No Egyptian crackdown on Sinai terrorists. Jihad keeps Israel in suspense
Heaven soon
No Egyptian crackdown on Sinai terrorists. Jihad keeps Israel in suspense
DEBKAfile Special Report August 31, 2011, 9:03 AM (GMT+02:00)
The Cairo media's highly colored accounts Monday, Aug. 30 of 1,500
Egyptian commando and tank supposedly raiding Jihad Islami and al Qaeda
cells in Sinai are pure fiction, debkafile's
military sources confirm. Israeli forces along the Gazan and Egyptian
borders down to Eilat have been forced to stand for a week at the
highest level of preparedness since receiving word that a large group of
terrorists had left the Gaza Strip for Sinai on Aug. 24 bent on another
attack on southern Israel. The Egyptian army, for its part, is sitting
on is hands as the jihadists take up assault positions on its side of
the Sinai border.
The group set out from Gaza the day after the head of the Jihad Islami
missile and logistics chief Ismail al-Asmar died in a targeted Israeli
air strike on the car he was travelling in Rafah.
Israelwent on high terror alert on Aug. 25. Its leaders have repeatedly
warned since then that Israel is fully prepared to respond swiftly if
attacked.
Tuesday night, the IDF's Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said:
“Hamas and the other terrorist organizationsin Gaza had better realize
that if they harm Israeli citizens we shall hit them hard. Testing our
strength would be a mistake."
Tuesday, Home Front Minister Mattan Vilnai cited information that the at least 10 terrorists were in Sinai getting set to strike southern Israel.
Our sources report he was scolded by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak for letting it be known that the coming Palestinian raid was liable to be bigger than the coordinated highway attacks just north of Eilat of the Aug. 18, in which gunmen shot eight people dead. Limited Israeli reprisal then against Gazan terrorist targets brought forth a 150-missile barrage from Gaza against locations within its constantly expanding range.
For the loss of its logistics chief, the group decided it was not
satisfied with heavy missile assaults and plotted a "quality operation"
from Sinai.
debkafile's
intelligence and counter-terror sources report that the absence of
Egyptian preventatives and Israel's passivity in the face of an assault
known to be approaching afford the Palestinian terrorist group, which is
sponsored and armed by Iran, extra leverage and strategic leeway in its
contest with Israel.
Sunday, Aug. 21, after accepting an Egyptian-brokered truce for halting
the missile blitz from Gaza, Netanyahu commented that Israel had gained
the upper hand: The Palestinians had landed themselves with a new
negative equation: Their attacks from Sinai would henceforth incur
retaliation in Gaza.
Jihad Islami is now turning this equation on its head by demonstrating
that Israeli attacks on Palestinian terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip
bring forth Palestinian reprisals from Sinai.
They calculate correctly as it turned out this week that the Egyptian
border offers them no obstacle to cross-border terror, whereas Israeli
counteraction is stopped short.
Held back from its famous preemptive tactics by Israel's leaders out of
fear of further strains on relations with the military rulers in Cairo,
the Israeli army's deterrent strength is progressively sapped and the
pro-Iranian Palestinian terrorists are getting the last laugh even
before they strike.
They have wound up holding the initiative in the next round. It is up
to them to decide for how much longer – days or weeks - reinforced
Israeli units must stay on maximum preparedness and Israel's main routes
to the south, Highways 10 and 12, stay closed to civilian traffic. They
can keep Israel on tenterhooks as long as they like before deciding to
press the trigger.
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