By Federica Fanuli Editor-at-Large, IndraStra Global The deadly attack that had killed the Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham ...
By Federica Fanuli
Editor-at-Large, IndraStra Global
The deadly attack that had killed the Egyptian Prosecutor
General Hisham
Barakat has thrown Egypt into a panic and, few hours later, a wave of attacks
by jihadists has overwhelmed the northern Sinai. The province is located on
the Egyptian coast, near the border between Egypt, Gaza and Israel. A strategic
area from the geopolitical point of view, but also the geographical centre of
the empire that Isis would want to rebuild, which is the first Islamic Umayyad
Caliphate (661-750 A.D.) from Spain to India, a vast territory divided by the Treaty of Sykes-Picot.
Car bombs and kamikazes have destroyed
checkpoints and police stations in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, on the west side
of Rafah. This is the biggest attack ever in the province of Sinai, an episode
that brings back memories of the attack on the Sinai of the 1973, during the
Yom Kippur War against Israel. A killing claimed by the terrorist group Ansar
Beit al-Maqdis fighting against the army of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi.
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| ISIS Attacks in Sinai Peninsula in January-August 2015 |
The terrorist group has abandoned al-Qaeda and
vowed allegiance to ISIS, in exchange for financial aid. It is not only the
terrible Isis to worry the Arab regimes that try to define their participation
in the American coalition anti-Isis. As matter of the fact, the proliferation of
radical groups that see in the Islamic State a model and a reference point intimidates
the Arab States. Anyway, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is fighting
a very tough campaign against the Islamists. In the last two years, the
Egyptian regime arrested and sentenced to death dozens of members of the
political movement of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the former President
Mohammed Morsi ousted in June of 2013 by a coup. In the aftermath of the
overthrow of Morsi, the Islamist militias of Ansar
Beit have become more active and inaugurated a series of attacks in the
Sinai in 2014 and 2015, but this time the aggravating element is not only the
choice of the group to be part of the Islamic State, is the territorial
proximity to Israel
as well. ISIS in the Egyptian desert is a serious danger for the national
security of the Jewish State, which decided to close
its borders to Nitzana and Kerem Shalom, near Rafah, and prevent the infiltration
of men of Al Baghdadi. At least, for the moment.
According to some sources, it seems Al-Sisi
is contemplating the possibility of asking for help from Tel Aviv, because
the Israeli army could contrast the likely expansion jihadist in the northern
Sinai. After
the bloody attack last January, the Egyptian army has reached a relative calm
in the centre and south of the Sinai. The problem persists in northern Sinai.
However, it can be assumed that, despite the terrorist attacks in the Sinai,
al-Sisi’s resolve will not weaken Egypt and his regime will continue in its war
against terrorism, although the fight against terrorism has no immediately
solution. Egypt is not able to rely solely on its own strength, but an Arab State
that turns to Israel is the paradox par excellence, a historical contradiction
that could definitely trigger the wrath of Muslims. The attacks are a tangible
signal of the inability of the Egyptian government to prevent the advance of
jihadists. This raises difficult questions about the ability of the Egyptian
army and, among the most important problem, the risk that ISIS could try to
spread their attacks against Israel. It will be interesting in seeing how the
situation in the Sinai will affect the relations between Egypt and Hamas. The Salafist
infiltration and the Islamic State in the hottest part of the Sinai is a
pressing issue for Hamas.
We can imagine a scenario in which in addition to rescue Egypt, Israel must
also intervene in favour of his old enemy.
The threats of the Islamic State in Israel and Gaza come in a delicate moment for the balance of the Israeli-Palestinian. The consent of Hamas is declining in the Strip, its role in the government of national unity has been challenged by Fatah, the party of Abbas. The Islamic State could take advantage of the crisis of leadership and hope that reigns in the Palestinian territories. According to some information, the terrorists in Gaza have found a new partner in the new government of the Right of Tel Aviv. Hamas and Israel could negotiate for a ten-year truce between the parties against Isis. It is not excluded that among the attackers there were also Palestinian. Rocket launchers used against Egyptian Apaches were the same used in Gaza against Israeli forces. Weapons that cross the tunnel, which evidently continue to operate. Among the weapons used, many also came from the arsenal of Gaddafi. This means that the militias of the Islamic State crossed undisturbed Egypt to arrive in Libya. The jihadist tactics plan to exploit the absence of controls along subsides, strategically undervalued, to access in these territories. Egypt has raised the security alert in the most sensitive areas of the country. A security cordon has been established in front of the Constitutional Court in Cairo, measures at the highest levels have also been prepared in the Suez Canal, the gateway to the Mediterranean. The conquest of the channel for the Islamic State would be a life insurance for the terrorist group.
The threats of the Islamic State in Israel and Gaza come in a delicate moment for the balance of the Israeli-Palestinian. The consent of Hamas is declining in the Strip, its role in the government of national unity has been challenged by Fatah, the party of Abbas. The Islamic State could take advantage of the crisis of leadership and hope that reigns in the Palestinian territories. According to some information, the terrorists in Gaza have found a new partner in the new government of the Right of Tel Aviv. Hamas and Israel could negotiate for a ten-year truce between the parties against Isis. It is not excluded that among the attackers there were also Palestinian. Rocket launchers used against Egyptian Apaches were the same used in Gaza against Israeli forces. Weapons that cross the tunnel, which evidently continue to operate. Among the weapons used, many also came from the arsenal of Gaddafi. This means that the militias of the Islamic State crossed undisturbed Egypt to arrive in Libya. The jihadist tactics plan to exploit the absence of controls along subsides, strategically undervalued, to access in these territories. Egypt has raised the security alert in the most sensitive areas of the country. A security cordon has been established in front of the Constitutional Court in Cairo, measures at the highest levels have also been prepared in the Suez Canal, the gateway to the Mediterranean. The conquest of the channel for the Islamic State would be a life insurance for the terrorist group.
Thomson Reuters ResearcherID : M-9093-2015
