BICOM

Israeli news websites are this morning reporting that Egypt on Wednesday briefly detained four Israeli security guards and four crewmembers of an Israeli yacht that was sailing in the Straits of Tiran area. The Israelis were released today after intervention by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and have since returned to Israel. The incident took place, according to reports, because the Israelis threw their weapons overboard as an Egyptian coastguard boat approached them, leading the coastguard to suspect that the Israelis might be involved in criminal or security-related activity. The yacht involved in the incident is usually used to give tourist trips in the Red Sea. The incident, while it ended peaceably, is evidence of the tensions currently prevailing in the south in relations between the Egyptian authorities and Israelis who come into contact with them.

Ilan Grapel, a duel US-Israeli citizen, remains in custody after being arrested during the political unrest in Egypt earlier this year.