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Report: ISIS affiliate in Egypt threatening to attack Eilat port
According to Egyptian media, ISIS-affiliated Islamists based in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula have threatened to attack the port in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat in the coming days.
The Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group pledged allegiance to ISIS in November, but has waged a deadly terror campaign against Egyptian forces in Sinai since the Muslim Brotherhood was ousted from power in 2013. In response, Egypt’s military has launched an ongoing offensive against the group, including the destruction of more than 2,000 smuggling tunnels into Sinai from the Gaza Strip.
Although the regime in Cairo has been the primary target for Ansar, the group has also made clear that it is committed to attacking Israel. Last January, two rockets were fired by the group on Eilat, which is both an important tourist resort and commercial port. According to Egyptian media reports, one of the group’s activists posted on social media yesterday and “threatened to strike the Eilat Port, following coordination with Islamic State’s wing in the Gaza Strip,” saying that such an attack would occur “in the coming days.” In addition, the post called for terrorists to “make their way to the Gaza Strip to fight against Hamas’s military branch,” which he accused of negotiating with Israel. He claimed that Hamas “has abandoned jihad against the Jews and launched a campaign” against ISIS.
Ansar, which has changed its name since affiliating with ISIS, launched around 30 rockets from Sinai at Israel during last summer’s Gaza conflict. Ansar is also thought to have been responsible for an attempted border infiltration via the Sinai Peninsula late last year, in which two Israeli soldiers were injured. There were 28 cases of Israeli soldiers being fired upon from Sinai in 2014.
In March, Col. Arik Chen, Deputy Commander of the IDF’s Border Division warned about the danger of an Ansar-led “multi-pronged terror attack that will involve dozens of terrorists.” However, he assured that, “We are building our forces accordingly” in order to deliver a “proper response.”