Patrick Skinner Quoted on Al Jazeera America: Egypt’s Sinai Problem Escalates as President Sisi Cracks Down

July 6, 2015

Egypt’s Sinai Problem Escalates as President Sisi Cracks Down

Al Jazeera America
By: Michael Pizzi

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A deadly and sophisticated attack by an ISIL affiliate in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday and early signs of an escalated security crackdown by President Abdel Fatteh El Sisi have experts warning that more violence is just around the corner in the Middle East’s most populous country.

Two days after Egypt’s chief prosecutor was killed on the streets of Cairo — the country’s most significant political assassination in decades — members of an armed group called Wilayat Sinai, or the Sinai Province, launched an assault on the northern Sinai town of Sheik Zuwaid, holding their own for several hours until Egyptian forces, backed by F-16 warplanes, were finally able to drive them out. Dozens of Egyptian soldiers and police were killed in the assault, local media reported, along with over 100 fighters, according to Egypt’s military…

Just as ISIL has done in numerous assaults on towns in Syria and Iraq, the Sinai insurgents first set off a string of coordinated car bombs, simultaneously trapping police officers and soldiers in the town by booby-trapping roads. In a significant departure from the isolated potshots the Sinai fighters have taken at security targets for years, “they actually tried to take a town and control territory, which they’ve never done before,” said Patrick Skinner, an analyst at The Soufan Group, a security firm…

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To read the full article please click on the link below:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/7/2/egypts-sinai-problem-escalates-as-sisi-bears-down.html

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