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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Israel let Cairo deploy thousands of troops in Sinai | |
| 2011-08-27 | |
| JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will agree to let Egypt deploy thousands of troops in the Sinai to tighten security after a deadly border attack by gunmen that strained relations between the two countries, the Economist reported on Friday. Their 1979 peace treaty allows only a small presence of lightly armed Egyptian border guards in a demilitarized Sinai and also curbs Israeli deployment on its side of the frontier. The Economist reported that Barak said Israel would also allow Egyptian helicopters and armored vehicles into Sinai but no tanks other than one battalion already stationed there.
The killing last week of eight Israelis near the southern seaside resort of Eilat by militants whom Israel said infiltrated from the Gaza Strip via the Sinai stoked Israeli fears of Cairo losing its grip on the sprawling desert peninsula since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak in February. With Israel’s agreement to temporary reinforcements, Egypt had already beefed up its forces in the Sinai and had been waging an offensive against militants in the area before the cross-border assault. Barak’s latest reported comments appeared to go a step further, suggesting open-ended deployment. An Egyptian intelligence official told Reuters that Israel had been more responsive recently to Cairo’s demands for increasing its troops at the Sinai border, after rejecting such requests in the past. “Following recent violence at the border, Israel has become more understanding of the security situation we are dealing with in Sinai,” the official said speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that Israel and Egypt have been holding discussions on altering security arrangements in Sinai and Egypt boosting the number of its troops there. Five Egyptian security men were killed in clashes between Israeli troops and the gunmen, seven of whom were killed. Israel has offered to conduct a joint investigation into the deaths of the Egyptians in the incident, which triggered anti-Israeli protests in Cairo. In an interview with CNN, Barak was cautious about the effect a bolstered Egyptian military presence would have on securing Sinai. “I am not very optimistic that it will all change in a matter of weeks,” Barak said. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Egyptian politics is unsettled. However, once the muslim brotherhood wins power, iran will have a sunni counterpart. After WW2 the Allies outlawed nazism in Germany. After the victory in iraq, the Coalition Provisional authority abolished baathism. Why not treat islamonazism exactly the same way? Instead BHO bows to those wild animals. What part of the muslim' 1400 year war against Western Civilization can't those f'ing dummies understand? |
| Posted by: Jaimble Hupiling9451 2011-08-27 17:13 |
| #2 I doubt this is "war footing". I accept the analysis that it is an effort to keep miscreants from attacking Israel and though not reported, I believe rogue elements of the military were operating outside of their official capacity in allowing weapons trafficking through the Sinai. Yes, assume the worst, but also know that there is still commo between Egypt proper and Israel over last weeks events which could have brought the region to the brink. If, IF this is an offensive maneuver, it will be an easy kill for the IDF. It is a political endeavor to shelter both governments for the recent cross border actions. |
| Posted by: newc 2011-08-27 03:39 |
| #1 I hope Tel Aviv = ISRAELI GOVT, IDF remember that IRAN has directly + indirectly stated or inferred that it not afraid to engage in any PREEMPTIVE MIL OR PROXY FIRST STRIKE AGZ THE US-ISRAEL IFF NEED BE, to include so-called "decapitation strike" agz the White House + Congress, aka US NCA + Political-Mil Leadership. The US feared a Soviet decap strike during the Cold War, + will do so again as Iran + Radical Islam steadily NUCLEARIZES IN A POST-"ARAB SPRING/JASMINE" PERIOD OF POOR US-GLOBAL ECONOMY OF UNCERTAIN DURATION. POST-ARAB SPRING/JASMINE ISRAEL = 1948? versus 1956 Suez Crisis, PART II??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-08-27 00:27 |