On February 12, the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper carried the following report: “…In an important development at the level of the Egyptian state and the Takfiri groups, the Egyptian army has been proceeding with an operation that was launched on the dawn of last Friday under the name of “the comprehensive operation to confront terrorism – Sinai 2018.”

“Although the main objective of the military operation – for which no deadline has been set – consists of “purging Sinai from terrorism” based on the earlier directives given by President Abdul Fattah es-Sisi to the Chief of Military Staff and the Minister of Interior asking them “to chase after the terrorists and eliminate them within three months…, the reality indicates that the scene of the operations seems geographically wider since it exceeds the traditional operations’ zones that usually witness the direct confrontations with the Sinai State Organization, i.e. ISIL’s Egyptian branch, to include the mountainous areas, the desert zone, and the western borders in addition to the marine borders where unprecedented numbers of military reinforcements have deployed.

“Military experts affiliated to the Egyptian army indicate that the present operation “is the largest in terms of numbers and equipment since the October 1973 war…” However, the outcomes of the operation seem too slim compared to the state of military and security alert and the preparations that required more than three days while classes were suspended in all the schools and universities of North Sinai until further notice. Meanwhile, the cities of Al-Sheikh, Zueid, and Al-Arish, are living through some difficult circumstances because of the state of fear and concern over possible retaliations.

“It was quite noteworthy, in the context of the ongoing operations, that the armed forces introduced heavy equipment and unprecedented numbers of tanks to North Sinai in parallel to coordination, on the highest of levels, with Israel during the days that preceded the zero hour. This coordination included a discussion of the numbers of the Egyptian forces that will be participating in the operations and the areas that will be covered in the context of Egypt’s commitment to the Camp David accord…

“Some military sources said that the numbers [of troops] that were pushed to area C of the border strip amount to five folds the numbers designated by Camp David “in the context of the cooperation and security coordination on counter-terrorism between Egypt and Israel.” Concerned sources told Al-Akhbar that “coordination between Cairo and Tel Aviv is taking place at the highest level and for a very long while now…” The sources stressed that “the Israeli side completely understands the operations that are being carried out by the [Egyptian] army and that aim at completely restoring the security and stability to the Sinai Peninsula…”” Es-Sisi wants the “elimination of terrorism” to constitute his first announcement following his scoring of a second presidential term…”