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Egypt Battles ISIS in Sinai

(Ha'aretz) Anshel Pfeffer - Egypt boasts the largest army in the Arab world. The Egyptian army does not lack for the resources to fight a counter-insurgency war in Sinai, including mobile armored vehicles and attack helicopters. Israel has green-lighted every Egyptian request to reinforce its units in Sinai, despite the demilitarization protocols of the Camp David peace accords. A year ago, the tide seemed to have turned in Sinai. In a series of attacks on ISIS strongholds, the Egyptians succeeded in eliminating an estimated 2/3 of the ISIS fighters, including their commander Abu Du'a al-Ansari. They were down to around only 300 men when Abu Osama al-Masri took command. Al-Masri, with reinforcements, aid and supplies from Islamic State's base in Libya, has revived the organization, with its numbers back to around 1,000. These forces are made up of Egyptian Islamists, volunteers from other countries, including veterans of Syria and Iraq, and members of local Sinai Bedouin tribes.
2017-11-27 00:00:00
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