BICOM

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told CBS that the Egyptian army is working with Israel to fight ISIS in the Sinai.

In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, Sisi said he had permitted Israel to carry out air strikes against ISIS bases in Sinai. Asked if this cooperation with Israel was the closest ever, Sisi said: “That is correct … we have a wide range of cooperation with the Israelis.”

Since 2013, hundreds of Egyptian policemen and soldiers have been killed in attacks by ISIS-affiliated Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis. Sisi has ordered a series of operations to try and remove the terrorist threat, including bombing campaigns and destroying homes in Rafah to create a buffer zone with the Gaza Strip.

Israel has allowed additional Egyptian forces and heavy weaponry to enter the Sinai Peninsula, beyond the level permitted under the 1979 security annex of the bilateral peace treaty. In February 2018, the New York Times reported that Israel was engaged in a full-blown aerial campaign against ISIS targets in the Sinai, carried out covertly with Sisi’s blessing. Israel and Egypt had never confirmed the existence of the campaign.

The Egyptian Ambassador in Washington has reportedly asked CBS not to broadcast the section of the interview where Sisi was asked about human rights abuses and the deaths of civilians including Sisi’s approval of a military operation against two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in 2013, resulting in the death of more than 800 civilians.

Sisi was also accused of holding up to 60,000 political opponents in prison. He said in the interview: “I don’t know where they got that figure. I said there are no political prisoners in Egypt. Whenever there is a minority trying to impose their extremist ideology we have to intervene regardless of their numbers.” CBS confirmed that the full interview will be broadcast on Sunday 6 January.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will meet President Sisi in Egypt this weekend to discuss reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah.