A massive car bomb detonated yesterday in the Sinai Peninsula killed at least eleven Egyptian military personnel and injured dozens more, amid a months-long effort by the Egyptian army to uproot jihadist infrastructure and fighters from the increasingly anarchic territory:
It was the deadliest attack against security forces since August and a sign that efforts to contain al Qaida-linked insurgents in the region have failed. Egypt’s strongman, Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, vowed to avenge the deaths as the caskets of the slain soldiers arrived at the Almaza military base in Cairo.
“People should know we are all ready to die in order for Egypt to stay alive,” he said
The BBC reported that communications were shut down around the area near el-Arish, the city near where the roadside bomb attack took place, and that military helicopters were seen circling the area searching for attackers.
Cairo has sought to heavily leverage its air assets, including and particularly its U.S.-built Apache fleet, as part of its campaign in the Sinai Peninsula. The critical role that U.S. security assistance plays in Egypt’s anti-terror campaigns was a key reason why analysts widely blasted an October decision by the Obama administration to partially freeze aid to Cairo. The risk to U.S. interests – American troops have long relied on the preferential access to the Suez Canal and to Egyptian airspace that bilateral military ties enabled – was another critical consideration.
Cairo has in recent weeks made open moves to pivot toward Russia as a substitute for the U.S., and a Kuwaiti paper today described a $4 billion Russian arms deal that Egyptian officials are said to be pursuing.
In what was widely seen as an effort at damage control, Secretary of State John Kerry today declared that Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring revolution was “stolen” by the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s military in July deposed the Muslim Brotherhood-linked government that took over after the revolution, eventually prompting the Obama administration’s aid cut-off.
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