Well informed sources said that a report prepared by the Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate has warned Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi against the dangers of widening the scope of confrontation in the Sinai area between local tribes on the one hand and the Sinai Province group, which is affiliated to Daesh, on the other, according to al-Araby al-Jadeed.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed pointed out that the sources are of “a military-academic nature”.
The report warns against the idea of forming armed squads of civilians from among Sinai’s local tribes to fight the Sinai Province militant group under the Egyptian military’s supervision.
In addition, the report also noted that the idea had been previously brought up several times in the country’s security circles, but was always met with rejection.
Al-Tarabin Tribe,one of Sinai’s largest tribes, has announced that it is at war with Daesh’s Sinai Province.
The tribe noted in its statement, which was released on 7 May, “We operate under the state’s umbrella and under the command of our Armed Forces; and we are part of the Egyptian state and part and parcel of Egypt’s great people.”
According to the intelligence report that was recently presented to al-Sisi, the decision to allow Tarabin to fight against the Sinai Province could lead to catastrophic repercussions and opens the door for a civil war in the Sinai, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said.
Last week, the Independent, British daily newspaper, said in a report that Al-Sisi is employing local militia to offer assistance to the Egyptian security forces in their war against ISIS, shows how desperate al-Sisi’s war against ISIS has become.
Moreover, it pointed that this, in fact, is one of the most alerting factors in Egypt’s war against terrorism as the Egyptian army is following the same contaminated path as many of its neighbors by using a killer-militia in its war against ISIS in Sinai, especially that counter-insurgency wars always breed corruption and counter-murder.
In the end, the Independent said, “The problem is that Egypt’s out-of-control war against ISIS– and ISIS’s new killer cells west of the canal – may soon make such institutions powerless. And when army militias are now at work to execute the state’s supposed enemies… Well, just think Iraq.”
Violence has escalated in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, especially after the military ousted former president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
