For
the last four years, an ever expanding war has been raging in the Sinai
Peninsula between Islamic Jihadist rebel groups and the Egyptian
government. What started as clashes between various relatively small and
diverse groups supported by local Bedouin tribes has, in recent months,
accelerated to a full blown war with large scale military formations that threatens not only Egypt but Israel as well.
Background:
Sinai
is a large triangular peninsula in Egypt about 23,000 square miles in
area, situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and is the
only part of Egypt located in Asia, as opposed to Africa, with a
population of approximately 1,400,000, mostly semi-nomadic Bedouins.
The
Sinai Peninsula has remained a part of Egypt from the First Dynasty of
ancient Egypt (3100 BC) until the 21st century. In periods of foreign
occupation, the Sinai was, like the rest of Egypt, also occupied and
controlled by foreign empires, like the Ottoman Empire (1517-1867) and
Great Britain (1882-1956). In 1956 Israel invaded and occupied Sinai
during the Suez Crisis, and during the Six-Day War of 1967. On October
6, 1973, Egypt launched the Yom Kippur War to retake the peninsula,
which was the site of fierce fighting between Egyptian and Israeli
forces. By 1989, as a result of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979, Israel had withdrawn from all of the Sinai Peninsula.
In
recent years, Sinai has been the site of several terror attacks against
tourists, the majority of which were Egyptian. Investigations have
shown these were mainly motivated by a resentment of the poverty faced
by many Bedouin in the area. Attacking the tourist industry was viewed
as a method of damaging the industry so that the government would pay
more attention to their situation.
Unrest has become more prevalent in the area since the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Here are just a few incidents in 2015:
- January 29: Militants from the Sinai Province militant group launched a series of attacks on army and police bases in Arish using car bombs and mortars. The attacks, which occurred in more than six different locations, resulted in 32 confirmed deaths including army personnel and civilians.
- February 6: Egyptian security forces attacked the Sinai Province group, killing 47 Islamic militants.
- March 10: A suicide attack on a police barracks using a water tanker was stopped after security forces opened fire on the water tanker causing it to explode before it could get into the barracks. One civilian near the scene was killed and two others wounded in the blast, alongside dozens of wounded policemen.
- April 2: an attack on an army checkpoint resulted in the death of 15 soldiers, 2 civilians and 15 attackers. As a response to the attack, the Egyptian army launched an operation the following day allegedly killing 100 militants.
- April 8: Eleven civilians were killed in Sheikh Zuweid when an unidentified rocket-propelled grenade hit their homes.
- April 12: Six soldiers were killed when their armored vehicle was bombed in North Sinai. On the same day, a separate attack on a police station in Arish resulted in the death of 5 policemen and 1 civilian. The attack on the station was carried out by a suicide bomber using a bomb-laden vehicle. The militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (now Sinai Province") claimed responsibility for the attacks.
- May 16: Three Egyptian judges and their driver were killed when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in North Sinai. The attack came hours after a Cairo court issued a preliminary death sentence against former president Mohamed Morsi and 105 other defendants.
Last year the largest Jihadist group in Sinai, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis swore allegiance to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi,
the self-anointed Caliph and head of DAESH (ISIS), and proclaimed
themselves as the "Sinai Province" Of the Islamic State. Security
officials say militants based in Libya have established ties with "Sinai
Province".
- July 1, 2015: "Sinai Province" militants launched one of the largest attacks since the insurgency begun in 2011, on multiple Egyptian army checkpoints in the Sinai Peninsula, killing 64 soldiers. The attack also targeted the Sheikh Zuweid police station. Reinforcements from the Second Army stationed in Ismailia have been deployed to Sheikh Zuweid, and F-16 fighter jets are targeting militants in the city. Militants have reportedly killed several civilians who refused to allow them onto their rooftops to target security forces.
- July 4: A shell struck a house in Sheikh Zuweid, killing a woman and her two children. On the same day, a roadside bomb targeting army and police vehicles killed a five-year-old child.
- On July 15, twenty militants were killed as security forces repelled an attack on a security checkpoint in North Sinai.
- On July 16, "Sinai Province" militants attacked an Egyptian navy patrol ship near the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip. The patrol ship was hit by a guided missile. The Egyptian military confirmed the incident. The attack is considered the first maritime attack of DAESH (ISIS) and its allied militant groups.
With the merger of DAESH (ISIS) and the Sinai Province we are seeing disturbing developments along Israel's Southern borders:
- The use of large, disciplined, well trained and well commanded heavily armed battalion and brigade formations in the fight against the Egyptian army in Sinai.
- A capable naval commando force.
- Heavy ISIS infiltration in Gaza
- Rocket firing into Israel from Sinai.
- A direct threat to Elat and the Western access road to the city.
No comments:
Post a Comment