Saudi FM calls Indian, Pakistani counterparts to discuss developments    Al Hilal thrash Gwangju to reach AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Saudi Arabia cracks down on fraudulent Hajj campaigns, urges pilgrims to use official channels    Nammos Amala Resort to open soon with Saudi-Greek designs    Saudi Arabia completes 674 Vision 2030 initiatives, achieves 93% of KPIs as ninth-year milestone marked    Literature Commission inaugurates Saudi Pavilion at Muscat Book Fair    Saudi Minister of Culture holds talks with his Costa Rican counterpart in Jeddah    Alkhorayef praises advancements in Al-Kharj food industries sector    MHRSD: 80% of recruitment offices are non-compliant with regulations    At least 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza    Teenage girl killed in French school stabbing attack    Trump claims meeting with China after Beijing denies any trade negotiations    GACA chief chairs 16th meeting of the Steering Committee on aviation's strategy    Saudi Theater Commission launches its Work and Learn Project in UK    The season has begun — and one comment shook us all    Jennifer Lopez dazzles in Jeddah with a Formula 1 performance    Saudi Arabia open to expanded 64-team World Cup in 2034, says sports minister    Average life expectancy in Saudi Arabia rises to78.8 years    Film Commission launches 'Cinema' initiative to enhance content    Famed Philippine film star Nora Aunor dies at 71    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Sinai raid shows fragile Israel-Egypt security ties
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 13 - 08 - 2013

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/CAIRO – Just as they were preparing to launch their rocket across the border into Israel on Friday, four militants in Egypt were killed by a missile.
Al-Qaeda blamed Israel for the attack in the Egyptian Sinai near Gaza, where there has been a decade of fighting between Palestinians and Israelis. Israel dismissed reports of its responsibility and said it respected Egypt's sovereignty.
Egypt's armed forces, struggling to impose order but wary of upsetting Egyptians by appearing to cooperate with Israel, said Israel was not involved.
They said the Rafah strike came from an Egyptian helicopter as part of efforts to crack down on al Qaeda in Sinai, a lawless desert peninsula that is home to an increasing number of militants who are also a threat to stability in Egypt.
However, sources briefed on Israeli-Egyptian relations and military experts said there must have been cooperation.
“Both Israel and Egypt were coordinating closely on Rafah this time around. I very much doubt that anything was done outside the framework of that coordination,” one source who declined to be identified by name or nationality told Reuters. The source said that in the hours leading up to the air strike, the security services of both countries had been working together to thwart a militant threat in the Rafah area.
The source would not elaborate on the threat, but noted that, exactly a year ago, gunmen killed 16 Egyptian border policemen in the same area, commandeered one of their armored cars and smashed through the nearby border with Israel. The episode ended when the Israeli air force bombed the vehicle. Other sources said Israel had indeed carried out the strike with Egypt's consent or suggested Egypt did the shooting, but with Israel's help.
Playing down Israel's role in the missile strike, the source noted that in recent weeks Egypt has sent Apache helicopter gunships on patrol over Rafah. The choppers have strayed into Gazan airspace on occasion.
On Sunday, Egyptian military sources said army helicopters killed 15 militants in overnight sorties elsewhere in Sinai, which has been kept largely demilitarized since a 1979 peace deal.
Israel regularly flies its own Apaches, as well as other military aircraft, on its own side of the border barely 7 km (4.5 miles) from the site of Friday's air strike.
“My first thought when I heard about it was that this probably came from a helicopter,” the source said. “It could have been an Egyptian helicopter, or maybe an Israeli helicopter. Because of the proximity of the jurisdictions I reckon a casual viewer would have trouble telling them apart.”
Two Egyptian security sources said the strike was carried out by an Israeli drone, with the knowledge and cooperation of the Egyptian authorities. The militant group which lost four rocket crewmen also said Israel used a drone against them.
Cairo has boosted cooperation with Israel since Morsi's July 3 ouster, asking its neighbor to ready drones near the border in case the Egyptian army needed them to help fight militants in the Sinai, one of the Egyptian security sources said.
Part of Israel's reticence over Friday's incident could be due to the fact it has never confirmed having armed drones, though it openly uses the pilotless planes for surveillance. Robert Hewson, an IHS Jane's airpower analyst, said Israel often deploys drones at high altitudes where they are very difficult to see unaided, and can use missiles that produce little smoke or sound before impact.
“UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are, by their very nature, stealthy. Few people can honestly say that they have knowingly witnessed a UAV attack,” Hewson said.
Hewson suggested that Israeli surveillance drones, with powerful cameras capable of peering into Egypt from within Israel, may have contributed to Friday's air strike by relaying the militants' coordinates to whoever fired the missile at them.
Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser and retired army general, was skeptical, however, about the possibility of any real-time tactical cooperation between the Israeli and Egyptian armies.
“There's no operational coordination in the sense of ‘either we'll attack or you'll attack', but there is intelligence cooperation (which) I reckon is now at a higher level because of the greater trust and common ground between the sides,” Eiland told Israeli Army Radio in an interview.
He gave credence to the Egyptians' official account of Friday's incident, saying they “have all of the capabilities, including the ability to operate from the air, and at short notice, against such (rocket) squads ... It's a relatively simply operation.”
Though Israel sees a growing menace from Al-Qaeda in Sinai, as well as in arms smuggling through the lawless peninsula to hostile Palestinians in Gaza, it would be loath to breach Egyptian territory with unilateral military action. – Reuters


Clic here to read the story from its source.