This week’s campaign to free seven kidnapped Egyptian security officials in the Sinai Peninsula exposed deep rifts between the Egyptian army and the country’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked government. The regime and its Brotherhood allies are preventing the army from uprooting the terrorist networks in the territory. A top jihadist explains the Brotherhood’s protection as a matter of ideological affinity:

Sheikh Nabil Naim, one of the leaders of the jihad movement in Egypt, told the London daily Asharq al-Awsat that the Muslim Brotherhood ruling Egypt today maintains close links with jihadist organizations in Sinai and treats them with kid gloves for two reasons: they share the same ideology and strive for the establishment of a new caliphate, and they may need their help to crush the opposition inside Egypt.

This explains why Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi resisted until the last minute all attempts by the army to subdue the kidnappers by force… The army is vainly trying to get the full support of the regime for an all-out effort to eliminate them.

Egyptian security forces have also consistently blamed Hamas – an off-shoot and ally of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood – for facilitating the transfer of material and personnel to terrorist groups in the territory. The army this week seized another shipment of weapons bound for Gaza. It included Qassam rockets, more than 100 automatic rifles, eight anti-aircraft missiles, 17 additional surface-to-air missiles, and more.

There are an estimated 2,000 terrorists operating in northern Sinai, and they have undertaken increasingly brazen attacks against Israel. Analysts are concerned that – if the Brotherhood-linked government in Cairo continues to stymie the efforts of Egyptian security forces – Jerusalem may eventually be forced to take action to stop rocket and missile attacks from the Sinai.

[Photo: Sherif9282 / Wiki Commons]