Part of terrorism in Egypt, the Egyptian Crisis, and the Arab Winter
Map of the Sinai Peninsula
(For a more detailed map of the current military situation in Sinai, see here.).
Date
5 February 2011[18] – 25 January 2023[19] (11 years, 11 months, 2 weeks and 6 days)
Location
Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
Result
Egyptian government claims victory[20]
ISIS militants turn to low-level insurgency
Small to medium attacks continue
Belligerents
Egypt
Central Security Forces
Egyptian Ministry of the Interior
National Security Service
National Police
Egyptian Army
Sinai Tribal Union
Supported by:
Israel (air support, intelligence)[1]
United Arab Emirates (training, counterterrorism missions)[2]
Islamists:
Ansar Bait al-Maqdis[3](until late 2014)
Al-Qaeda
Tawhid al-Jihad[4]
Al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula[5](from late 2011)
Abdullah Azzam Brigades[6]
Ansar al-Sharia[7]
Hasm Movement[8]
Bedouin tribesmen[9]
Jund al-Islam[10]
Popular Resistance Movement[11]
Takfir wal-Hijra[12]
Army of Islam[13]
Al Furqan Brigades[14]
Soldiers of Egypt[15]
Islamic State[16] (from 2014)
Wilayat Sinai
Mujahideen Shura Council[17]
Commanders and leaders
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Mostafa Madbouly Mahmoud Tawfik Mohamed Ahmed Zaki Osama Askar Ashraf Ibrahim Atwa Mahmoud Foaad Abd El- Gawad Mohamed Hegazy Abdul Mawgoud
Former
Hosni Mubarak (POW)
Mohamed Morsi (POW)
Adly Mansour
Ahmed Shafik
Essam Sharaf
Kamal Ganzouri
Hesham Qandil (POW)
Hazem El Beblawi
Ibrahim Mahlab
Sherif Ismail
Mahmoud Wagdy
Mansour el-Essawy
Mohamed Youssef Ibrahim
Ahmed Gamal El Din
Mohamed Ibrahim Moustafa
Magdy Abdel Ghaffar
Mohamed Hussein Tantawi
Sedki Sobhy
Sami Hafez Anan
Mahmoud Hegazy
Mohammed Farid Hegazy
Mohab Mamish
Osama El-Gendi
Osama Mounir Rabie
Ahmed Khaled Hassan Saeed
Reda Mahmoud Hafez Mohamed
Younes Hamed
Mohamed Abbas Helmy
Abd El Aziz Seif-Eldeen
Abdul Meniem Al-Toras
Aly Fahmy Mohammed Aly Fahmi
Muhammad al-Zawahiri (POW)[21]
Abd El-Fattah Salem (POW)[12]
Fayez Abu-Sheta †[22]
Youssif Abo-Ayat †[23]
Saed Abo-Farih †[23]
Abu Hajar al-Hashemi (ISIL Emir of Wilayat Sinai) Salim Salma Said Mahmoud al-Hamadin† Abu Osama al-Masri †[24] Shadi el-Manaei Selim Suleiman Al-Haram †[25][26]
Part of a series on the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014)
Main topics
2011 Egyptian revolution
Sinai insurgency
Military transitional council
2012–2013 Egyptian protests
Egyptian Constitution of 2012
June 2013 Egyptian protests
2013 Egyptian coup d'état
Post-coup unrest in Egypt
Insurgency in Egypt
Elections
2011 Egyptian constitutional referendum
2011–12 Egyptian parliamentary election
2012 Egyptian Shura Council election
2012 Egyptian presidential election
2012 Egyptian constitutional referendum
2014 Egyptian constitutional referendum
2014 Egyptian presidential election
2015 Egyptian parliamentary election
Background
History of Egypt under Hosni Mubarak
History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
Corruption in Egypt
v
t
e
The Sinai insurgency was an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, that was commenced by Islamist militants against Egyptian security forces, which have also included attacks on civilians.[40] The insurgency began during the Egyptian Crisis, during which the longtime Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.[41]
The Sinai insurgency initially consisted of militants, largely composed of local Bedouin tribesmen, who exploited the chaotic situation in Egypt and weakened central authority to launch a series of attacks on government forces in Sinai. In 2014, elements of the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) and proclaimed themselves Sinai Province, with some ISIL. Security officials stating that militants based in Libya established ties with the Sinai Province group[42] also blaming the porous border and ongoing civil war for the increase in sophisticated weapons available to the Islamist groups.[43]
Egyptian authorities have attempted to restore their presence in the Sinai through both political and military measures.[44] Egypt launched two military operations, known as Operation Eagle in mid-2011 and then Operation Sinai in mid-2012. In May 2013, following an abduction of Egyptian officers, violence in the Sinai surged once again. Following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, which resulted in the ousting of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, "unprecedented clashes" would occur.[45]
The fallout suffered by the locals as a result of the insurgency in Sinai ranges from militant operations and the state of insecurity to extensive military operations and the demolishing of hundreds of homes and evacuating thousands of residents as Egyptian troops pressed on to build a buffer zone meant to halt the smuggling of weapons and militants from and to the Gaza strip. A report, compiled by a delegation from the state-funded National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), stated that most of the displaced families share the same grievances of palpable government negligence, unavailability of nearby schools for their sons and the lack of health services.[46] Since the start of the conflict, dozens of civilians were killed either in military operations or kidnapped and then beheaded by militants. In November 2017, more than 300 Sufist worshippers were killed and over 100 injured in a terrorist attack on a mosque west of the city of Al-Arish.[40]
^Kirkpatrick, David (3 February 2018). "Secret Alliance: Israel Carries Out Airstrikes in Egypt, With Cairo's O.K." The New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2022. For more than two years, unmarked Israeli drones, helicopters and jets have carried out a covert air campaign, conducting more than 100 airstrikes inside Egypt, frequently more than once a week — and all with the approval of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi...Mr. Sisi's spokesman, Col. Ahmed Ali, denied it.
^Adam Entous (11 June 2018). "Donald Trump's New World Order". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018. Recently, cooperation among Israel and the Gulf states has expanded into the Sinai Peninsula, where M.B.Z. has deployed Emirati forces to train and assist Egyptian troops who have been fighting militants with help from Israeli military aircraft and intelligence agencies. U.A.E. forces have, on occasion, conducted counterterrorism missions in Sinai.
^"Perpetrators of second Rafah massacre arrested". Daily News Egypt. 1 September 2013. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
^"Egypt sentences 14 to death for 2011 Sinai attacks". The Times of Israel. 24 September 2012. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
^"Jihadists attack international peacekeeper base in Egypt's Sinai". FDD's Long War Journal. 15 September 2012. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
^"Deadly attacks in Sinai highlight the region's growing instability". American Enterprise Institute. 23 July 2013. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
^"Ansar al Sharia Egypt in the Sinai". FDD's Long War Journal. 6 July 2013. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
^"Hassm expands armed operations from Sinai into Nile Delta". Mada Masr. 27 March 2017. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
^"Egypt's Sinai desert: A haven for malcontents". The Economist. 13 July 2013. Archived from the original on 16 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
^"Jund al Islam claims credit for Sinai suicide car bomb attacks". FDD's Long War Journal. 12 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
^"(Allied) Popular Resistance Movement". Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
^ ab"Egypt army arrests head of Sinai radical militant group, dozens others". Ahram Online. 1 November 2013. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
^"Jaysh al-Islam". Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
^"Al Furqan Brigades". Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
^"Ajnad Misr". Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
^"'State of Sinai' claim attacks as part of 'IslamiYouth Uprising'". Daily News Egypt. 29 November 2014. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
^Bill Roggio, Mujahideen Shura Council denies involvement in Sinai assault, FDD's Long War Journal (Foundation for Defense of Democracies) 6 August 2012 Archived 15 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
^Dyer, Emily; Kessler, Oren (2014). Terror in the Sinai(PDF). London: Henry Jackson Society. ISBN 978-1-909035-14-0. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
^"The cost of terrorism". 9 February 2023.
^"El Sisi says plans afoot to celebrate defeat of extremists in Sinai Peninsula". 2 April 2023.
^"Al-Jihadeya Al-Salafeya leader Al-Zawahiri captured". Daily News Egypt. 17 August 2013. Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
^"2 militants killed in North Sinai". Ahram Online. 31 August 2014. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
^ ab"Egypt army kills 15 militants in Sinai". Xinhua. 9 October 2014. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
^"Islamic State's Egypt affiliate urges attacks on judges - recording". Reuters UK. 20 May 2015. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
^"Egypt army says it killed Sinai-based leading militant - statement". Aswat Mariya. 1 August 2015. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
^"Egypt says top militant killed". Arab News. 2 August 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
^"Sisi: Egyptians chose 'the difficult path'". 10 January 2017. Archived from the original on 12 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
^"Sinai, Egypt's unsolved problem". Ahram Online. 18 July 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
^"Egypt has lost more than 3,000 in fight against militants since 2013, says El Sisi". The national News. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
^"IDF Soldier Killed, Another Wounded in Border Attack". Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^"Egypt's long, bloody fight against the Islamic State in Sinai is going nowhere". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^Walsh, Declan; Kirkpatrick, David D. (25 November 2017). "In Egypt, Furious Retaliation but Failing Strategy in Sinai". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^"Many Egyptian troops killed or wounded in North Sinai". Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^"The Heavy Civilian Toll in Sinai". Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^"Death toll in Egypt mosque attack rises to more than 300". 25 November 2017. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^"Russian plane crash in Egypt: It's too early to determine cause, officials say". 2 November 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^"South Korean church mourns after Egypt bombing". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^"Three Vietnamese tourists, guide killed by Egypt roadside bomb". The Straits Times. 29 December 2018. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^"Croatian hostage 'killed by IS in Egypt'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^ abFarid, Farid (25 November 2017). "Egypt launches air strikes after deadly mosque attack". The Age. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
^Awad, Marwa. "Egypt army operation nets militants in Sinai-sources". AF. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
^The Age, 16 February 2015: "Egypt strikes back at Islamic State militants after beheading video, killing dozens" Archived 19 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine
^Mazel, Zvi (21 February 2017). "ISIS in Sinai: the Libyan connection". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
^Cite error: The named reference CSS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Clashes in Sinai over Morsi removal". Ahram Online. 5 July 2013. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
^"Sinai population still striving for basic rights as unrest continues: Report". Ahram Online. 12 March 2015. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
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