Egyptian officials: Israeli drone strikes Sinai rocket-launching site, kills five

Egyptian officials: Israeli drone strikes Sinai rocket-launching site, kills five

www.haaretz.com

Egyptian security officials say an Israeli drone fired a missile in the northern Sinai peninsula, killing five suspected Islamic militants and destroying a rocket launcher.

Residents heard a large explosion Friday in the region near the border with Israel. The officials say the attack was in cooperation with Egyptian authorities.

The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson stated that the army was not responding to the reports.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Okay, as much as I want to trust the Israeli and Egyptian spokespeople I don't feel like I am getting the full story.

Egypt is not known for agreeing with Israeli intervention, but now it seems to be fine with it as long as they are "suspected militants". This already happens all over the middle east but I never knew Egypt would ever condone to this. It's always "suspected militants".

Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are other hot spots, but let us not forget Africa, Somalia for example, and they are expanding too.

I guess suspicion is grounds for dismissal by drone strike as long as it is desired by certain entities.

Daily news headlines about drone strikes killing people in which ever country for which ever reason are meant to desensitize us .

It won't be long until it starts happenings where you might be, will you defend it when you are defined as the terrorist target and your whole family is taken out at the push of a button?

www.haaretz.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This situation has been building for months. Both Israel and Egypt security forces have been reporting on increased militant activity and build up in th Sinai, but Morsi didn't do anything to calm it down. I don't know if he was unable or unwilling or both. Now that he is removed expect more actions to be conducted in an effort to reduce the threat to what little security is left in that area.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


This all makes sense now after Morsi was removed. The protest drama was instigated by the Israeli Zionists.

reply to post by Montana


I think that this situation has been growing for years and that the recent revolution and rerevolution was all part of the plan. Now Egypt is now openly allowing Israeli drone strikes on it's territory.

Egyptians will not stand for this...!

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Actually, I think Egyptians will APPLAUD this. Especially the residents of the area as they have been screaming for help against the "insurgent" forces for months with no results.

Old story

Originally posted by Montana
reply to post by Corruption Exposed

 

Actually, I think Egyptians will APPLAUD this. Especially the residents of the area as they have been screaming for help against the "insurgent" forces for months with no results.

Old story

edit on 8/9/2013 by Montana because: To add link to new story.

I do not believe the Egyptians will agree with this as the insurgent forces are the Israelis performing drone strikes on Egyptian territory. Even worse, who or whatever is in power in Egypt, are condoning these actions.

Egyptians are strong people and they do not want USA or Israel intervening in their affairs, look at what they have done over the last couple years, they won't stop until they make things right. I wish more countries, including my own, shared their courage.

Perhaps we differ on views on this, but this is pretty cut and dry in my opinion.

I don't understand how can you call it cut and dry anti-Egyptian action when the Egyptians have been demanding these very actions from their own government? They haven't enjoyed being accosted and attacked by these militarists.If you read the news story I linked to, it seems more than likely that these militarists are fundamentalists. I'm pretty sure the residents of the Sinai will be grateful to anyone who reduces the threat to their families and themselves.

But you are correct that this incident could be used by certain factions to trump up more protests. I guess we should stay tuned as the saying goes.

The thing is… The Egyptians know exactly where the militants are.
They know dang well who the militants are. The few people that live there have been screaming about them for the longest time.

The problem is… The area is isolated, and going at them with ground forces will cost many lives of Egyptian military personnel..

If you go after them with large aircraft, you risk aircraft being shot down by anti aircraft missiles, and the aircrew in those craft.

Also… Since the Egyptian military does not have access to precision guided weapons of that quality, you also risk non combatants in the surrounding areas. Granted, its an isolated place, and the existing population isn’t that dense. But you are still risking hitting people (innocent or not) in houses near by.

And…. I would say the Egyptian military has someone of authority at the UAV control point, or on a video link to see, and verify the targets before he gives permission for the UAV operators to launch the attack.

So, letting the Israelis do the job for them, with no risk of life to you, reduced risk of life to innocents, and no cost to you, is a win win win situation for the Egyptian military.

The plot thickens....

UPDATE 1: Explosions in Northern Sinai, Egypt denies Israeli involvement'

english.ahram.org.eg...

Egyptian army deny Israeli involvement in explosion heard in Ajraa in North Sinai that reportedly killed Islamist militants; Israeli army refuse to comment

In response to conflicting media statements about the incident, Egyptian army spokesperson Ahmed Ali stressed that there's no truth to media claims of an Israeli attack on Egyptian soil, nor to claims of Egyptian-Israeli coordination, requesting media to verify its information before publishing, especially on issues of national security.

Sinai activist Mostafa Singer indicated on his Facebook account that, according to eye witnesses, an Egyptian Apache helicopter was seen circling the Rafah area before, during and after the explosion, adding that surveillance cameras are spread throughout the Egyptian-Israeli border, diminishing the likelihood of a one-sided attack.

reply to post by Swills


Thanks for the update, any other sources? I can't seem to find any, all I can find are the headlines I quoted and described...

So it's not Israel?

reply to post by Montana


Unfortunately terrorist attacks in Egypt are still happening but the Egyptian Army is reported to driving them out.

103 'terrorists' arrested, 60 killed in Sinai security crackdown: Army statement

english.ahram.org.eg...

Sinai has witnessed daily attacks on security forces since the removal of Mohamed Morsi 3 July; UN concerned about Gaza conditions after tunnels destroyed

Army spokesman Ahmed Ali released a statement Wednesday with the results of the police and army's crackdown on "terrorism and jihadists" in Sinai from the period 5 July to 4 August.
The statement, released on Ali's official Facebook page, says that the crackdown resulted in apprehending 227 individuals — 103 of which were arrested and 124 are either dead or injured.

The 103 individuals arrested, from across Sinai, are currently being interrogated. From among the 124, 60 were killed in clashes between security forces, while 64 were injured.

Sinai has suffered a security vacuum since the January 2011 uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime. The situation escalated with the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood-backed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi 3 July. Militants have attacked police and security forces on a daily basis in response to Morsi's overthrow.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


The source I posted is straight from Egypt and is one of their oldest news outlets.

en.wikipedia.org...

Al-Ahram (Arabic: الأهرام‎; The Pyramids), founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya (The Egyptian Events, founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian government.

But like any popular news outlet it's been accused of being state run, but in this case that's who we want to hear from about this attack. So is Egypt covering for Israel or did they kill those terrorists themselves via Apache helicopter?

OK

Sinai has always been # up...but drone strikes !?!

Come on, Gaza and Lebanon, and Syria were a stretch but Egypt?

This is purposely induced unrest.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


As far as we know there hasn't been any drone strikes, just talk of it. At this point it's either or, a drone strike or an Apache helicopter that killed these militants. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Egyptian military since they've been rooting out the terrorists in double time this past month, even blowing up the tunnels to Gaza. That worries the UN about the Palestinians now being short on basic supplies.

english.ahram.org.eg...

The UN released a statement late July claiming that the army's crackdown closed 80 percent of Gaza's tunnels, many of which have been used to smuggle basic necessities into Gaza, leaving the UN concerned "that already difficult economic and humanitarian conditions in Gaza will further deteriorate."

Ok... I made a thread not seeing this so I guess it will be deleted....Let me put my post here, because this has me very concerned. The people in Egypt are NOT going to like this. For those asking if this is world war 3, no because it was apparently in cooperation with Egypt...ODDLY.

This is why I'm totally confused but yeah, it seems under normal circumstances, Israel bombing Egypt would be a sign that things were really heating up.

My post and a second news link if it hasn't already been posted in the thread body.
______________
news.xinhuanet.com...

Ok...some say the US was for the ouster in Egypt, some say nay... and I entertain this notion due to various factors.

Now we have Israeli and Egyptian military cooperation, or so it unofficially seems.

What in the world are they doing? Trying to make the whole country riot?

I hold this belief that in order to confuse an Islamic population, the West wants people to think it still has a stronghold on Egypt... and perhaps this could steer some people back toward Morsi, or a brand new election altogether. Either way you look at this, it doesn't really help the consensus among the people to see Israel kill Islamic militants (no matter which side or what they claim) with the collaborated efforts of Egypt's military.

Here's what I'm hoping for... that some new light will be shed on this issue and that there is no true underlying cooperation between Israel and Egypt (at least not until the West denounces their stance in the middle East and stops playing Saudis lap dog, let Iran sell oil and let the East prosper in energy endeavors without interference and Israel out of Palestine and Syria)...THEN, I'd like to see some real cooperation between West and middle east... but if the people do not see a very clear indication that the US has done a 180, then there is really no point in trying to pass off this fake guise of cooperation... because it's not going to do anything but sit like a poisonous seed in the minds of the middle eastern population. (unless that is EXACTLY what they are trying to do to have more excuses to kill them)

WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

Maybe it was an isolated event. Maybe it is just Israeli fluff. Maybe it's really unconfirmed or a Western supporter inside Egypt has helped set this up...then Israel responds, the people go WTF?

Somebody PLEASE investigate this!

I could definitely see someone wanting to hit back at the militants in the area. Maybe it was actually the Egyptians who did it since there are conflicting reports. Or maybe the US and Israel have reasons to want to help. They've been attacking Egyptians, and they might very well want to hit Israel in the chaos as well.

Looking into it I found this article on an attack by Sinai militants a few days ago.

Sinai Militants attack Egypt Security forces with US Missile

An event like that might be another reason for the US and Israel wanting to be involved. The Egyptian military would of course deny it to keep the favor of the people but I'm sure the US and Israel have had mostly uninterrupted relations with the military since the Mubarak days.

reply to post by Swills


It is more than probable that these strikes happened, looked into Yemen the last few days?

You terrorist dogs.

Kill people and blame them, that's the way!

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Well, it's obvious a handful of terrorists were killed today, along with their rocket launcher, but the source of these attacks is still unknown. Egypt says it wasn't Israel and it's military is investigating, meanwhile Israel has no comment. Now it isn't at all far fetched that it's Israel since they have a clear history of not giving a F about international law and will strike any and all neighboring nations, Syria can attest.

So the question is, if it is an Israeli strike why is Egypt covering up for them?