2018: Terrorism is dying in Egypt

Nawal Sayed

By: Nawal Sayed

CAIRO, Dec. 30 (SEE) - The State Information Service (SIS) released a report revealing how Egypt succeeded to counter terrorism throughout the year of 2018. The statement stressed that the Operation Sinai 2018 and preemptive strikes have weakened terrorists and foiled their attempts. Only eight weak terrorist attacks were carried out in 2018 compared to 222 attacks in 2014.

According to the statement issued Sunday, terrorists celebrate New Year’s Eve in their own special way through bloodshed and taking innocent lives. This is exactly what they have done two days ago with their wicked attack in the Mariouteya area in Giza that left 4 dead (1 Egyptian tour guide and 3 Vietnamese tourists) and 12 wounded.

"A thorough reading into the evolution of terrorism in Egypt and the war is waging on Egyptian State and society during the last few years in general and 2018 in particular show us that there are major changes that all confirm the fact that terrorism is receding and is approaching its ultimate defeat," the statement illustrated.

SIS summarized changes and shifts that Egypt witnessed

in 2018 as follows:

The terrorists’ plan to create an

atmosphere of fear, panic and social strife between Egyptians has failed. The

terrorist attacks have backfired against the terrorists as it has attracted

positive confrontation from the populace. Among examples of the popular

reaction are, the people’s solidarity with the families of the victims of Al

Rawda mosque massacre and the residents of Helwan confronting and actually

subduing of the armed terrorist who attacked the Mar Mina Church; this

highlights the ordinary citizen’s willingness to fearlessly confront and fight

terrorism.

The Comprehensive Military Operation led by

the Egyptian Armed Forces against terrorist groups led to a sizable decrease of

terrorist activities and in the number of attacks. 2018 witnessed the smallest

number of attacks in the past 5 years. Only 8 attacks took place in 2018, 5 of

them were primitive IED attacks and some of them failed to achieve their sordid

aims. This shows that the frequency and number of terrorist attacks has

subsided to a great extent in comparison with previous years, as we have

witnessed 222 attacks in 2014, 199 attacks in 2016 and 50 attacks in 2017.

Naturally the number of victims of terrorism has decreased due to the fall in

the number of attacks and this is concrete proof of the success of the

Comprehensive Military Operation.

Operation Sinai

2018 has compelled terrorist groups to make major changes to their methods of

executing attacks, and the nature of their targets which has in turn exposed

their weakness. In 2017 terrorist groups were forced to resort to suicide

bombings in greater quantities, this indicates that the success of security

operations against them forced them to sacrifice their lives in order to prove

that they are still present. In 2018 terrorist groups have returned to using

weak and hardly effective IEDs and they have failed to successfully carryout 2 of

their 8 attacks in 2018.

The Comprehensive Operation (Sinai 2018) and

Counterterrorism efforts

Sinai 2018 Operation has successfully destroyed

terrorism’s infrastructure including hideouts, tunnels, weapon depots and Media

centers.

1200 IEDs were found disarmed, 420 cannabis

farms were destroyed and 16 tunnels on the border with Gaza were also

destroyed. That in addition to the destruction of 1086 vehicles and 1000 motor

bikes used by terrorists, the neutralization of over 500 militants and the

capture of hundreds more.

Among the elements detained during the

operation were terrorists, suspected terrorists, wanted criminals who have

court verdicts issued against them. The captured terrorists were referred to

the prosecution for investigation while the wanted criminals were sent to serve

their sentences in prison. The comprehensive operation is not only limited to

the Sinai, it extended to other strategic areas on the western and southern

borders.

Throughout the past ten months of the Comprehensive

Military Operation Sinai 2018 the Egyptian Armed forces have accomplished

several strategic objectives on all three fronts:

Our troops have successfully neutralized first

and second line leadership figures in the ISIS affiliate Wilayat Sinai formerly

Known as Ansar Bayt Al Maqdis. The latest of such leading terrorists that were

neutralized was the leader of the group Abu Osama Al Masri and other leaders

namely Khairat Al Sobki, Mohamed Gamal, Islam Weam and several others. This had

a very negative impact on the structural viability of the group and its ability

to carry out attacks.

All branches of the Armed Forces along with the

Egyptian Police are taking part in operation Sinai 2018. This operation has

several dimensions including direct confrontation and border security. The

Border Guards and the Navy have successfully established their control over sea

and land borders, and this was partially due to an agreement with Hamas on

border control in the case of the eastern border with the Gaza strip. The Armed

Forces successfully destroyed several tunnels that were used to smuggle arms,

ammunition, funds and terrorists.

The massacre of the Al-Rawda mosque in Bir

Al-Abed carried out by “Wilayat Sinai” terror group in November 2017, which

left more than 300 people dead, encouraged citizens to diligently cooperate

with Egyptian security forces in confronting terrorist elements in the Sinai.

This has contributed to empowering the security forces to direct attacks that

severely impactedthe structure of terrorist groups and extremist elements, not

only on the level of killing leadership and elements of thosegroups, but it also

resulted in paralyzing the groups and the terrorist elements affecting their

ability to move easily.

Analyzing the course of terrorist operations in

Sinai and the results of the comprehensive military operation (Sinai 2018), we

can conclude two main observations:

There

is a significant decrease in the number of terrorist operations in Sinai during

2018 compared to the previous four years.

The

decline of terrorist operations is coincided with a clear decline in the number

of victims from the army and police forces in Sinai during 2018 compared to the

previous four years.

The collapse of

the Muslim Brotherhood and its failure to commit its crimes

The military and the security services,

especially the police forces, have besieged and weakened groups affiliated with

the Muslim Brotherhood, namely “Hasm” and “Liwaa al-Thawra” all over Egypt (the

valley and the delta) in 2018. This is due the preemptive strikes they have

carried out both in terms of arresting terrorist elements and targeting hideouts,

particularly in the Western desert and some new cities on the outskirts of

Cairo. On the other hand, the procedures and financial policies that have

consolidated the control over the transfer of funds from abroad to Egypt,

attributed to the Central Bank and other concerned parties, have led to the

reduction of the financing of these groups.

In addition, the State’s confiscation of most

economic and commercial establishments belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood has significantly

reduced the financial resources necessary to carry out terrorist operations, and

accordingly led to the decline of terrorism in Egypt during 2018 compared to

the previous four years.

The last terrorist attack to be carried out by

“Hasm” the targeting of a police car on a road near Maadi in mid-2017.

Additionally, the spokesman of the “Hasm” terrorist group has declared on 5

September 2018 that the movement has been affected by the security raids that

paralyzed its ability to continue.

Also, the “Liwaa al-Thawra” terrorist group, which

announced its establishment in October 2016 after the assassination of Brigadier

General Adel Ragai, has almost disappearedand carried out only one terrorist

attack in 2017. This was thanks to successive blows they have received from

security forces.

Attacks against State infrastructure (such as

electricity, water, etc.) and the economic establishments as well vanished in

2018.

Most of

the terrorist operations in 2018 were based on random elements or what we can

call "lone wolves". This was shown in some terrorist operations that

took place at the end of 2017, such as the attack on a liquor store in Omrania

district, Giza governorate that left 2 civilians dead and the latest attack in Al

Mariouteya district.

Preemptive strikes ...The keyword of aborting

terrorist schemes

Given the strong and direct influence of the

comprehensive operation (Sinai 2018), the year 2018 has witnessed the

implementation of a series of successful security operations in which the

police forces carried out preemptive operations that aborted terrorist schemes

in their early stages due to their high efficiency in tracking and information

gathering on those terrorists’ groups:

In April 2018, the security forces killed seven members of ISIS terrorist group in Abnoub in the eastern desert.
In June 22, security forces targeted a terrorist hideout and killed seven terrorists involved in targeting Christian houses of worship.
In June 28, security forces killed six terrorists involved in the assassination attempt of the security chief of Alexandria governorate.
In July 2018, security forces attacked a terrorist hideout and killed six terrorists in Dirout, Asyut Governorate.
In October 27, security forces killed 13 terrorists near KM 74 on the Asyut road.
In November 4,security raids have resulted in the killing of 19 terrorists in Minya governorate foiling their plans to carryout acts of sabotage.
In November 28, security forces dismantled a terror cell in Sinai, killing 11 terrorists and arresting 6 others. Besides, they confiscated high-frequency radio sets.
In December 8, security forces dismantled the terror cell responsible for the attack on the bus carrying Christian worshipers heading to theMonastery of Saint Sameul last November, killing 19 terrorists involved in targeting the bus, in the western desert of Minya governorate.
On 23 December, the National Security Agency detected a terrorist hideout. The terrorists were planning to carry out a series of terrorist attacks against vital installations and members of the armed forces and the police in one of the remote areas of El-Arish. Security forces raided the hideout and clashes ensued for a few hours resulting in the killing of14terrorists.
In December 29, hours after the terrorist attack against the tourist bus in Giza, the Ministry of Interior raided a number of terrorist hideouts in the governorates of North Sinai and Giza and directed several strikes against terrorist elements planning to carry out a series of deadly attacks targeting State institutions, the economy and the tourism sector, in addition to plotting to target police officers and Christian houses of worship. 40 terrorists were killed in the clashes.