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Egypt Ramps Up Fight Against Sinai ISIS Affiliate, May Ask Israel to Help

Following Wednesday’s terror attacks on military checkpoints, Egypt has stepped up its campaign against “Sinai Province,” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) affiliate in the Sinai, The Times of Israel reported today.

Egyptian forces have commenced heavy fighting against the ISIS affiliate on Wednesday, two days after Egypt’s attorney general was killed in a bombing in Cairo. ISIS militants unleashed a wave of violence on Wednesday, with Egyptian officials reporting scores of deaths including both soldiers and militants.

“They seem to be setting up for the long haul,” Zack Gold, a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv told The Washington Post. Contrary to ISIS’s usual hit and run attacks, they carried out carefully strategized raids on fourteen Egyptian army checkpoints on Wednesday, as well as an officers’ club near the town of Sheikh Zuweid.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi may consider inviting the IDF to assist in its efforts against ISIS in the terror group came close enough to Gaza, Ha’aretz reported. “The two armies may already be coordinating in preparation for such a possibility. The Egyptian problem is that a military campaign inside Gaza could lead to breaking down the fences and a mass flight of civilians from Gaza to Sinai,” An Egyptian source told the paper.

In an interview with The Washington Post in March, al-Sisi praised the security cooperation he had with Israel in fighting terrorism in the Sinai.

Israel has proof that Hamas was providing arms and logistical support to Sinai Province, an Israeli general said earlier today.

[Photo: Levantine TV / YouTube ]