12 August 2012

Egyptian President, Mohammed Morsi, has “retired” the top two Egyptian military commanders; Chief of Staff Sami Enan and Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi, one week after the 05 August 2012 insurgent attack against Egypt and Israel.

In the latest battles taking place on the Egyptian/Israeli border, Egyptian security forces claim to have killed at least seven insurgents, and captured a cache of weapons including mines and anti-aircraft missiles.

However, one village leader says the claim of killed insurgents is doubtful: “There were no bodies found or transferred to local hospitals.”-Ahmed Sallam, resident of El Arish

The locals say the insurgents are not from the area, although Egyptian officials believe that some of the insurgents are Egyptians and Palestinians.

In another incident, three Egyptian cops were killed, four wounded, when their vehicle flipped over as they were chasing insurgents.

Some people think Bedouins (nomads) are behind the attacks against Egyptian forces.  There have been cases of weapons being brought in from Libya, after the U.S./European led insurgency ended in that country, and ending up in the hands of nomads.

One villager who saw the 05 August 2012 insurgent attack said: “Whoever did this was very well trained.”-Abu Asma, witnessed insurgent attack on Egyptian border post

Egypt is now building up ground forces in the Sinai, specifically mechanized infantry operating YPR 765 armored personnel carriers (APC).  The military action is being called Operation Eagle 2.

An Israeli media source said United Nations Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) troops were attacked, however, MFO officials say no such attack took place.

11 August 2012

Unconfirmed media reports said that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had crossed into Sinai by several hundred meters. This might be connected with the Amnesty International report the day before.

U.S. media reports said that the Obama administration has promised the new Egyptian government increased military assistance, as well as: “…police training, and electronic and aerial surveillance…” The New York Times

10 August 2012

Egyptian military leaders accused three members of Hamas (some reports say five) of training the insurgents who conducted the 05 August attack against Egypt and Israel.

There are reports that Egyptian troops are randomly arresting Bedouins and Palestinians in the Sinai. The police chief of the village El Arish found teenaged Palestinians in his jail. He told reporters he had no authority: “He belongs to the army now.”-Mohamed Suleiman

Other reports say men as old as 72 years have been arbitrarily arrested. Many of the older men arrested had been political prisoners under the U.S. supported Mubarak regime.

Egyptians in the Sinai say the Egyptian army seems to be putting on a show: “We thought they were chasing someone, but their arms [weapons] were directed up and we didn’t see who they were fighting with. We couldn’t find any bodies or signs of battle after they left.”-witness from al Toumah village

Also, Amnesty International released a report saying Israel was using the insurgent activities in the Sinai as an excuse to stop illegal immigration, by sending IDF troops into Egyptian territory to round up what the IDF claims to be “infiltrators”.

Amnesty International says such IDF tactics have been going on for months, and they have swore statements from IDF troops as proof: “…was taken to a briefing given by reservist soldiers who served at the border site before him, who told him of a new procedure to stop ‘infiltrators’ by stationing soldiers hundreds of meters inside Egypt in order to stop them before they arrive at the border.”

08 August 2012

“The problem is that at present neither Israel nor Egypt know enough about who the enemy is, where he is situated, who his handler is and who is paying him.”-Alex Fishman, Yediot Aharonot daily

Egyptian military claimed their helicopters killed 20 insurgents, however, local villagers said that any insurgents in the area had already left by the time the helicopters showed up.

Israel handed over the bodies of those insurgents involved in the 05 August attack. The identities of the attackers are not being made public.

“…Israel is taking advantage of such attacks, using them as justification to push measures that serve the state’s security vision for the border triangle……the perpetrators are serving Israeli interests by undermining Egyptian security and providing Israel with pretexts to justify the way it deals with Palestinians.”-Al-Monitor

06 August 2012 

“The armed forces have been careful in the past months and during the events of the revolution not to shed Egyptian blood…but the group that staged yesterday’s attack is considered by the armed forces as enemies of the nation who must be dealt with by force.”-Egyptian military statement

“Israel and Egypt clearly have a shared interest in maintaining a quiet border. But when talking about the security of Israeli citizens, Israel must and will rely only on itself.”-Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel

“We hope this will be a fitting wake up call for the Egyptians to take things in hand on their side more forcefully.”-Ehud Barak, Israeli Defense Minister

One Israeli media source said the “wake up call” for Egypt was known about by the Israeli government well in advance of the 05 August attack: “Israeli intelligence had information on the planned attack, which allowed the military to have helicopters in the area to strike the vehicle, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said Monday……Israel had shared the intelligence with Egypt in advance of the attack…”-Jewish Telegraphic Agency

 05 August 2012

Insurgents attacked an Egyptian border post, killing 16 Egyptian soldiers.  The attack came while they were eating dinner. For some reason no guards were posted on that night.  Even though local villagers ran to see what was going on, no military or police forces responded for at least an hour.

The insurgents stole an APC, drove one mile into Israel, where they were blown up by Israeli forces.

An Israeli official blamed the attack on Iran: “Iranian backed terrorists again [?] struck at our Southern border today killing 15 Egyptian guards and attempting to massacre Israeli civilians.”-Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.

My thoughts are that this whole thing is a set up!  The groups behind this (right wing religious nut jobs in the U.S., Israel and Egypt) are trying real hard to push Israel and Egypt into a full blown war.