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By Grace Wyler | Feb. 8, 2011
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Militant groups in the Sinai Peninsula are taking advantage of the political breakdown in Cairo to push the desert peninsula further into lawlessness.
Members of the radical Islamic group Takfir wal-Hijra clashed with Egyptian security forces in a two-hour battle on the Gaza border Monday, according to the Ma'an News Agency. The attack comes just days after Bedouin tribesmen set off an explosion at a Sinai natural gas plant, temporarily disrupting the flow of gas to Israel and Jordan.
The Sinai Bedouins, who have long been unhappy with their treatment by Egypt's government, have banded together with Hamas militants who broke out of Egyptian jails during the recent protests, the FT reports. The Bedouins dominate the lucrative smuggling routes into Gaza.
Israel is understandably alarmed by the deteriorating situation in the Sinai desert. Combined with the possibility of a new Egyptian leadership sympathetic to Hamas, a growing militant threat along the Gaza border could have disastrous consequences for regional security.
The Sinai Bedouins, who have long been unhappy with their treatment by Egypt's government, have banded together with Hamas militants who broke out of Egyptian jails during the recent protests, the FT reports. The Bedouins dominate the lucrative smuggling routes into Gaza.
Israel is understandably alarmed by the deteriorating situation in the Sinai desert. Combined with the possibility of a new Egyptian leadership sympathetic to Hamas, a growing militant threat along the Gaza border could have disastrous consequences for regional security.
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