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Monday, April 21, 2014 |
Egypt's Sinai: Mapping terror (Egyptian interest in deploying radar, |
Egypt's Sinai: Mapping terror On Monday the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled that Ansar Beit Al-Maqdi= be classified as a terrorist organisation. A number of Gulf States, led by = Saudi Arabia, had already designated the group as terrorist. They were = quickly followed by Washington. In the same week the leader of the organisation was killed in an ambush in = Al-Toma village in the north Sinai district of Sheikh Zuwaid and military = and security forces successfully forestalled a number of terrorist = operations. They also conducted several raids that led to the deaths of three members o= Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis organisation and the detention of several others. Many questions about the structure of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis organisation and = its links with other salafi jihadist groups and organisations in Sinai = remain unanswered. There is no question that there is an active network of = such organisations. The network operates on two levels. On the structural level it is led by = commanders who have experience operating in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and = Yemen. They moved from the Asian to the African arena =97 Somalia, Sudan, Libya, = Tunisia, Syria and then Egypt =97 lured first by the collapse of the tight = security that had prevailed in the pre-Arab Spring regimes and then by the = rise of the religious right, or the Islamist movements, in the political = sphere. The second level is ideological and shaped, in particular, by Abdallah = Azzam, the godfather of Al-Qaeda, and Abu Mohamed Al-Maqdisi a leading = Salafist Jihadist ideologue. A week ago, Egyptian authorities arrested Al-Qaeda officer Tharwat Shehata = in the Tenth of Ramadan City. The place where he was hiding out is thought = to belong to a Muslim Brotherhood member. Whether or not this is the case Shehata=92s presence in Egypt cannot be = separated from events in Sinai. He can best be described as a central = intelligence unit for Al-Qaeda, whether in its first =93Afghan jihad=94 ver= or its second =93post-Arab Spring jihad=94 version. Many Egyptian security = experts, including General Khaled Okasha, describe the capture of Shehata a= a major event. Intelligence on extremist activities in Sinai is accumulating though Okasha = says much more remains to be done. There has also been a qualitative shift = in the operational capacities of the security forces with the creation of a = specialised rapid-intervention anti-terrorism unit. A senior intelligence expert told Al-Ahram Weekly that Shehata had been = under surveillance for some time before his arrest and that the observation = had revealed important information. On the evolution of Al-Qaeda networks he said: =93I believe that they are m= extensive than many believe and that there is an ability to extend even = further given that some international parties are keen to ignite fires in = the region. I do not exclude the US from this.=94 The source also spoke about the progress of security operations in Sinai in = recent months. Measures already taken on the eastern front were =93ideal=94= said. He warned, however, that the western borders with Libya require much = more intensive security activity and facilities. Libya, he said, has become = a prime exporter of jihadist extremism. =93If Egypt could install radars on the borders there and increase aerial = surveillance with pilotless aircraft that situation would change. Israel = restricts the use of such radars in Sinai. We should therefore use them = along our western borders in order to curb cross-border infiltration as muc= as possible.=94 The source said acquiring pilotless aircraft had become an urgent priority = for Egypt. =93We need the sort that is being manufactured by Israel. The = Russians, Americans, Germans, Turkey and India all depend on drones that = Israel makes. But Israel is certainly not going to give us one directly.=94 But could Russia act as a third party and include one in a deal with Egypt? =93That would be difficult. Even conventional weapons being discussed with = Egypt at present are contingent on the arrival of Field Marshall = Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to the president=92s office.=94 In a related development, Libya=92s ambassador to Cairo, Mohamed Fayez Jibr= met on Monday with Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb. Although much of the meeting was devoted to the problems of the more than a = million Egyptians living in Libya and, particularly, hate crimes targeting = Egyptian Copts, the two officials also discussed border security. Jibril = laid the blame for the current situation on the Qaddafi regime which he sai= has used the border area as a recruitment zone for foreign mercenaries. But Jibril, says Libyan expert Al-Hussein Bin Karim, is ignoring the facts = and saying only what the government wants to hear. =93True, the Qaddafi regime had its bad points. But there are two parties = responsible for what is happening in Egypt now. One comprises the salafist = jihadist emirs of various stripes who control a sizeable segment of Libya. The other comprises the weapons emirs and their tribal networks of smuggler= which extend from Upper Egypt to Marsa Matrouh.=94 Israeli Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz has observed that the four areas = surrounding Israel are unstable. With respect to the =93southern front=94 = Sinai =97 he urged good security coordination with Egypt, which is somethin= he said the Egyptian army can do in keeping with the arrangements of the = security protocol of the Camp David accord. The Israeli military leader noted: =93We are happy with the calm that has = prevailed on Sinai front recently. But we do not depend on it and, = therefore, we will continue our deployment operations.=94 =93At this phase there is no need for military operations because of the cl= and good relations with the Egyptian side. The more coordination and = cooperation between us develop the more the likelihood of a military = operation diminishes. However, we are an army that knows how to work.=94 Israeli affairs expert Said Okasha linked Gantz=92s remarks to statements = issued by Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claiming that it controls Sinai. =93If such claims were true the Israeli chief of general staff would never = have issued such remarks. Nor would the Egyptian army have achieved such = successes in the field. For example, the army has secured the Suez Canal an= traffic through it has revived. Tourism [in Sinai] is also moving and = customary economic activities continue uninterrupted.=94 Despite an expanding terrorist environment generated by the aftermath of th= 25 January revolution and developments following 3 July 2013 that = necessitated a massive intensification of military operations in Sinai it = appears that Egypt=92s resistance to terrorist operations is relatively goo= This is heartening, given that the situation in Sinai is not just a local = but also a regional, and perhaps international, concern. Nevertheless there = remains the question related to Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. If this is a terroris= group, how do we rank all the other groups and organisations that are = operating in Sinai and that take =93Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis=94 as a mere banne= carrying out terrorist operations. There definitely remain ambiguities surrounding the terrorist map of Sinai = and beyond. More importantly, however, the existing agreements, protocols = and cooperative arrangements are far from sufficient if we are speaking = about a terrorist map that spans the greater Middle East. At the same time, = according to Nabil Abdel Fattah, editor-in-chief of the report on the state = of religion produced by Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies= =93Cultural and religious discourse requires much more extensive and deeper = treatment than the very superficial attention that is being accorded at = present". ________________________________________ Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on A= Website: www.imra.org.il For free regular subscription: For free daily digest subscription: IMRA is now also on Twitter |
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