On Sunday evening, 35 members of a
Bedouin terrorist cell broke into an Egyptian army base in the Sinai,
killing some 15 Egyptian soldiers and wounding others. They
commandeered two armored jeeps, which headed to the Kerem Shalom crossing into
Israel. (Kerem Shalom sits at the intersection of Israel, Egypt and
Gaza.)
One of the jeeps exploded at the
crossing -- likely because of explosives it was carrying -- and the other
entered Israel, where it was intercepted by the IDF. No Israelis were
killed or injured.
Eight terrorists were taken
out, however; of these, at least six were wearing explosive belts. This
was a sophisticated and exceedingly serious operation intent on
causing disaster in a variety of venues.
Here you see just some of the
weapons the terrorists -- understood to have been part of a global
jihad terrorist infrastructure -- were carrying.
Credit: IDF
spokesman
~~~~~~~~~~
Chief of Staff Lieutenant
General Benny Gantz (left, below) and Brigadier General Tal Russo
(second from right) toured the scene after the attack, and praised both Israeli
intelligence and the fighting forces for their skill and their
cooperative effort. We're talking about IDF Intelligence forces, the Air
Force, armored ground forces, infantry and the Shin Bet.
Credit: Israel
Hayom
~~~~~~~~~~
Said Russo:
"There were quite a few clashes
before [the jeep] was destroyed. Armored forces, the Air Force and infantry
forces closed in and eventually it was destroyed from the air and on the
ground.
"Those who attempted to escape and
fire at the forces after [the jeep] was destroyed, were also
eliminated,"
~~~~~~~~~~
There are several implications
that follow from this incident.
First is the way that this
impacts the Egyptians. It's one thing for them to turn their back on
terrorists who are harbored inside the Sinai with intention to cross the border
into Israel and hit Israelis. It's quite another when terrorists hit an
Egyptian army base and kill Egyptian soldiers.
Defense Minister Barak referred to
this as a wake-up call for Egypt. The expectation is that Egypt
will begin to act seriously with regard to regaining control of the
Sinai.
~~~~~~~~~~
And indeed, this morning 100
Egyptian troops surrounded the village of Sheikh Zuweid village -- located
in northern Sinai, between Arish and Rafah -- where "militants" were
known to be hiding, and killed 20. This was accomplished via strikes
by helicopters, for which the Egyptians had received prior permission from
Israel. This represents the first such air strike by Egypt in the Sinai since
1973. Earlier, there had been an action against terrorists in
Arish.
All of this is part of what
has been dubbed the "Sinai cleansing operation," with other
action still anticipated in Rafah, which sits on the border with
Gaza. Egyptian security
estimates there are 2,000 jihadists terrorists in the Sinai.
~~~~~~~~~~
Because the region of Sinai in
which the battle with terrorists is taking place is in the north, near
Israel, it was particularly important that Egypt seek Israeli consent
before bringing in heavy military equipment. (More on this below.)
Credit:
mefacts
~~~~~~~~~~
And this brings us to another
implication of this situation, with regard to the relationship between Israel
and Egypt. Obviously, cooperation under the current difficult
circumstances is necessary and desirable -- and there is speculation as to
whether this will have the effect of enhancing that relationship. At a
mid-level of diplomacy, we have daily contact with Egypt, but
interaction is not what it was during the Mubarak years. Whether
it will improve now, remains to be seen.
At this point in time,
the peace treaty is holding. I find this at least tentatively
encouraging, but note that there are those who are unhappy about having to
get permission from Israel to bring military equipment into what is
considered an integral part of Egypt (which is not quite the case, but I'll come
back to this some other time).
The Egyptians are also
enormously sensitive when it comes to Israeli actions on Egyptian
(Sinai) soil or in Egyptian air space. As a matter of fact, some
grumbling was heard by an Egyptian government official who claimed Israel
entered Egypt in taking out the terrorists on Sunday evening. I have no
information as to whether this might have been the case, but if it was, it would
have been an enormously peripheral "intrusion."
Because we cannot pursue
terrorists into the Sinai or hit cells there when we have information about
a planned attack (although we can and surely do share the intelligence), it
means we must rely at some level upon Egyptian readiness to
act. What we can and must do is maintain enormous vigilance on
our side of the border. Prime Minister Netanyahu, who also
visited the area of the attack, made this very point when saying that the
incident reinforces our understanding that we can depend only on
ourselves.
~~~~~~~~~~
There is some anticipation
that Egypt may seek permission from Israel to increase the number of
troops they maintain in the Sinai for purposes of combating terrorism.
This is a delicate business, as the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty called for a
demilitarized Sinai, for good reason. Already, with Israeli permission,
the number of Egyptian troops there exceeds what the treaty permits -- there are
currently some seven battalions in the Sinai, in the north, near the border with
Gaza.
This might be seen as
a difficult call for Israeli officials under the present
circumstances. What is obvious is that the sophistication and intensity of
attacks by terrorists coming out of the Sinai will only increase over time. And,
as Israel cannot go into the Sinai to take them out, it is greatly
desirable that Egyptian forces should do so.
However -- and this is a very
serious proviso -- should the Egyptian forces fall under the control of the
Brotherhood, which might break the treaty with Israel, it would be to our
serious detriment were those troops in large numbers to be close to the
border with Israel.
The IDF has said it will
"consider" requests for troop enhancement in the Sinai. Foreign Minister
Lieberman says there are enough troops already in the Sinai to do the
job.
~~~~~~~~~~
Lastly, there is the issue of
the relationship of Egypt with Gaza.
While a large jihadist
terror group is situated in the Sinai, there are elements in Gaza as
well -- with movement from one area to the other. Egypt believes
that terrorists involved in planning Sunday's attack had come out of
Gaza. Because of the security vacuum in the Sinai since
Mubarak's fall, terrorists in Gaza had come to consider this the safest
venue from which to launch attacks on
Israel.
And so now a fairly remarkable
occurrence is taking place: Egypt has moved heavy equipment into the Rafah
area at the Sinai-Gaza border, and will be sealing all of the smuggling
tunnels, hundreds in number, from the Egyptian side.
For years, Israel has been
struggling with the issue of increasingly sophisticated weapons,
brought into the Sinai from Libya, Iran and elsewhere, that were then
smuggled through those tunnels into Gaza to be used in attacking Israel.
In fact, personnel were also brought in via the tunnels -- military experts from
Iran, for example, while Palestinian Arabs in Gaza were smuggled out for
training and then brought back.
~~~~~~~~~~
While Egyptian security did
from time to time commandeer caches of weapons in Sinai that were headed for
Gaza, they were never serious about stopping the smuggling. Now, because
of their own security needs, it seems that smuggling will be halted, and that
this will impact the ability of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups more
radical still to build their arsenals of weaponry and train and enhance their
fighting forces.
~~~~~~~~~~
But there is yet another way in
which this situation will likely impact Israel: a vast black market economy
exists in Gaza via goods smuggled in from the Sinai, although it has
diminished with the increase of goods permitted in by Israel. If the black
market economy is halted, pressure regarding what is brought
in from Israel to Gaza is likely to increase.
~~~~~~~~~~
And to further complicate the
situation: it seems that Hamas, which is relatively "moderate" compared to some
of the jihadist groups in Gaza, has voiced criticism of the terror
attack and is cooperating with Egypt by sealing the tunnels from the
Gaza side. Surely Hamas leaders feels they have no choice
but to play it this way, for the sealing of those tunnels impacts Hamas's
economy.
The enormous irony here is that
Hamas had welcomed the participation of the Brotherhood in Egypt's new
government. Just last week Hamas's Ismail Haneyeh had visited
Egyptian president Morsi and there was talk of greater closeness between Hamas
and Egypt, with an increase in the traffic permitted between Gaza and the
Sinai, and eventually a lifting of the blockade entirely. In fact, in
spite of objections by the Supreme Military Council, Haniyeh and Morsi had
forged an agreement that Egypt would stop immediately deporting Palestinian
Arabs arriving in Cairo without entry visas.
Khaled Abu Toameh, writing in the
JPost, says that Egypt's military establishment has long
considered Hamas a threat because of its connections with terror groups in the
Sinai. And in light of current tensions, a warming of the relationship
between Morsi and Hamas seems very much on hold.
~~~~~~~~~~
A vastly complex situation, that
is still playing itself out...
~~~~~~~~~~
©
Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be
reproduced only
with
proper attribution.
This material
is transmitted by Arlene only to persons who have requested it or agreed to
receive it. If you are on the list and wish to be removed, contact Arlene and
include your name in the text of the message.
No comments:
Post a Comment