WarSclerotic

Is a free Kurdistan, and a new Israeli ally, upon us? | The Times of Israel.

As Syria’s Kurds carve out an autonomous region, their brethren in Iraq continue to wait for the right moment

By Lazar Berman August 10, 2013, 8:43 pm

In late July, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party in Syria, also known as the PYD, revealed its intention to declare some form of self-rule in majority Kurdish areas in northeastern Syria.

PYD leaders clarified it was only for the duration of the Syrian civil war, but the move was part of a larger pattern in which the group has been taking advantage of the power vacuum caused by the two-year-old conflict to push out rival opposition fighters and move closer to autonomy.

The announcement caught the attention of neighboring countries, perpetually nervous about the prospect of full Kurdish independence. “It’s not possible to accept any de facto declaration of an autonomous entity in Syria,” said Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, “and that could only lead to further crisis.”

Turkey, home to the world’s largest Kurdish population and skittish about any moves that could re-ignite unrest in the country, streamed more troops to its border with Syria after the PYD statement, announcing that it had “a parliamentary mandate to intervene in the Syrian territories if there is a serious risk.”

While Turkey, Iraq, and other countries balk at indications of increased Kurdish self-rule, an independent Kurdish state in the Middle East would be a gift for Israel, many Kurdish and Israeli experts believe.

“Kurds are deeply sympathetic to Israel and an independent Kurdistan will be beneficial to Israel,” argued Kurdish journalist Ayub Nuri in July. “It will create a balance of power. Right now, Israel is one country against many. But with an independent Kurdish state, first of all Israel will have a genuine friend in the region for the first time, and second, Kurdistan will be like a buffer zone in the face of the Turkey, Iran and Iraq.”

The Kurds are the world’s largest stateless nation, numbering well over 30 million spread across Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq, according to figures in the CIA Factbook, though exact population numbers are hard to pin down. Iraq’s 6 million Kurds have achieved the greatest measure of independence; they run the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, within the federal Iraqi system since 2005 (though de facto autonomy began after Saddam’s army was forced out of the region during the 1991 Gulf War). But despite a booming economy and striking freedom of action, the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq still has presented no concrete plans for independence.

Will it be Syria’s Kurds who lead the way toward a Kurdish state?

Temporary autonomy or preparation for a state?

Syrian Kurds, the largest ethnic minority in the country, make up some 9 percent of the country’s 23 million people, according to US government figures. Their loyalties in the conflict are split, though Kurds have managed to carve out a once unthinkable degree of independence in the northeast of the country, where they constitute a majority. They’ve created their own police forces, issued their own license plates and have thrown off restrictions on their language and culture.

The announcement of autonomy followed the capture of the multi-ethnic Syrian border town of Ras al Ayn from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front rebels. The Sunni extremist group had tried imposing its strict form of Islam on the more moderate Kurds. Clashes between Kurdish gunmen and Islamists belonging to al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant over the past weeks left dozens of gunmen dead on both sides. Kurdish commanders charged that the mainstream Free Syrian Army commanders are also sending fighters to join the al-Qaeda-linked groups in fighting the Kurds, hinting at the possibility of an Arab-Kurdish mini-war breaking out in Syria.

However, it is still unclear if the Syrian Kurds declared autonomy with an eye toward eventual independence.

PYD officials tried to play down the significance of the declaration. “This is not a call for separation,” PYD leader Salih Muslim maintained in an interview with France 24. “It’s just that for a year now we have been on our own in our own territories and people have needs, they want some kind of administration to run their issues, they can’t be left like that.”

According to Kurdistan expert Ofra Bengio of Tel Aviv University, independence is not on the Syrian Kurds’ agenda any time in the near future. “The PYD is not talking about independence now and will be reluctant to use such terminology in order not to antagonize any of the governments or the international community,” she said. “Autonomy is the safer goal now.”

“Things may change according to changes on the ground,” she added.

But Syria might be so far gone that the Kurds will never agree to rule from Damascus, even under a federal system. “The idea of independence is also likely, because I don’t see the PYD having friendly relations with the future government in Damascus that is run by the current opposition fighters,” said Nuri.

“I think the Syrian Kurds as a people have independence as their ultimate goal,” he continued, “but at this point it is not up to them to decide.”

Iraqi Kurds bide their time

Even if the PYD isn’t planning for imminent independence, its growing autonomy and its influence on the Kurdistan Regional Government’s calculations in Iraq could be an important development. The autonomous Kurdistan Region in Iraq borders Kurdish areas in Syria and the two populations’ connections run deep.

Iraq’s Kurds and their leaders are deeply sympathetic to the Syrian Kurds, and have been eager to help their brethren across the border avoid the political mistakes they made, some of which resulted in a bloody Kurdish civil war in Iraq almost twenty years ago.

While Syria crumbles, the KRG in Erbil continues to help Syrian Kurdish doctors and teachers find employment in the Kurdistan Region. Kurdish students from Syria are allowed to enroll in universities in the KR, despite the fact that Bashar Assad refused to grant them passports. Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds have fled to the Iraqi Kurdish city of Duhok since the civil war started.

Kurdish president Massoud Barzani speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Salah al-Din resort, Irbil north of Baghdad, Iraq, April 25, 2012. (photo credit: Khalid Mohammed/AP)

KRG President Massoud Barzani has also served as a mediator between rival Syrian Kurdish factions, the PYD and the Kurdish National Council, closely allied with Barzani’s party in Iraq. Syrian fighters have been training in Iraqi Kurdistan with Barzani’s blessing.

Still, the relationship is complex. The PYD is very closely affiliated with, and often seen as an extension of, the PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party), a militant group that until recent peace talks fought a long and bloody campaign against Turkey. It constitutes the rival to Barzani’s KDP for leadership of Kurds across the region. The two sides battled each other during the Kurdish civil war in the 1990s. Earlier this year, the PYD arrested 75 members of Syria’s branch of the KDP, and Barzani responded by closing the border between the Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish regions. Recently, the PKK has been supporting parties in the Kurdistan Region that are critical of Barzani’s grip on power.

The relationship “is one of interdependence,” explained Bengio. “The Syrian Kurds need the KRG as a mediator and as strategic depth and the KRG needs the Syrian Kurds for its goal of turning itself into the national center for all Kurds as well as for gaining a closer outlet to the sea.”

Though the KRG sets the agenda for Syria’s Kurds, and not vice versa, autonomy in Syria may affect the calculus in Erbil.

Nuri believes autonomy for Syria’s Kurds improves the likelihood the KRG will move toward independence. “The neighbors are hostile to the idea and they are militarily strong. But if Syrian Kurds have their autonomy and rule their own areas, it will only take Iraqi Kurdistan one step closer to independence.” The knowledge that Iraqi Kurdistan’s western border is shared with a friendly administration, not a hostile army, might give the KRG a sense of security as it weigh its options.

In public, Kurdish leaders speak about a future in a unified Iraq. “We believe in Iraq’s constitution, and will not sway from it,” Barzani’s chief of staff told President Obama’s deputy national security adviser. But experts believe they are simply waiting for the right opportunity to declare independence from Baghdad.

“The important point is that the general mood in Kurdistan has changed in a way that there’s no way they would agree to be ruled from Baghdad,” said Selam Saadi, chief editor of Kurdish news site Rudaw. “The way Kurds look at the world has changed and they are very different in that from Arabs” — and they do not see a joint future.

A vehicle in Kurdistan with a homemade “Kurdistan” sticker covering the word “Iraq” on its license plate. (photo credit: Courtesy/Rebaz Hadi)

A non-binding poll conducted by a pro-independence movement during the 2005 Iraqi elections found that over 98% of Kurdish respondents supported independence. During my time in the region in late 2012, I noticed that the only Iraqi flags flying were those on federal government buildings. Kurdish drivers even went out of their way to cover the part of their license plates labeled “Iraq” with a homemade sticker reading “Kurdistan.”

But what will it take for KRG to actually make that leap? The emergence of a strong central government in Baghdad that could once again threaten Kurds might push them over the edge. “The Kurds in Iraq are and forever will be suspicious of Iraq and Iraqi leaders,” said Nuri. “The scars imprinted on the Kurdish people in Iraq through decades of killing and persecution will probably take centuries to heal.”

Israeli and American interests at odds

When the move to independence does finally come, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq will be hostile to the development. Still, the American reaction is what counts. “I do not think that the three neighboring countries will launch a war if Washington supports it,” Bengio argued. “Washington’s stance is a key to all the others.”

But America, after investing so much blood and treasure into keeping the Iraqi state together after Saddam’s downfall, is not interested in seeing it fracture along ethnic lines. The Americans “want to keep the political map of the region as it is,” noted Saadi.

On this issue, Israeli interests run counter to the current American position. Ties between Israel and the Kurds run deep. A Mossad officer named Sagi Chori was sent to help his close friend, the late iconic Kurdish leader Mulla Mustafa Barzani, manage the Kurds’ battles against the Iraqi army in the 1960s. (The partnership has been well-documented in Kurdish and Israeli media.) And reports of Israel training Kurdish commandos continue to surface. Nationalist Kurds tend to see Israel as a role model for an independent Kurdistan, a small nation surrounded by enemies and bolstered by a strategic partnership with the United States.

Israel has long developed alliances with non-Arab countries on the periphery of the Middle East. Today, that policy rests on partnerships with Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, and Caucasian and central Asian countries. Kurdistan fits perfectly into that framework.

The new Kurdish country will likely open full diplomatic relations with Israel. “The Kurds are the only nation in the region that has not been filled with hatred toward Israel and America,” said Saadi. “The way Kurds see the world is different from Arabs… Generally, Islamists are more powerful in the Arab world, they think that Islamic Sharia is the solution. However, the majority of Kurds believe in a European style of government. The problem is they don’t know how to get there. They don’t have experience.”

With few friends in the region, the Kurds will likely look to Israel to help them gain security and closer relations with the United States. As Arab governments in the Middle East totter and fall, and Islamists look to exploit the chaos, the alliance is one that both countries may find beneficial to pursue.

Attack on Egyptian soil, problematic but probably necessary – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Analysis: If reports of Israel’s alleged attack of terror cell in Sinai are true, it would be second time since 1979 peace treaty Israel has breeched Egyptian sovereignty – a risky move justified only if terror cell was ‘ticking bomb’ posing immediate threat to Israeli lives

If the reports of an Israeli drone attacking a terror cell preparing to launch a rocket into Israel from Egypt are true then it would be the first time since Egypt and Israel signed their peace treaty in 1979 that Israel’s forces have operated within Sinai, or Egypt for that matter – except a single incident during the terror attack along Route 12 two years ago. Like now, at the time, an Israel aircraft – according to Egyptian media reports, a helicopter – entered into Egypt, fired on terrorist but also at Egyptian soldiers, who return fire with a rocket in its direction.

The difference between what happened then and what allegedly happened Friday is that the alleged drone attack on the terrorist near Egypt’s Rafah in Sinai was probably undertaken at Israel’s own initiative. The reason for the initiative is what is called ‘a live prevention’ of an imminent attempt to launch either a rocket or a long-range missile. It is safe to assume that those behind the attack are a group of Salafist Bedouins attempting to launch either a Fajr or M75 Fajr-like missile made in the Gaza Strip by either Hamas or the Islamic Jihad .

An additional possibility is that the terrorists attempting to fire the rocket were Palestinians, maybe Hamas men, or more likely, members of the Popular Resistance Front or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They all have an interest to spike unrest in the West Bank, mainly because of the renewal of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians with the conclusion of the Ramadan – always an explosive time.

The fact that the rocket was to be launched from Rafah seems to hint at the possibility that it was indeed Palestinians, as there is no small number of tunnels connects Gaza to the Egyptian town in the area. In such a scenario, one can assume that the terrorists passed through the tunnels, set-up the launcher in Rafah and then attempted to launch a rocket from it, in a bid to put the Egyptian army in a bind with Israel.

It is safe to assume that Israel would not risk its relations with Egypt if there was not a direct and immediate threat to the lives of Israeli citizens. If so, the incident can be seen as a ‘ticking bomb’ taken out so as to save lives, and as such, as a call that trumps diplomatic and political considerations.

Two birds, one rocket

The interest of Jihadist or Salafist groups to fire into Israel is that of killing two birds with one rocket onslaught. They want to directly cause harm to Israel but also to pull Israel and Egypt into conflict. The Egyptian army has been working tirelessly recently to ‘cleanse’ Sinai of terrorists, and Israel is more than aware of its efforts.

We can presume that Israel is content with the army’s determined battle against terror groups and organizations active in Sinai. Nonetheless, Israel cannot let terrorist attack its communities in the Negev with rockets or missiles. The security establishment in Israel has been keeping mums in regards to reports, but a source said: “We are aware of the intensified Egyptian army activities against terrorist in the Sinai region.”

The comment can be understood as an apology of sorts that Israel – according to foreign media reports, in light of the direct and imminent threat to its citizen’s lives – was forced to act on its own over Egypt’s sovereign soil.

It is also safe to assume that the Egyptian army will not be pleased by the fact that targets were engaged on sovereign Egyptian territory by Israel aircraft. However, in light of the fact that it was allegedly an unmanned aircraft, and the event did have a humanitarian justification, it is possible that with a little help from our American friends, the incident might just pass without response.

Sinai group says it was target of Israeli drone – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Al-Qaeda affiliated Sinai group claims it was target of alleged Israeli drone strike, says 4 – not 5 – killed, with rocket launching cell’s leader managing to flee. Meanwhile, Muslim Brotherhood slams army for allegedly coordinating with Israel prior to attack, asking: Can Egypt attack terrorist in Israel?

Elior Levy

An al-Qaeda-linked group active in the Sinai Peninsula says its fighters were the target of a rare Israeli drone strike into Egyptian territory.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, in a statement posted on a militant website Saturday, said that four of its members were killed in the Friday attack as they were preparing a cross-border rocket strike into Israel.

“Our heroes became martyrs during their jihadi duties against the Jews in a rocket attack on occupied lands,” the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis group said on a jihadist website. It further said the dead were from Egyptian Sinai tribes and that the rocket squad’s leader escaped.

Drone (Archive photo: AP)

Egyptian security officials speaking anonymously Friday said that a drone firing from the Israeli side of the border had killed five suspected militants. The conflicting death tolls could not be reconciled.

Israel maintained official silence about the strike, while an Egyptian military spokesman later denied the report but did not provide another cause for the explosion.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has published a statement slamming the army, with which it has faced off against in violent clashes since the army deposed Mohammed Morsi from the Egyptian presidency.

Taking a strongly worded jab at the army, Muslim Brotherhood Media Spokesman Dr. Ahmed Aref published a statement saying there was ongoing attempts within the army to redefine ‘enemy’ in a bid to turn the army’s power inwards through the use of propaganda and lies.

Egyptian army forces in Sinai (Photo: Reuters)

Regarding Israel and the alleged attack on ready-to-launch rockets in the Egyptian town of Rafah, Aref said the incident was a breech of Egyptian sovereignty. “Now we hear about the crimes of the Zionist enemy along our borders as well as an infiltration of our borders and the killing of Egyptians, after Israel recognized the new organization in Egypt,” he said, hinting at cooperation between the new regime and Israel.

“What happened should prove to every Egyptian that the real enemy is outside of Egypt,” he said, calling on the Egyptian army “not to fall into this trap.”

One of the representatives of the Justice and Freedom Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, also slammed the alleged Israeli attack, saying: “Can the leaders of the July 3 revolution (in which the army deposed of Morsi) attack terrorist inside of Israeli territory the same way they permit Israel to attack Egyptian on Egyptian soil?” he rhetorically asked.

A pro-Morsi umbrella organization also published a scathing statement regarding the alleged attack, calling it an “act of terror,” which “threatens Egypt’s national security.”

Target: Eilat?

Friday, Egyptian reports which have not received official confirmation claimed that Sinai militant groups decided to launch rockets at Israel, after acquiring various rockets via smuggling routes through the Red Sea.

The AP news agency reported two senior Egyptian defense sources said that the Israeli airstrike was coordinated with the Egyptian authorities. An aircraft fired two rockets toward the target in Rafah, killing five militants and destroying a rocket launching platform, said the AP report.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram quoted the Egyptian army spokesperson who said that on 4:15 pm on Friday two explosions were heard about three kilometers west of the border line. According to him, Egyptian army forces are canvassing the area to find an explanation for the explosions.

An Israel source said in response to the reports: “We’re aware of the increase Egyptian army activity against terror in Sinai.”

Earlier on Friday Ma’an reported that it was an Egyptian alert of anti-aircraft rockets in Sinai which led to the closure of Eilat’s airport for two hours on Thursday.

The news agency reported that according to high ranking Egyptian army officer, Cairo alerted Israel to threats made by Sinai Peninsula-based militant groups to attack Israeli targets with 70 km-ranged rockets.

Al-Qaida-linked group says it was target of alleged Israeli drone strike in Sinai | JPost | Israel News.

ISMAILIA, Egypt – An Islamist terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaida said on Saturday four of its members were killed in an Israeli drone strike in Egypt’s North Sinai region.

“Our heroes became martyrs during their jihadi duties against the Jews in a rocket attack on occupied lands,” the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group said on a jihadist website..

Egyptian security sources said earlier that four Islamist militants were killed by a missile strike on Friday as they prepared to launch rockets at Israel.

It was not clear how the terrorist group determined that its members were the target of an Israeli drone strike.

Five security sources told Reuters the attack was carried out by Israel. But the Egyptian armed forces officially denied that was the case and an Israeli army spokeswoman in Jerusalem declined to comment on the incident.

The two countries have cooperated in tackling the threat from Islamist militants in Sinai in the past and neither seemed interested in creating a fuss over this case.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis criticized the Egyptian military for what it called its repeated cooperation with Israel.

The Egyptian military said two explosions took place at a site 3 km (2 miles) west of the border and south of the city of Rafah on Friday afternoon.

The security sources in Sinai said an Israeli aircraft struck at the militants, killing four, after discovering they had planned to fire rockets into Israel.

One source said the Israeli aircraft had observed the militants preparing three rocket launch pads to hit Israel. It launched a missile, killing two men, then killed another pair who stepped up to the pads after the first strike.

However, an Egyptian army spokesman denied in a subsequent statement any Israeli role in the incident.

Militants based mainly in North Sinai near the border have escalated attacks on Egyptian security forces and other targets since July 3, when the army deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and installed a new government.

The Sinai is largely demilitarized as part of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979 but Israel has approved troop reinforcements to combat the militants and arms smuggling by Palestinians into Gaza.

The desert peninsula has long been a security headache for Egypt and its neighbors. Large and empty, it also borders the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip and flanks the Suez Canal linking Asia to Europe. It is also home to nomad clans disaffected with rule from Cairo.

The Egyptian army said on Wednesday it had killed 60 militants in the Sinai Peninsula in the month since Music’s overthrow.

Hamas supplied Sinai terrorists with Iran-made Fajr-5 missiles for foiled attack on Eilat.

Iran-made Fajr-5 missiles in Sinai

The missile launcher destroyed by two rockets fired by an Israeli drone at Ajarah in North Sinai Friday, Aug. 9 was capable of firing 4 heavy Iranian-made M-75 missiles known as Fajr-5, which Hamas possesses, but not Sinai Salafists

Its 75-kilometer range covers Tel Aviv from Gaza Strip or Eilat from inland Sinai. The five terrorists killed in the drone strike were prevented from launching these rockets against Eilat airport Thursday by a tip-off from Egyptian intelligence to Israel. The Fajr-5 proved its high accuracy by leveling a building in the central Israeli town of Rishon Lezion on Nov. 20,  2012.

Since then, Hamas has upgraded the Fajar-5’s performance with an integrated radar system. It is carried by an Iranian made vehicle. debkafile’s military sources have not yet established whether Hamas handed the Iranian weapon over to the Salafist Bedouin acting in concert with al Qaeda in Sinai before the Egyptian army placed the Gaza Strip under siege in early July, or smuggled it across more recently. Even though Egyptian forces destroyed many of the Sinai-Gaza smuggling tunnels ahead of their counter-terror operation in Sinai, they may have missed a couple.

The Iranian rocket, which is 10 meters long, 333mm diameter and weighs 9 tons, is based on a 302mm Chinese rocket sold to Tehran in the 1990s and reproduced as Fajr-5. To move it through the smuggling tunnels, the missile would have had to be broken down into 8-10 sections and then reassembled at the other end, a function only Hamas is qualified to perform. It is also possible that a terrorist cell managed to infiltrate Sinai in recent days and collected the Fajr missile system from Hamas, which is trained in its operation..

Neither Egypt nor Israel has provided any clues to the identities of the five dead terrorists.

In either case, Hamas cooperation was clearly forthcoming. That the Palestinian terrorist group ruling the Gaza Strip is supplying advanced weapons to Sinai Salafists is a strategic development of the highest order indicating its resolve to fight the military regime headed by Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisis in Cairo and an emerging coalition between Hamas, al Qaeda in Sinai, the Muslim Brotherhood ousted from power in Egypt and Iran.
Two years ago, Israel refrained from pointing the finger at Teheran when missiles made in Iran and supplied to terrorists were first launched against Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Rishon Lezion. Israel remains silent when they are pointed at Eilat.
debkafile reported Friday:

Intelligence sharing and military cooperation between Egypt and Israel foiled a terrorist missile attack from Sinai on Eilat Thursday, Aug. 8, say foreign sources. Egyptian security officials reported that an Israeli drone fired a missile in the northern Sinai peninsula, killing five Islamic militants and destroying one or more launchers. Egyptian military helicopters circled over head. The launcher, said the officials, was rigged for firing at targets in Israel from the vicinity of Egyptian Rafah in northern Sinai.

Eilat has come under rocket fire from Sinai in the past.

The Israeli military has refused to comment on the report. debkafile’s military sources note that it is not absolutely clear that the Israeli air force was responsible for the attack on the terrorists’ missile squad. It may have been an Egyptian operation in the course of its counter-terrorism campaign ongoing in Sinai and the Egyptian command preferred not to admit it took place on the Muslim Eid al Fitr festival.

According to those sources, six  terrorists were killed, not five as reported.

The Israeli military has refused to comment on the incident. debkafile’s military sources say it is not absolutely clear that the Israeli air force was responsible for the missile attack on the terrorists’ missile squad. It may have been an Egyptian operation in the course of its counter-terrorism campaign ongoing in Sinai, to which the Egyptian command preferred not to own up because it occurred on the Eid al Fitr festival.

According to those sources, six terrorists were killed, not five as reported, at a point south of Egyptian Rafah not from the Egyptian-Gazan border. The terrorist group was apparently in flight from a part of the Egyptian-Israeli border opposite Eilat from where they had planned to strike Israel’s southernmost airport Thursday night. Their route 230 km north toward the Gaza border indicated they planned to cross over and reach safety in the Palestinian Hamas-ruled enclave.
debkafile’s military sources report further that the military-intelligence cooperation in force between Israel and Egypt in the war against Salafist, al Qaeda and Hamas jihadis broke surface Friday when an Egyptian security official told The Associated Press that intelligence, suggesting terrorists planned to fire missiles Friday at Israel as well as locations in northern Sinai and the Suez Canal, was passed by Egypt to Israel. Eilat airport was closed for two hours Thursday night in response to the tip-off. The official also said that Egyptian authorities planned to start air patrols Thursday night over the Naqab desert in the Egyptian Sinai, where Islamist terrorists have hideouts.

Egyptian airports in the Sinai operated normally into Thursday night despite the warning, including those in the resort cities of Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba, said Gad el-Karim Nasr, the head of state-owned Egyptian Airports Co. Taba is only 10 kilometers from Eilat.

Report: Zimbabwe signs secret agreement to sell uranium to Iran | JPost | Israel News.

Five terrorists killed in Sinai as a result of Israeli-Egyptian intelligence cooperation.

Intelligence sharing and military cooperation between Egypt and Israel foiled a terrorist missile attack from Sinai on Eilat Thursday, Aug. 8, say foreign sources. Egyptian security officials reported that an Israeli drone fired a missile in the northern Sinai peninsula, killing five suspected Islamic militants and destroying one or more launchers. Egyptian military helicopters circled over head. The launcher or launchers, said the officials, were rigged for launching against targets in Israel from the vicinity of Egyptian Rafah in northern Sinai.

Residents heard a large explosion Friday in the region near the border with Israel.

The Israeli military has refused to comment on the report. debkafile’s military sources report that it is not absolutely clear that the Israeli air force was responsible for the attack on the terrorists’ missile squad. It may have been an Egyptian operation in the course of its counter-terrorism campaign ongoing in Sinai for which the Egyptian command prefers not to admit happened on the Eid al Fitr festival.
According to those sources, six  terrorists were killed, not five as reported.

Eilat has come under rocket fire from Sinai in the past.

The Israeli military has refused to comment on the report. debkafile’s military sources say it is not absolutely clear that the Israeli air force was responsible for the missile attack on the terrorists’ missile squad. It may have been an Egyptian operation in the course of its counter-terrorism campaign ongoing in Sinai, to which the Egyptian command preferred not to own up because it occurred on the Eid al Fitr festival.
According to those sources, six terrorists were killed, not five as reported, at al Gora, south of Egyptian Rafah not from the Egyptian-Gazan border. The terrorist group was apparently in flight from a part of the Egyptian-Israeli border opposite Eilat from where they had planned to strike Israel’s southernmost airport Thursday night. Their route 230 km north toward the Gaza border indicated they planned to cross over and reaching safety in the Palestinian Hamas-ruled enclave.
debkafile’s military sources report further that the military-intelligence cooperation in force between Israel and Egypt in the war against Salafist, al Qaeda and Hamas jihadis broke surface Friday when

an Egyptian security official told The Associated Press that intelligence suggesting terrorists planned to fire missiles Friday at Israel as well as locations in northern Sinai and the Suez Canal was passed by Egypt to Israel. Eilat airport was closed for two hours Thursday night in response to the tip-off. The official also said that Egyptian authorities planned to start air patrols Thursday night over the Naqab desert in the Egyptian Sinai, where Islamist terrorists have hideouts.

Egyptian airports in the Sinai operated normally into Thursday night despite the warning, including those in the resort cities of Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba, said Gad el-Karim Nasr, the head of state-owned Egyptian Airports Co. Taba is only 10 kilometers from Eilat.