CAIRO — A high-profile Islamic State commander in Sinai has given himself as much as a tribal union loyal to the Egyptian navy, exposing doable cracks throughout the group and probably placing helpful info on the disposal of Cairo.
Mohamed Saad Kamel, also called Abu Hamza al-Qadi, turned himself in to the Affiliation of Sinai Tribes on Sept. 10 after contacting affiliation leaders. He bought pledges from the affiliation for his security and that of his spouse and three youngsters.
Qadi is the highest-ranking IS Sinai commander to show himself in to the authorities up to now, suggesting the noose is tightening across the terrorist group within the Egyptian territory, which shares borders with Israel and the Gaza Strip.
“There may be shut coordination between the military and Sinai tribes,” Sinai tribal chief Sami Kamel instructed Al-Monitor. “This advances the crackdown on the terrorist group noticeably.”
The navy has been operating a massive operation in northern and central Sinai since February 2018. Codenamed Sinai 2018, the operation entails all divisions of the navy, together with the air power and the navy. Floor troops comb each inch of northern and central Sinai for IS militants, monitoring down dozens of militants and arresting or killing them.
On Aug. 1, Cairo mentioned it had killed 89 extremists and seized machine weapons, ammunitions and explosive units of their possession throughout operations in northern Sinai. On Aug. 13, the navy mentioned it had killed 13 extremists in northern and central areas of the peninsula.
The tightening grip of the navy and Sinai tribes loyal to it seems to be stopping IS militants from attacking navy checkpoints and camps and forcing the terrorist group to resort to untraditional techniques, together with the planting of roadside bombs.
On Aug. 13, nine police officers were killed and 6 others wounded when a roadside bomb strick their armored automobile in New Rafah, close to the border with the Gaza Strip. The assault got here solely 13 days after IS militants attacked a safety checkpoint within the northern Sinai city of Sheikh Zuweid, killing 5 troops and injuring six others.
These assaults and others present that IS remains to be alive, at the same time as navy troops and civilian police battle tooth and nail to defang the terrorist group.
The altering technique of IS, together with by means of growing dependence on the planting of bombs, exhibits that the group is far weaker than it was a number of years in the past. “There are some sleeper cells which might be all the time able to launch assaults,” safety analyst Nasr Salem instructed Al-Monitor. “Nonetheless, IS’ assaults bespeak marked deterioration in its capabilities and its gradual collapse.”
Safety analysts like Salem attribute the weakening of the group to the success of the Egyptian counterterrorism strategy in Sinai in addition to convincing Sinai tribes to hitch the anti marketing campaign.
When terrorism emerged as a risk to Egyptian safety in Sinai in 2013, the Sinai tribes remained on the sidelines, partially out of worry and partially as a result of a few of the terrorists had been tribesmen venting their anger towards the Egyptian authorities for failing to develop Sinai and assist its residents. Nevertheless, the tribes began turning towards the terrorists after they intimidated and killed tribe members.
“Assaults by IS militants towards the tribes — amongst different issues — brought about the tribes to start out viewing them as an enemy,” analyst Muneer Adeeb instructed Al-Monitor. “The approaching collectively of the navy and the tribes will certainly velocity up the eradication of IS.”
The Affiliation of Sinai Tribes brings collectively lots of the tribes of northern and central Sinai. Its members have gone past offering the navy with intelligence, together with details about the hideouts of the terrorists and potential assaults, to taking part in counterterrorism operations and preventing IS militants themselves.
On Sept. 14, the affiliation shared a video displaying its anti-IS operations in elements of Sinai. The video purportedly exhibits members of the affiliation killing IS militants.
Qadi was IS’ high jurist and sanctioned a lot of the main assaults by the terrorist group, together with an assault on a Sufi mosque within the northern Sinai village of al-Rawda in November 2017. The assault left over 200 folks lifeless, over 75% of the village’s male inhabitants.
Qadi additionally licensed the killing of nine truck drivers who labored for a cement manufacturing unit in northern Sinai in November 2017. His give up factors to cracks inside IS and might have a domino impact amongst IS militants, safety analysts say. They add that his give up will give the navy entry to vital details about the hideouts of the members of the terrorist group in addition to its provide routes.
IS used to get its provide of arms and militants through Egypt’s shared border with Libya. The terrorist group additionally will get provides and recruits from Gaza, the place jihadist teams give it backing.
“Terrorist organizations are all the time eager to shroud their financing sources and provides in full secrecy,” Adeeb mentioned. “This financing is the lifeline of any group and its discovery spells the outright dying of this group.”
