Egyptian military intelligence has revealed (Arabic link) that some military officers and soldiers have adopted extremist ideas and joined terrorist organizations in Sinai, which has been a hotbed of violent religious extremism in recent months.

The development further complicates the efforts of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to deal with extremists in the peninsula, which he considers an existential threat to the state. These organizations, such as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which swore a loyalty oath to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in November, are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of military and police officers since the army toppled the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following a series of popular protests against his rule.

The Egyptian government is concerned that military personnel who have joined terrorist organizations would provide them with information about the Egyptian army, which is considered the largest army in the Arab world, and train them to attack state targets. Khalil al-Anani, an expert on extremist movements, said that since the ousting of Morsi, some former officers joined the ranks of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis and took part in planning and carrying out attacks against military and government facilities, especially in the Sinai.

However, officers in the Egyptian army ranks insist that the desertion to extremist organizations is not a real phenomenon and includes only few cases. “Yes, we found that some members of the armed forces have adopted radical religious ideas, but their number is very small, maybe two or three out of 2,000,” a senior military official told the Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Arab (Arabic link).

But even if that number is low, the high level of training of these officers would make attacks carried out against security forces in the Sinai or elsewhere very painful and bloody.

Arab media recently published a name of a Special Forces soldier—Hisham al-Ashmawi—who adopted jihadi views and set up a terrorist cell affiliated with Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. Along with another officer who served in the Egyptian army, it is claimed that he oversees the military training program of the terrorist organization.

[Photo: Conflict Studies / YouTube]