Jihadists Kill Or Injure 15 Egyptians In Attack On Sinai Peninsula Military Outpost

In anticipation of upcoming defeat in Syria, the Islamic State may be shifting its focus to other theaters including the Sinai Peninsula. Terrorists over the weekend launched an assault on an Egyptian military checkpoint in the vast and largely lawless territory, injuring or killing at least 15 soldiers in the process. For its part, the Egyptian army claimed that 7 attackers were “eliminated” in the exchange of gunfire. The government of President Abdel al-Fatah al-Sisi has been waging a campaign against Sinai-based jihadists since the 2013 overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi. Hundreds of Egyptian troops have been killed in the ongoing crackdown on Sinai Province, as the ISIS offshoot is called. The terror organization has claimed responsibility for attacks in the capital Cairo and, notably, is suspected of killing 300 people in a gruesome raid on a mosque in North Sinai in November 2017. The Egyptian military operation is being facilitated by Israel, which is believed to be providing air support primarily in the form of weaponized drones in addition to intelligence.