Israeli intelligence services had reports of an impending attack from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and therefore were able to thwart the latest assault by suspected Islamist militants who killed 16 Egyptian soldiers at a border checkpoint, then stole two of their vehicles to burst through a security fence into Israel, Israel’s chief military spokesman said yesterday.
The attack on Sunday evening — which Egypt and Israel blamed on Islamist militants from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula — was one of the bloodiest in years and the deadliest against Egyptian troops who have become targets of militants in the desert along the Egypt-Israel border.
It also raised new fears in Israel about the Egyptian government’s ability to reassert control over the lawless Sinai. The border had been largely quiet in the three decades since Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement, but the Sinai has become increasingly chaotic since Hosni Mubarak was toppled as Egyptian president last year.
Militants, taking advantage of the security vacuum that followed Mubarak’s ouster, have attacked Israel from the desert peninsula three times over the past year, including a cross-border assault that killed eight people in August last year. Israel contends al-Qaeda operatives have infiltrated the area, as well as Palestinian militants who have crossed over from Gaza, and it is building a fence along the border with Egypt to avert attacks and block the entry of illegal African migrants.
New Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi accused the militants of “treason” and said they would “pay dearly” for Sunday’s attack, which the Israeli military said was part of a plot to abduct an Israeli soldier.
Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai yesterday told Army Radio that militants attacked the Egyptian troops at a checkpoint along the border with Gaza and Israel, seized a truck and an armored car, then blew up one of the vehicles to punch a hole through a security fence to enter Israel.
However, Israeli intelligence services had information about an impending infiltration and sent aircraft to strike at the second car the militants had seized from the Egyptian forces.
“We were prepared for it, so there was a hit,” he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said eight militants were killed by Israeli forces who struck from the air, as well as with tanks and artillery. The gunmen were armed with explosive devices, submachine guns and grenades, said Mordechai, who claimed the military “averted a major attack on southern Israel.”
There were no Israeli casualties. Israelis living in the immediate area were ordered to remain in their homes while troops searched the area for other militants who might have remained behind, but by morning, were told they could resume their routines, he said.
An Egyptian military official said Sunday night that Egyptian troops were pursuing the militants who returned to Egypt.
Barak demanded that Egypt do more to enforce security and prevent attacks from the Sinai.
“We hope this will be a fitting wakeup call for the Egyptians to take things in hand on their side more forcefully,” he told the Israeli parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee.
Relations between the two nations have always been cool. But since Mubarak was overthrown and Islamist parties moved to the forefront of the Egyptian political scene, Israeli officials have expressed concern that ties would deterioriate further, while insisting that maintaining the peace treaty is in the interest of both countries.
The attack Sunday took place around sunset near the Egyptian border town of Rafah, when the troops at the checkpoint were having the traditional meal at the end of the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Immediately after, Egypt shut the Rafah crossing with Gaza, an ominous sign for the Palestinian territory’s 1.6 million people. Israel, fearing militant attacks, bars Gazans from entering Israeli territory, so the Rafah crossing _ the only passage from Gaza that is not under direct Israeli control _ is their only gateway to the outside world. In a statement posted on the website of Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement, Hamas condemned “the ugly crime committed today against the Egyptian soldiers, and sent its condolences to the families of the victims, to Egypt’s president and to his government.” Morsi convened an emergency meeting with military and security leaders following the attack, and in an interview afterward with Egyptian state TV, declared that “this treason, this aggression and criminality cannot be appeased. Troops will totally control Sinai.” In a statement late Sunday, Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood urged Egyptian authorities to take all necessary measures to “confront this serious challenge to Egyptian sovereignty and to protect Sinai from all armed groups.” Since Mubarak stepped down, Israel has allowed Egypt to send in more troops to Sinai, which has been mostly demilitarized according to the 1979 peace deal between the two countries. The attack Sunday touched off renewed calls in Egypt to amend the treaty to allow for more troops in Sinai.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
RSS