterranean coast, where all military posts were hit simultaneously. Security forces have reported that the attack was repelled, but other sources have said that the town has already been taken over, and that militants have been lining the roads approaching the town with bombs in order to deter Egyptian forces attempting to regain control.
El Arish may also have come under ISIS control. If they are being run by Sinai Province, the region is likely to witness the sorts of severe punishments for infringement of religious rules already witnessed in Islamic State territory.
As the world mourned the victims of the terrorist atrocities in France, Tunisia and Kuwait which between them claimed dozens of lives, Egypt was fighting its own battles with a home-grown ISIS insurgent group known as “Sinai Province”.
On Monday, the Egyptian state prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed when a car bomb detonated as his motorcade made its way from the Misr al-Jadida quarter of Cairo to his office. A number of Barakat’s security personnel and passers-by were injured, and 30 cars damaged in the blast, the first in many years to successfully claim the life of a senior official, according to Haaretz.
Then on Wednesday, Sinai Province unleashed a wave of attacks on towns all along the coast, including Rafah on the Gaza border, Sheikh Zuweid and El-Arish. There are conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties; The Guardian reported a source in the Egyptian army putting the death toll at 17 soldiers and 100 militants, although both figures are likely to have been massaged for PR purposes. The paper notes that others have estimated the military’s death toll at around 30, while Haaretz puts the total death toll atat least 50.
A spokesman for the Egyptian military, Mohammed Samir Abdelaziz Ghaneem posted to his Facebook page: “70 terrorists attacked 5 checkpoints simultaneously in North Sinai.” The jihadists appear to be adopting techniques used in Syria and Iraq by ISIS, in which towns are laid siege to and overtaken, allowing the group to then lay claim to the surrounding villages and rural areas.
Haaretz said that the battles have gone further than mere insurgency, noting: “the fighting raging in Sinai since Wednesday has crossed the line between combating “terror cells” and turned into a full-fledged war. This is a war on many fronts – similar to the war waged in Iraq against Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL). Some of this war is taking place in the big cities like Cairo, Faiyum, El Arish and Rafah; and some in open areas. It’s like a war against a foreign enemy, although most of the enemy consists of Egyptian citizens.”
Most of Wednesday’s fighting was based around Sheikh Zuweid on the Mediterranean coast, where all military posts were hit simultaneously. Security forces have reported that the attack was repelled, but other sources have said that the town has already been taken over, and that militants have been lining the roads approaching the town with bombs in order to deter Egyptian forces attempting to regain control.
El Arish may also have come under ISIS control. If they are being run by Sinai Province, the region is likely to witness the sorts of severe punishments for infringement of religious rules already witnessed in Islamic State territory.
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