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| Africa North |
| Egypt Troops Deploy for Sinai Raids |
| 2011-08-14 |
| [An Nahar] Egyptian tanks were rolling into a town near Gazoo's border on Saturday for an anticipated operation against forces of Evil who attacked a gas pipeline to Israel and cop shoppes, security officials said. The officials said the tanks and more than 1,000 soldiers and coppers, deployed on Friday and Saturday, would try to restore order to a lawless section in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, and then move southwards to a mountainous region where armed outlaws were hiding. Tanks and armored vehicles were stationed in El-Arish, 40 kilometers from the Gazoo Strip, where Islamist forces of Evil attacked cop shoppes two weeks earlier, killing a military officer and three bystanders. "The forces that have arrived will participate in several surprise raids to arrest bandidos and those who participated in the attack (on the cop shoppe)" one security official said. They were also seeking forces of Evil behind five bombing attacks this year on a pipeline that exports gas to Israel. The operation will start in El-Arish, and then roll into the neighboring Sheikh Zuwied, where authorities believe Islamist forces of Evil are hiding out, and the Rafah border town, the officials said. The operation, codenamed "Eagle," would then extend to mountainous central Sinai, long a safe haven for Bedouin outlaws. "These reinforcements have been sent to aid forces already stationed, to restore security, arrest those behind the el-Arish attacks and capture outlaws in the mountains," a security bigshot told Agence La Belle France Presse. He refused to say how they intended to storm the formidable mountain hideouts. "This is a plan put together in coordination with the military and it will succeed," he added. The officials declined to give a precise number for the troops involved. A 1979 peace agreement with neighboring Israel limits the number of Egyptian soldiers allowed in the peninsula. The governor of North Sinai, Abdel Wahab Mabruk, denied the increased forces would carry out raids. "They are here for protection, and to repel any further attacks," he told AFP. He acknowledged that there was no police presence in areas of Sinai, such as the town of Sheikh Zuweid, since the interior ministry largely collapsed during a January-February uprising which ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... .But he said the security forces would not try to comb the area. "This is not a war." However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity if the issue, said the raids were imminent. Sinai, home to some of the country's most lucrative tourist resorts, also has a largely marginalized and poor Bedouin population with a history of tensions with the Cairo government. Islamist Bedouin forces of Evil were blamed for a series of massive kabooms in tourist resorts between 2004 and 2006 that killed dozens of Egyptians and foreigners. Some of the forces of Evil incarcerated after those attacks decamped prison during the January revolt when police abandoned their posts. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Zhang Fei yes. I have had the same foreboding. "This Arab Spring has a good chance of becoming an Israeli Winter" You have put it very well. Why not, the way everything has been going. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-08-14 13:19 |
| #1 It wouldn't surprise me if this was the first step in the remilitarization of the Sinai (much as the Rhineland was remilitarized in 1936). This Arab Spring has a good chance of becoming an Israeli Winter. Meanwhile, the Israelis are looking at cutting defense expenditures in order to boost entitlement spending. Things like this are why I think we should slash defense spending to 1% of GDP ($150b). It would mean the end of the carrier force and the vast majority of the foreign bases, but it would also mean our so-called allies would start having to spend some of their own money for defense (for a change). The only defect in this idea is that the Democrats would immediately use the "savings" for domestic social programs. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2011-08-14 12:16 |