Israel Matzav: Attack on UN peacekeeping forces in Sinai

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Attack on UN peacekeeping forces in Sinai

For more than 30 years, the United Nations has deployed peacekeeping forces in Sinai to maintain the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. On Sunday morning, for the first time that I can recall, those forces were attacked by 'armed men' from the Egyptian side of the border.

"The attack happened in Um Shyhan area in the middle of Sinai but no one got injured," the source said.

The incident came just days after the start of a military operation in the area against terrorists suspected of being behind a bloody attack on Egyptian border guards last Sunday, which killed 16.

A group of armed men had earlier clashed with Egyptian security forces near the scene of the latest attack after they opened fire at a police checkpoint, the same security source said. No one was injured.

Police checkpoints have come under a series of similar attacks by armed assailants since last Wednesday.

Egypt sent hundreds of troops and armored vehicles into North Sinai on Thursday to tackle terrorists operating near the border in an offensive that commanders said had killed up to 20 people they deemed terrorists.

The Egyptian army captured six people it considered terrorists in Sinai on Friday and the security source said three of them were later released.

Egypt is seeking increased assistance from the United States to get a handle on the Sinai.

Egypt’s new president, Mohamed Morsi, and its military leaders balked last month when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta each separately pressed them to act more aggressively against extremists operating in Sinai. But after the attack, Egypt appears to have overcome its sensitivities about sovereignty and accelerated talks over the details of new American assistance, which would include military equipment, police training, and electronic and aerial surveillance, the officials said.

...

American and Israeli officials now see Egypt’s response to the attack as an important test of Mr. Morsi’s nascent presidency and, more broadly, the country’s commitment to security after the uprising in 2011 that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

While the American military has long had ties to its Egyptian counterpart, the deeper, more direct effort now under discussion could bind the United States and Egypt more closely against the shared threat of extremism. It could also overcome reservations among some in Washington about Mr. Morsi’s affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization long reviled by American officials for its anti-Western views and Islamist politics.

The Pentagon is discussing a variety of options for sharing intelligence with Egypt’s military and police in Sinai. They include intercepts of cellphone or radio conversations of militants suspected of plotting attacks and overhead imagery provided by aircraft — both piloted and drones — or satellites, the officials said.

“We continue to discuss ways of increasing and improving the Egyptians’ situational awareness in the Sinai,” said a Pentagon official who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic delicacy of the discussions.

And of course, like all military equipment supplied to the Egyptians, none of it could ever be turned against Israel. What could go wrong?

Labels: Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood, US foreign aid