Egypt: Comprehensive Operation − Sinai 2018 news

(Cairo) On the 9^th of February 2018, the Egyptian armed forces launched a large counter-terrorism campaign focusing on northern and central Sinai and parts of the Nile Delta.  It was set in motion by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi  after the Al-Rawda mosque attack in November 2017, which saw 311 people murdered .

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#المتحدث_العسكرى : بيان رقم 12 من القيادة العامة للقوات المسلحة بشأن العملية الشاملة سيناء 2018 ... pic.twitter.com/DRSudFliyl

— المتحدث العسكري (@EgyArmySpox) February 27, 2018

His mission statement to the military gave them a three-month deadline to secure the Sinai, which has witnessed an insurgency since the start of the Egyptian revolution of 2011.   In order to catch as many terrorists as possible security forces shut down the North Sinai Coastal Road linking all the major cities and towns in the region, which had all their entrances barred to anyone entering or leaving. All schools throughout North Sinai were cancelled as of the following day, and university semesters were postponed. Gas stations in Arish were banned from pumping fuel to civilian vehicles. All Suez Canal crossings were closed. On the border with Gaza, the recently reopened Rafah Border Crossing was closed indefinitely by the Egyptian government until further notice.The results has been:

• 158 targets destroyed through air strikes,
• 413 targets destroyed by artillery.
• 71 terrorists killed,
• 1,852 people suspected or wanted over criminal charges or for supporting Islamic State (IS) arrested.
• 1,282 storerooms used by terrorists found.
• 393 explosive devices found and destroyed.
• 112 cars used by terrorists destroyed
• 269 motorcycles used by terrorists destroyed.

The military have stated that 7 soldier have been killed and another 6 injured in carrying out the above. Whilst the operation will go some way in which to quieten down the region , the liberals aren't happy (never have been since the Muslim Brotherhood were removed at the behest of the people) with Amnesty International crying foul play over how a cluster munition found in a terrorist camp ammo store is deemed to be proof that the Egyptians are killing terrorists with Cluster bombs. What the ethical latte crowd haven't mentioned is that Egypt hasn't signed up to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. I'm not saying that Egypt is in the wrong for not doing so, but Russia and Syria have bombed the crap out of Syria these past few years with cluster munitions and AI and the like haven't said a fucking word. Here is but one example:

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Video of RuAF cluster bombing fuel truck convoy West of Aleppo pic.twitter.com/ohoEdRRwcN

— BM-21 GRAD (@bm21_grad) July 11, 2016