by Sarah Ann Haves
As the world focuses on Iran’s race towards nuclear capability, Israel is turning its attention to the capabilities of Iran’s proxies in the Middle East Hezbollah in Lebanon; Syria; Hamas in Gaza; and, newly developed Islamic terrorist cells operating in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Reportedly, there are now up to 400 Al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups with full reign in the Sinai. This has developed since former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime ended and Egyptian authorities loosened their grip on the area. Some terrorist groups are trying to develop an Islamic zone in the Sinai.
In mid-November 2011, Israel’s Chief of General Staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz briefed the Israeli Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about the terrorist build-up in the south. He mentioned that, since the August 2011 terrorist attack on Israel’s southern city of Eilat, the IDF has changed its tactics. Israeli defense officials have added a brigade headquarters near Israel’s border with Egypt, and are trying to improve intelligence capabilities in the Sinai, which is proving difficult.
Gantz commented that the Sinai had become an area of global jihad, and a wide terrorist infrastructure is developing there, encouraged by radical groups in Gaza.
The attack on Eilat was considered a cooperative effort between operatives of the Palestinian Popular Resistance committees, and Salafist Islamists in Egypt. The attack bore the trademarks of Al Qaeda. In the meantime, a new terror group has developed in Egypt, this year, called al-Mujahedeen al-Takhfirin. It is responsible for the continued attacks on the gas pipeline that extends from Egypt into Israel and Jordan. This group also played a major role in the August 2011 attack on Eilat. The organization’s terrorist activities indicate that forces hostile to Israel are emerging during the current regional instability.
In mid-November 2011, Israel’s Chief of General Staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz briefed the Israeli Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about the terrorist build-up in the south. He mentioned that, since the August 2011 terrorist attack on Israel’s southern city of Eilat, the IDF has changed its tactics. Israeli defense officials have added a brigade headquarters near Israel’s border with Egypt, and are trying to improve intelligence capabilities in the Sinai, which is proving difficult.
Gantz commented that the Sinai had become an area of global jihad, and a wide terrorist infrastructure is developing there, encouraged by radical groups in Gaza.
The attack on Eilat was considered a cooperative effort between operatives of the Palestinian Popular Resistance committees, and Salafist Islamists in Egypt. The attack bore the trademarks of Al Qaeda. In the meantime, a new terror group has developed in Egypt, this year, called al-Mujahedeen al-Takhfirin. It is responsible for the continued attacks on the gas pipeline that extends from Egypt into Israel and Jordan. This group also played a major role in the August 2011 attack on Eilat. The organization’s terrorist activities indicate that forces hostile to Israel are emerging during the current regional instability.
It is assumed by Israeli officials that the increase in global jihadist activities will continue where governments and leaders are uprooted; where there is a vacuum of central control in various countries in the Middle East.
Recently, an American official met with the Muslim Brotherhood and claimed the U.S. would be willing to work with the group as it gained power in Egypt. This has concerned pro-Israel supporters who do not want to see the Brotherhood have greater influence in Egypt or in the rest of the region.
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