Egypt-Israel gas pipeline attacked for third time this month
For the third time in the month of July, and the fifth time in 2011, the Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel was attacked on Saturday. This time it wasn't even running. After the attack on the pipeline and a separate weekend attack on a police station in the port town of El-Arish, Egyptian security sources told Israel Hayom that the new government in Cairo was losing control over part of the peninsula.What could go wrong?
According to reports, gunmen launched rocket-propelled grenades at the al-Shulaq natural gas terminal, hitting the pipeline that directs gas to Israel and Jordan. The line, which has not been repaired since a previous attack on July 12, did not contain any gas.
Reuters reported that the attackers initially tried to storm the area's main gas station, but fled after being confronted by security forces.
No casualties were reported in the pipeline attack.
After the July 12 attack on the pipeline, Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said the sabotage symbolized the deterioration of the “central pillar anchoring Israel's peace treaty with Egypt -- the economic pillar.”
“From the economic perspective, the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt is crumbling,” Landau said at the time, adding that the consequence of the repeated attacks on the pipeline delivering gas to Israel would be an increase in the cost of Israeli electricity.
In a related development, Egyptian state media reported that at least six people were killed and at least 21 were injured in unrest that began Friday, when more than 100 armed men rode into the town of El-Arish in Sinai and tried to storm a police station. Authorities said some of the attackers waved flags bearing Islamic slogans as they fired shots into the air.
Other reports said some of the attackers shouted slogans calling for the Sinai to be turned into “an Islamic emirate.”
Labels: Egyptian gas pipeline, Egyptian regime change, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, El-Arish, Sharia law
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:30 AM
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