Sinai terrorists have Brotherhood backing

The Assistant Minister of the Interior for the Sinai region has told Arab Today that he believes the Muslim Brotherhood is providing cover for the Egyptian and foreign jihadists who are carrying out terrorist operations in the Peninsula. Major General Saleh el-Masri, who is also former Security Director of North Sinai, suggested that the terrorist groups were still operating in Sinai because of their wish to create an “Islamic Emirate” there - but also because they have the support of the former Muslim Brotherhood government, he claimed. The police and armed forces would have already been able to confront and eradicate the terrorist threat, had it not been for the political cover given by Morsi’s government, he said. Former president Mohammed Morsi was ousted along with his Muslim Brotherhood-led government on July 3, following mass demonstrations. The Brotherhood has denied playing any part in the escalating violence in Sinai. Egypt’s new circumstances mean security forces will now be able to tackle the jihadist fighters, said Masri, adding that there was no doubt such an operation would enjoy widespread popular support. The Egyptian official said he expected support to be especially forthcoming from the population of Sinai, whose security and economic and social wellbeing has suffered as a result of the terrorist activity, to the point where instability has become the dominant feature of life in the north Egyptian peninsula. To this end, Masri called on the citizens of North and South Sinai to speak out in support of the police and ?armed forces in tackling and eradicating the militants.? The mission will not be without challenges, he admitted, explaining the difficulties security forces face in eliminating Sinai’s criminal ?hotspots. The militants use rugged mountainous locations to launch their attacks, and have heavy firearms, including cruise missiles, at their disposal, he said. He added that these weapons enter Sinai through tunnels from Gaza, ?but he insisted security forces have now gained total control over the tunnels in the Rafah area, where there are 1200 tunnels spread over ??4 kilometres, many of them forming a network beneath the houses in eastern Rafah.? The tunnels presented the biggest security challenge, he said, as they enabled extremists to cross from Gaza into Sinai and vice versa, as well as allowing the entry of weapons that were being used to attack checkpoints and police departments, and to explode gas lines which had returned to the Egyptian state after the overthrow of the former government. The Assistant Minister of the Interior claimed there was evidence that lines of communication were open between ?jihadist militants in Sinai and supporters of former president Morsi – including the appearance of black jihadist flags at pro-Brotherhood protests in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda Square.? Masri insisted the attacks in Sinai were motivated by the fall of Morsi’s government, saying the proof was in the fact that violence had escalated after his overthrow, as well as a televised statement by Brotherhood leader Mohammed El Beltagi saying the attacks in Sinai would stop as soon as Morsi was reinstated. He identified over 15 Jihadist groups in Sinai, the most dangerous of which are operating under al-Qaeda, whose leader Ayman al Zawahiri is thought to wish to establish an Islamic ?Emirate in Sinai, although his brother Muhammad has denied this claim. Finally, the former security chief claimed that the political cover offered to the jihadists by the Muslim Brotherhood was complimented by financial backing from Hamas, accusing the two Islamist groups of forming an alliance and trying to create a Gaza-Sinai circle of control.