The construction of a wall on the border between Egypt’s Sinai and the Palestinian Gaza Strip is nearly complete, after Egyptian authorities stepped up work on it with the aim of shielding Sinai against infiltration by jihadists from Gaza.

Closing Down Egypt’s Vulnerable Entry Point

Salafist jihadists from Gaza used to enter Sinai using a network of smuggling tunnels and a porous border with the Egyptian territory. Once in Egypt they would join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists operating in the Sinai region.

The wall construction started in 2014 to make Sinai inaccessible for the jihadists and make it difficult for ISIS terrorists to cross into Gaza and seek escape from Egyptian army attacks. The construction of the wall is part of a broader crackdown by the Egyptian army on tunnels between Sinai and Gaza. The tunnels were used in past decades in the smuggling of goods and arms to and from Sinai.

In recent years, they were also used in the infiltration into Sinai by Gazan jihadists and for travel into Gaza by ISIS terrorists to seek medical treatment in the Palestinian territory.

Stopping Infiltration With a Wall

The presence of a wall on the border between Sinai and Gaza is necessary for the protection of security in Sinai, especially with the Sinai branch of ISIS teaming up with Salafi jihadists in the Palestinian territory, as security analysts report.

The Gaza-ruling Hamas movement has long struggled to secure the joint border with Egypt. However, Hamas’ attempt to secure the border and prevent the smuggling of militants into Sinai can land it in trouble, given the alliance between ISIS Sinai and some jihadist factions in Gaza.

“This is why constructing such a wall is important,” said retired Egyptian police general, Ali Hefzi. “The presence of this wall will offer solutions to the infiltration of these militants into Sinai.”

A Tall Order for the Egyptian Military

The Egyptian army spent a sizable amount of resources on the construction of the wall which extends over 12 kilometers, covering most of the joint border between Sinai and the Gaza Strip. The wall is six meters high and five meters deep underground. This means that it can be an effective mechanism against the renewed digging of tunnels along the border.

Egypt has destroyed hundreds of smuggling tunnels on the border with Gaza in the past years. Some of the tunnels were difficult to find, having begun in Gaza and ended inside the homes of some Sinai Bedouins.

“These tunnels posed a real threat to security in Sinai,” said security expert Hossam Suweilam.

Egypt’s Successful Strategy

The construction of the wall on the border with Gaza is only one measure in a series of others taken by Cairo to secure Sinai and end the threat of militancy in it. The Egyptian army has been fiercely cracking down on this militancy for over five years now, having deployed all army branches in the territory which also shares borders with Israel.

Apart from deploying tens of thousands of ground troops, the army also uses the air force and the navy to besiege the ISIS terrorists and prevent them from receiving supplies. This strategy has so far succeeded in trimming the power of ISIS, which is a vital reason for the failure of the terrorist group in maintaining attacks against army and police posts in Sinai.

This does not mean, however, that ISIS is over because the group is sometimes capable of staging deadly attacks. On April 30, it killed two army officers and eight conscripts in a bomb attack on an armored vehicle in the North Sinai city of Beir al-Abd.

Big Plans for Sinai

Sinai has always been absent from Egypt’s development agenda. Larger in size than Israel, the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian West Bank and Lebanon combined, Sinai is inhabited by only 600,000 people.

The Egyptian government wants to relocate between 3 and 5 million citizens to Sinai. To do this, it is spending billions of dollars on the development of the territory. The development projects implemented include dozens of roads, hospitals and schools. They also include tens of thousands of flats, and tourist and industrial facilities.

“A comprehensive development plan is being implemented in Sinai,” said economist Zeinab Anwar. “However, this development cannot be completed without the eradication of the terrorist threat in it.”

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Egypt’s counterterrorism efforts received a big boost on March 13 when Egyptian army troops succeeded in killing a senior commander of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Sinai. Abu Fares al-Ansari, the ISIS emir in the North Sinai city of Rafah, was reportedly hiding in the southern part of the city together with five other organization leaders when army troops raided the area. When they saw the troops approaching, al-Ansari and other ISIS militants opened fire, but the battle ended in the killing of al-Ansari along with five of his militants.

Seminal Event

Al-Ansari was the mastermind of a large number of the attacks against the Egyptian army and Egyptian police in the past months. He is the latest in a long series of senior ISIS officers killed in Sinai in the past years since Egypt started cracking down on the terrorist organization in Sinai.

His killing will significantly weaken ISIS Sinai, but will not be enough to eradicate it or totally end its presence in the Egyptian territory, security analysts said.

“The problem is that terrorist activities are not usually contingent on one commander or another,” security expert Magdi Bassiouni said. “Terrorist organizations are always able to draw in recruits and compensate losses.”

Like-minded experts say the killing of ISIS caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in October 2019 weakened the terrorist organization. Nevertheless, al-Baghdadi’s killing did not cause the collapse or the end of his organization, they add.

The Formidable Threat of ISIS in Egypt

ISIS took root in Sinai in late 2014, when a homegrown terrorist organization known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Guardians of the al-Aqsa Mosque) swore allegiance to al-Baghdadi.

Since then, the terrorist organization has been growing and attracting recruits in Sinai. Some of the recruits arrived from the Gaza Strip through a network of smuggling tunnels between Sinai and the coastal Palestinian territory. Others arrived from Syria and Iraq at the orders of the ISIS leadership in the two countries to prop up the ISIS command in Sinai. ISIS staged a large number of attacks on Egyptian army and police posts in North Sinai. It also scared Christians out of some of North Sinai cities and made these cities no-go areas for members of various Sinai tribes.

Comprehensive Operation

The Egyptian army countered the rise in ISIS attacks by fiercely cracking down on the terrorist organization.

In February of 2018 the army launched an all-out operation against the organization Codenamed “Sinai 2018.” The operation included participation of all of Egypt’s military including the air force and the navy. It also included a comprehensive siege over Sinai to prevent the terrorists from either receiving supplies or escaping the Egyptian territory. The operation should have taken a few months to complete, but the army command had to extend it more than one time.

Success of Operation Sinai 2018

The operation is paying off, despite difficulties. The success of the operation is manifest in the noticeable drop in the number of attacks ISIS is able to carry out against army and police posts. Behind the drop in the number of attacks is the ability of the army and police to kill a large number of the commanders of ISIS, including senior commanders like al-Ansari.

In 2019, army troops killed 353 ISIS terrorists. They also seized 791 vehicles of different types and destroyed 268 four-wheel drives, according to official figures. On March 16, army troops killed six ISIS terrorists during a raid on their hideout in North Sinai.

The success of Egypt’s counterterrorism strategy in Sinai, observers said, boils down to the killing of the senior leaders of the terrorist organization.

“This contributed to the weakening of the terrorist organization to a great deal,” said Nabil Naeem, an expert in militancy. “The army and police are now dealing only with the junior officers of the organization after they killed most of its senior leaders.”

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Egypt has proposed the formation of a joint military force to counter the growing threat of terrorism in Africa and protect the states of the continent. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the force would be essential for the preservation of peace and security across the continent.

Sisi: Egypt Is Ready To Host A Summit On Creating A Pan-African Force

Speaking February 9 during the 33rd African summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, Sisi added that his country would be ready to host an African summit on the proposed military force.

“This proposal derives from Egypt’s responsibility towards the continent,” said Sisi—whose country held the rotating presidency of the African Union in 2019. “It derives from Egypt’s belief in the importance of forming this force for peace and security in Africa,” he added.

During his tenure as president of the African Union, Sisi worked hard to settle conflicts on the continent. Egypt hosted several meetings on Libya, mediated talks between military rivals in South Sudan and offered backing to African Union efforts to settle the political crisis in Sudan, following the ousting of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in April of last year.

Egypt Clearly Alarmed Over Terrorist Surge In Africa’s Sahel Region

The proposed military force is by far the clearest expression of the worries Egypt harbors as the terrorist threat grows more dangerous in Africa day after day. Some of the countries of the continent are turning into hotspots for terrorist activity. From Nigeria, to Somalia and from Libya to Mali, terrorist groups are gaining more ground every day, opening the door for the potential collapse of nation states and creating unprecedented population displacements.

Egypt’s fear is that some of the terrorist groups active in West Africa as well as the Sahel and Sahara region could merge into others active in North Africa, which could prove enormously destructive to the region and to Europe.

This is probably why Egypt hosted a meeting of the chiefs of staff of the armies of the Sahel and Sahara states between February 9 and 11. During the meeting, Cairo proposed to train militaries of the countries of the region with the aim of making them capable of standing against the security threats facing them.

Force Would Be Overseen By The African Union

Addressing the 33rd African summit, Sisi noted that the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, the decision-making body of the pan-African organization, would oversee the proposed military force. He invited African leaders to speed up consultations on the force and attend the proposed summit in Cairo with the aim of turning it into a reality. The view in Cairo is that the proposed force will be instrumental in eradicating terrorism in Africa and helping the states of the continent be up to the security challenges they are facing.

“Such a force will be able to put an end to terrorism in the continent,” Egyptian lawmaker Saeed Hasasien said. “It can be the nucleus of an international military force against terrorism.”

As president of the African Union, Sisi proposed a continental initiative for ending military disputes and conflicts in Africa. Called “Silencing the Guns”, the initiative aspires to end all these conflicts by the end of 2020.

Questions About The Force Still Remain

However, it is not clear how the proposed military force for Africa will operate, where it will be based, where its funding will come from and which country will be responsible for its command. In June 2018, Egypt opened a command center for counterterrorism operations in the Sahel and Sahara region. Constructed in Egypt’s sprawling new capital outside Cairo, the command center is anticipated to become a focal point for drafting counterterrorism strategies in Africa as a whole.

When he came to Egypt’s helm in mid-2014, Sisi proposed a similar military force for Arab countries. This was a time when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria had just declared its self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria and drew up plans for occupying most of the Arab world. However, the force had not materialized as an idea, apparently because of rifts among Arab states.

Nevertheless, the proposed force for Africa will be more practical, given the urgency of the presence of such a force for protecting the states of the continent from the threats facing them, analysts said.

“This is about time African leaders realized the importance of military unity among their countries,” said Abdel Hamid al-Hawari, a senior official of Nation’s Future Party, the majority party in the Egyptian parliament.

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Speaker of the Libyan House of Deputies (parliament), which is based in the northeastern port city of Tobruk, Agila Saleh, has alluded to the possibility of inviting the Egyptian army to directly intervene in Libya.

“We will do this if Turkey makes a full deployment of its troops in our country,” Saleh said on January 12 in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

In a gesture of major symbolism, Saleh, 75 and the speaker of the Tobruk-based legislature since August 2014, co-presided over a session of the Egyptian parliament.

He said Egyptian state institutions had been actively working to find a solution to the crisis in Libya since the North African state descended into chaos after the downfall of the Muammar Gaddafi regime in 2011.

Fears

Egypt, Libya’s eastern neighbor, has become a main party to the crisis in the country, given the huge impact the unrest in the North African state is having on Egypt’s security.

Egypt, which battles a branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Sinai, has stood at the receiving end of the smuggling of arms and militants from Libya.

This is why it throws its full weight behind the Libyan National Army (LNA), which controls most of eastern, southern, and central Libya and is now in a new drive to control Libyan capital Tripoli and the northern city of Misrata.

Turkey

Saleh’s allusion that his parliament might invite Egypt to directly intervene in Libya comes a short time after Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declared that his country had already sent troops to Libya, in the light of a security cooperation memo signed with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord in late November last year.

The reality is, however, that most of those sent to Libya by Mr. Erdogan were Syrian mercenaries, some of them arrested by the LNA.

Turkey also signed another memo with the GNA for the delimitation of maritime boundaries between Turkey and Libya, even as the two states do not share maritime boundaries.

A ceasefire sponsored by Russia and Turkey started coming into effect from the early hours of January 12.

Nevertheless, the LNA sticks to the areas it liberated from GNA control in the past days, including the northern city of Sirte. It is not known whether the LNA will go back to the pre-April 2019 lines as the GNA demands as a condition for maintaining the ceasefire.

Alarm

In Egypt, preparations are in full swing for any emergency on the joint border with Libya or in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Egyptian army is now conducting a full-scale drill, codenamed ‘Qadir 2020’. The training brings together all divisions of the Egyptian army. It also includes a rare amphibious landing along the Mediterranean coast. This is latest in a series of military drills Egypt is conducting intending to raise the level of preparedness among its troops for any emergency, especially from Libya.

Egyptian parliament Speaker, Ali Abdel A’al, was probably very clear on the length his country is willing to go to defend its security against what is happening in Libya and Turkish involvement in the country.

Political solution

Abdel A’al said his country does not prioritize military solutions over political solutions.

“Nonetheless, Egypt has a power to demonstrate if its national security is threatened,” Abdel A’al said.

Egypt, he noted, repeatedly warned against applying military solutions to the crises in Syria and Libya.

He said his parliament had previously invited all parties to the Libyan crisis to meet in Cairo and find a negotiated settlement to the conflict in their country.

Abdel A’al lashed out at GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj for signing the security cooperation and maritime boundary delimitation memos with Turkey.

“These memos are a flagrant violation of international law and the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council,” Abdel A’al said.

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