On Friday (19/7/13) the Egyptian military launched a large scale operation to tackle Islamist terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula. As I've already mentioned the early stages of the operation involves setting up check-points and gathering intelligence rather then physically fighting the terrorists. However this has not stopped the terrorists attacking the military/police and since the start of the operation their attacks have increased significantly.
On Friday itself three missiles were fired into a residential house in Arish killing three civilians. Three soldiers were wounded in a gun attack on a police position in Arish. One soldier was wounded in a gun attack at a check-point in Reyesa. One soldier was wounded in a gun attack on a check-point in al-Karmy. One soldier was wounded in a gun attack in Baghdad in central Sinai. Most dramatically a child was wounded in a gun attack on a convoy carrying Major General Ahmed Wasfy the commander of the Second Field Army in what is being considered a targeted assassination attempt.
On Saturday (20/7/13) five police officers were killed on separate gun attacks on police stations and check-points across the Sinai. Also 17 soldiers were killed and 30 injured in a traffic collision close to Beheira. There is no suggestion that this was anything other than a road accident however the military will have felt the loss and the damage it does to morale.
On Monday (22/7/13) five police officers were wounded in gun attacks on multiple check-points in and around Arish. Six soldiers were wounded in an attack on their camp in Rafah.
On Tuesday (23/7/13) one police officer was killed in an attack on a check-point in Arish and one soldier was wounded in an attack on a police station also in Arish. There was also significant rioting between Morsi supporters and revolutionaries in both Arish and nearby Masaeed.
Today so far two soldiers have been killed in an attack on a check-point in Arish, a police station in Arish came under attack by Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) fortunately resulting in no injuries and five terrorists were killed by their own car bomb in an attack on a police training facility which resulted in no other injuries. Most worryingly the violence seems to be spreading outside of the Sinai with a TNT bomb detonated in a sewer close to a police station in Mansoura killing one police officer and injuring 28 others.
So in the past six days the military/police have had 26 of their number killed and 76 wounded in terrorist attacks and road accidents. Added to this Egypt's regional neighbours have been increasing the pressure on the Egyptian military with Qatar who were big supporters of Morsi's government complaining about Morsi's continued detention and expressing concern about the deaths of Muslim Brotherhood supporters. Also the Al-Ahram channel has been circulating a false story about Morsi being detained for 15 days in relation to allegations that he was spying for Hamas. This piece of propaganda was intended to strengthen Morsi in the eyes of the Egyptian people by linking him to Hamas and weaken the Egyptian military by linking them to Israel. The story is entirely false and Al-Ahram's editor has since been arrested and bailed over allegations of attempting to incite violence. The US has delayed its supply of 4 F-16 jets to Egypt in order to pay lip-service to the Gulf states.
On the more international level the European Union (EU) on Monday issued a statement calling on Egypt to hold fresh elections and release all political prisoners including Morsi. This was actually a very soft statement that avoided using the term coup and was really just the EU fulfilling its commitment to democracy. However it is the sort of statement that will be twisted by Morsi supporters to fit their own agenda and was hardly a source of comfort and support for Egypt. Similarly the African Union (AU) which due to the long history of damaging coups on the continent has to take a hard line has continued to suspend Egypt's membership. However the Ethiopian Prime Minister appears to have accepted that the AU's description of events in Egypt as a coup was based on false information indicating that Egypt's suspension is in the process of being lifted.
Against this back-drop the head of the Egyptian military and First Deputy Prime Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on Egyptians to take to the streets this Friday (26/7/13) to show their support for the military and its fight against terrorism. Secular and revolutionary groups such as Tamarod and the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) have supported El-Sisi's call and urged their supporters onto the streets. Islamist parties such as Al-Nour, the Muslim Brotherhood and Watan have rejected El-Sisi's call and labelled it either an attempt to incite violence or civil war. It is clearly neither of these things. Having been getting hit hard from seemingly all directions over the past week the Egyptian military simply needs to be reassured that it still has the support of the Egyptian people.
Therefore while I think Egypt really needs to start moving away from the politics of the street towards the politics of the ballot box I fully support Friday's demonstration and urge Egyptians to turn up in support.
20:30 on 24/7/13.
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