Egyptian security forces say they’ve killed 14 militants and seized a ton of explosives in an operation in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, like reported by abcnews.go.com.

They said that their offensive involved clashes with Islamic militants in desert areas outside the city of el-Arish, adding that the extremists had intended to plant roadside bombs in areas between there and the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweyid.

Other weapons caches including explosives were found in the more central Sinai Jabal al-Halal mountain area.

The officials spoke anonymously as they weren’t authorized to brief reporters.

The army has been battling extremist insurgents led Islamic State militants in north Sinai for years. The area is off limits for journalists, diplomats and other observers so information from there cannot be independently verified.

The Faiez Serraj Presidency Council and Government of National Accord’s Ministry of Health (MoH) has reported 6 dead and 38 injured as a result of the south Tripoli militia fighting that restarted Tuesday and escalated yesterday, like reported by libyaherald.com.

The resumption of fighting puts an end to the UNSMIL-brokered Zawia ceasefire agreement of 4 and 9 September 2018 between the two sets of antagonists. That ceasefire agreement had ended the militia fighting that had started on 26 August.

Of the 6 dead, 3 were fighters, 2 civilians and 1 body was categorized as unidentified.

The 38 injured consisted of 36 militiamen, 2 were civilians and the MoH reported 1 person as missing.

The Tripoli-based Nawasi brigade reported yesterday that two of the dead were their fighters “defending Tripoli”. The Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade (TRB) also named two of the dead as its own.

The fighting is between the Serraj-aligned Tripoli Protection Force (TPF) and the Tarhuna-based 7th Infantry Kani Brigade.

It will be recalled that four main Tripoli-based militias had amalgamated last December into one main force, and rebranded themselves as the Tripoli Protection Force (TPF).

The four main militias are: The Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigade (TRB); Abusleem Deterence and Rapid Intervention Force; the Nawasi 8th Force; and the Bab Tajura brigade.

The fighting ostensibly broke out after the Serraj government took control of the Tripoli International Airport site in order to secure it and hand it over to the Italian consortium to commence its construction work.

Both sides blamed the other for restarting the fighting.

Tarhuna Municipality yesterday announced a school holiday and a general curfew.

The Serraj Ministry of Health yesterday put its health sector on alert and a field hospital was erected and ambulances were stationed on the edges of the conflict zone.

Schools were closed in the fighting area of Gaser Benghashir with some civilians abandoning their homes to stay with relatives in Tripoli and elsewhere.

Sound of gunfire and explosions could be heard in some parts of Tripoli.

The Serraj Ministry of Interior (MoI) issued a statement in which it warned of the humanitarian situation.

It said civilians were terrorized “due to clashes between uncontrolled armed groups”.

It warned of any attempt to impose a policy of fait accompli on the perimeter of Tripoli airport and considers it unacceptable because “the airport is a vital and sovereign annex that can not be subordinated or submitted to any regional or militia force whatsoever.”

It warned that it will take necessary measures to secure the airport.

The Serraj MoI statement follows on from a statement by UNSMIL yesterday in which it warned against the resumption of fighting. It warned those responsible will be held accountable.

Egypt’s Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday the killing of five members of a Islamist terrorist cell in Arish city, North Sinai.

According to the National Security Agency’s investigations, the cell was planning to attack vital installations and officials in Arish.

A raid was launched at the cell’s reported hideout. The terrorists fired heavily at police forces, who responded by returning fire and killing five terrorists.

Three automatic rifles, a gun, an IED, and an explosive belt were found in their possession.

Earlier this week, the Interior Ministry announced the killing of six other terrorists in a raid on a mountainous area on the western desert road between Assiut and Sohag. The security forces found firearms and leaflets in their possession.

Egypt has been battling a violent Islamist insurgency, mostly in North Sinai, that gained traction in 2013 following the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi. The insurgents pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in late 2014.

Hundreds of security force members have been killed, as well as hundreds of militants.

A spokesman for Libyan National Army based in the eastern city of Benghazi says its troops are launching an operation “to cleanse” the country’s south of Islamic militants and criminals, like reported by dailymail.co.uk.

Ahmed al-Mesmari of the Libyan National Army that answers to Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter told reporters on Tuesday that the operations aims to “eliminate gangs, Islamic State terrorists and criminals” in the south.

He says the operation will also try and stem illegal migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, describing it as an “international problem.”

The U.N. recently deplored deteriorating security in southern Libya.

Libya slid into chaos after the 2011 uprising that overthrew and killed long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country is currently governed by rival authorities in Tripoli and the east, each backed by an array of militias.

In spite of the Egyptian army’s success in significantly lowering the level of terror of the ISIS offshoot in northern Sinai, it has not managed to eradicate the organization, which, according to security sources in Israel, still has some 2,000 fighters in northern Sinai, like reported by jns.org.

On Jan. 11, the Egyptian army successfully used a drone to kill 11 terrorists who were driving in a car and on two motorcycles to carry out a terror attack in the vicinity of the town of Bir al-Abad in northern Sinai. However, terrorist attacks continue on a daily basis despite the massive presence of the Egyptian army in the area.

The Egyptian army’s main problem in dealing with the ISIS offshoot in Sinai is the lack of exact intelligence information about the ISIS fighters’ hiding places and plans for terror attacks, as well as the fact that they receive assistance from the local Bedouin population.

According to reports from Palestinian and Bedouin sources in northern Sinai, Israeli intelligence has managed to infiltrate, intelligence-wise, into the ranks of ISIS in the area. According to reports from the ISIS news agency Amaq and the newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the Israeli air force managed to strike exactly and successfully, through aerial bombardments, the organization’s new sites and command posts. These were targets that the Egyptian army found it difficult to reach.

In an interview with the American TV channel CBS on Jan. 3, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi confirmed that there is close cooperation between Israel and the Egyptian army in the war on terror against ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula. In 2018, The New York Times reported that Israel carried out around 100 aerial bombardments of terror targets in Sinai during 2017, with Egypt’s full coordination.

Egyptian publicist Majdi Sarhan published an article on Jan. 5 in support of President Sisi’s statements in the Egyptian daily Al-Wafd in which he confirmed that there is coordination between Israel and Egypt against “terror gangs” in the Sinai. In his words, the Egyptian army’s military operations in Sinai would not have succeeded without coordination with Israel, in accordance with strategic and security agreements signed between both countries.

How does Israeli intelligence work?

The objective of Israeli intelligence is to obtain information on the activities of the ISIS offshoot in Sinai, which has been operating against Israel over the past few years by firing rockets at Eilat and the Eshkol Regional Council. This was in the days when the organization was still called Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, before it swore allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The purpose of Israel’s intelligence gathering is to prevent terror attacks on Israel, assist the Egyptian army with its war on ISIS, and thwart the passage of arms deliveries for terror organizations in Gaza through the Sinai Peninsula.

The Hamas interior ministry in Gaza announced at the beginning of January 2019 that it had arrested 54 collaborators with Israel following an operation by a special IDF force in the area of Khan Yunis on Nov. 12, 2018.

According to Hamas sources, some of these collaborators operated in the past in the ranks of the ISIS offshoot in northern Sinai in the service of ISA (Israel Security Agency, also known as the Shabak).

The Hamas television channel Al-Aqsa broadcast the confession of one of the collaborators, in which he said that he was sent by an ISA handler to join ISIS in Sinai to gather intelligence.

The newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on January 9 that dozens of foreign fighters joined the ranks of the ISIS branch in Sinai from Syria, Iraq and Libya in recent years, without anyone investigating their security background, hinting that some could be working for Israeli intelligence.

The fact that Palestinians are joining ISIS in Sinai is particularly interesting. Some of them, who were residents of the Gaza Strip and active in the Hamas military wing, were even killed in clashes with the Egyptian army. The Palestinian problem is not even on the top of the organization’s agenda, which has raised the suspicion that they have ulterior motives and are working on behalf of Israel.

The ISIS offshoot in Sinai has also absorbed hundreds of new volunteers into its ranks from among the Sinai population. According to Gaza sources, these also include collaborators with Israel.

At first, ISIS in Sinai had a close connection with the military wing of Hamas, and it helped it to smuggle arms into Gaza. In exchange, it received military training from Hamas instructors sent to northern Sinai, as well as medical care for its men in Gaza hospitals, and shelter from Egyptian intelligence.

Therefore, Israel had a great interest in planting spies among the ranks of ISIS in Sinai to investigate the deliveries of weapons that were making their way from the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip and to destroy them from the air and prevent the strengthening of Hamas in Gaza.

According to foreign reports, in recent years, during the tenure of Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, the IDF destroyed around 15,000 standard rockets that were making their way from Sinai toward the Gaza Strip. The destruction of these rockets in Sinai was enabled by very exact intelligence information. As a result, the military wing of Hamas increased the local manufacture of rockets in workshops and factories that it established in Gaza.

ISIS turned against Hamas, blocked arms shipments

When ties were cut between the ISIS offshoot in Sinai and Hamas due to Hamas’ closeness to the Egyptian government, ISIS itself began to sabotage arms deliveries from Iran that passed through the Sinai Peninsula on their way to the Gaza Strip. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported on November 24, 2018, that according to Egyptian security sources, ISIS fighters took control in Sinai of a large delivery of arms that had arrived from Iran. This weapons delivery was intended for the military wing of Hamas, and it included advanced Kornet anti-tank missiles and other accurate GPS-directed weaponry

According to sources in Gaza, ISIS executed one of its activists who had assisted in the smuggling of weapons from Sinai to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

There has been a great change over the past two years in relations between ISIS and Hamas. ISIS hostility toward Hamas for collaborating with Egyptian intelligence against it is huge. Today, ISIS has an interest, as Israel does, in halting all arms deliveries that pass through Sinai on their way to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

According to foreign reports, the Israeli intelligence service has managed to provide the IDF with important information that has allowed it to strike hard at ISIS targets in northern Sinai through aerial strikes, eliminating its commanders through targeted assassinations.

According to Egyptian sources, Israeli intelligence regularly taps the communications networks of ISIS in Sinai and monitors its movements around the clock using drones.

The planting of agents among the ranks of ISIS in Sinai completes the intelligence picture. The prevention of the passage of advanced weapons to Hamas in Gaza through Sinai is also in the interests of Egypt, who wants to weaken the organization’s strength, as it is a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has designated as a terrorist organization.

It is in Israel’s interest to assist the Egyptian army with destroying the ISIS branch in northern Sinai to prevent the organization’s entrenchment along the Egypt-Israel border. The Egyptian army allows Israel freedom to operate militarily in the skies above Sinai, and Israel permits the Egyptian army to bring large forces into Sinai, beyond what was agreed upon in the peace treaty, to fight the Islamic terror that is endangering the security of both countries.

The United Nations group of experts on Sudan said that the Darfur armed groups have reinforced their presence in Libya, some of whom had participated in the military operations carried out by the so-called Dignity Forces, like reported by libyaobserver.ly.

“These groups are involved in mercenary activities and others, such as smuggling, establishing illegal checkpoints, and banditry,” UN group of experts clarified in their report.

They also warned that the groups could become an integral part of the conflict if their presence was protracted in Libya.

The Egyptian parliament yesterday approved a decision to extend a nationwide state of emergency for an additional three months, like reported by middleeastmonitor.com.

“On 10 January, the House of Representatives received a decree from president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, in which he ordered an extension to the state of emergency throughout the country for a further period of three months starting from 15 January,” the parliament speaker, Ali Abdel-Aal, told local media.

According to the parliament’s bylaw article 131, Abdel-Aal said, the majority of the parliament members (MPs) must approve the decision ahead of its implementation.

“Following a vote, more than two-thirds of MPs agreed on the presidential decree and the extension of the state of emergency for three months was approved,” he noted.

This is the seventh time for the Egyptian government to make a similar decision. Al-Sisi first imposed the three-month state of emergency in April 2017, following twin bombings at two churches in Gharbeya and Alexandria provinces, which both left 47 killed and 120 others wounded.

The Tunisian army and security forces have increased security alert level to the maximum on borders with Libya and Algeria, days after the US Department of State warned US citizens to avoid travel to Tunisia due to increased risk of terrorist attacks against foreign and domestic targets in the country, like reported by aawsat.com.

Tunisia’s high security and military presence at 11 border crossings shows seriousness in dealing with the US warning.

Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Tunisia. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, museums, resorts, hotels, festivals, nightclubs, restaurants, religious sites, markets/shopping malls, government facilities, and security forces, according to the US warning.

Interior Minister Hichem Fourati belittled the US warning saying that “these warnings do not only concern Tunisia but rather involve all the countries of the world”.

“Many European countries, including Great Britain, have already eased their restrictions on travel to Tunisia, which they have sent to their nationals, thereby recovering many of the traditional destinations on the Tunisian tourist market,” the minister said.

According to Tunisian military sources, some terror suspects confessed that a terrorist group called “Ahrar al-Janoub” (Free South) is plotting terrorist attacks starting from the south. The interior ministry revealed that it has been following four terrorist members of this group.

Tunisia commenced at the beginning of 2019 the implementation of a new security plan to combat terrorism. It primarily depends on attacking terrorist members suddenly in mountain regions and running ahead their suspicious movements.

This plan began in Kasserine and will gradually reach other states along the western border.

Egyptian officials suspect a violent branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, called the Hasm Movement, is responsible for a Dec. 28 terrorist attack that killed three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian tour guide, like reported by investigativeproject.org.

Authorities believe that the attack on a tourist bus near the Giza pyramids was in retaliation for a preemptive strike Egyptian security forces carried out eight days earlier that killed eight Hasm militants and saw four others arrested.

The raid on the Hasm hideouts aimed to thwart planned Christmas and New Year’s attacks. Officials found stashed assault weapons, remote-controlled planes, a drone chassis and materials used to make improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that have been used in attacks similar to the tourist bus bombing.

“There were two cars belonging to Hasm seized with similar explosives used in the operation,” Egyptian High Council for Counter-terrorism and Extremism General Khaled Okasha told UAE’s Al-Ghad television. “There were alerts that these Hasm cells desire to exploit this time of the year to conduct operations.”

The U.S. State Department designated Hasm (Arms of Egypt Movement) and its sister group Liwa Al Thawara as terrorist organizations a year ago. Both groups are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Hasm issued an emotional obituary when former Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mehdi Akef died in 2017, describing him as “the champion mujahid who fought the British Occupation, the tyrants Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak and the fascist military regime that didn’t care for his age and sickness.”

In a televised confession after last month’s raids, detained Hasm member Amr Ayman Alyeddin admitted being an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He said that he joined the Brotherhood’s military cells through a recruiter named Yasser Al Zeiny, who is in Egyptian police custody. Alyeddin says Al Zeiny connected him to a trainer who took him to terrorist camp outside Cairo. Alyeddin was taught how to use weapons and given religious law training.

Another cell member, Saladin Hamed, said he was told that the Brotherhood leadership abroad has reformed the cells into military units with codenames. The cells operate independently.

Egyptian police raided two terrorist hideouts in Giza in response to the bus attack, reportedly killing 40 terrorists.

Hasm is the Muslim Brotherhood’s most effective militant wing, Okasha said, as Liwa Al Thawra has been weakened by the government. Hasm was formed in 2014, while Liwa Al Thawra emerged in 2016 as a splinter group from Hasm created by Brotherhood leader Mohamed Kamal. Kamal was killed in October 2016 in an exchange of gunfire with security officers.

Meanwhile, authorities also are investigating why the tour bus carrying the Vietnamese tourists strayed from a heavily patrolled route.

While the attack on the Vietnamese tourist bus created fears that Egypt’s recovering tourism industry would suffer, there are not yet any indications of any declines in visitors. Egyptian officials point to a sharp drop in terrorist attacks in the country. A new report says there were just eight terrorist attacks last year, down from 222 in 2014.

Aside from the threats posed by ISIS-affiliated groups in North Sinai, Hasm remains a challenge for Egyptian security forces as it plots to disrupt the improved security that the country is seeing. Other Hasm operations in the past few years include failed assassination attempts on former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, Deputy Attorney General Zakaria Abdulaziz and Judge Ahmed Abou El Fotouh – who presided over the prosecution of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hasm also claimed responsibility for attacks on police, including the 2017 assassination of national security officer Ibrahim El Azazi.

Its attacks are not limited to Egyptian targets. Hasm claimed responsibility for a small explosion outside the Myanmar Embassy in Cairo in October 2017 to avenge Rohingya Muslims. “This bombing serves as a warning to the embassy of murderers, killers of women and children in the Muslim Rakhine State, and in solidarity with the sons of this weakened Muslim population,” a Hasm statement said.

Hasm protested after the United States’ terrorist designation was issued. After the U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a travel warning last May advising of a possible Hasm attack, the group played innocent. “We are the #Resistance and we are not terrorist,” a Hasm statement said. “There is no need to worry. We are #Muslims, not killers.”

The IED attack on the Vietnamese tourist bus indicates there is plenty of reason to worry.

Lebanese security forces have arrested three Syrians with links to Daesh terror groups across the Middle East and Europe, like reported by arabnews.com.

The Lebanese General Directorate of General Security said that investigations were ongoing and more arrests were expected.

One of the detainees had been plotting a bombing campaign against Lebanese military and civilian targets, while also producing videos on how to make explosives.

The announcement coincided with a speech by the Lebanese President Michel Aoun, in which he expressed concerns about the economic and security pressures being placed on Lebanon by the number of Syrian refugees in the country.

Speaking at a meeting of diplomats at the presidential palace on Wednesday, Aoun said keeping Syrian refugees in Lebanon was “harmful to our country at all levels.”

He said the war against terrorism was now a global one which had caused huge displacements of populations in countries throughout the Middle East.
Aoun said: “Lebanon is one of the countries that have borne the burden of neighboring wars and the flow of Syrian refugees into it.” He added that while Lebanon had been successful in tackling terrorism on its own soil, the refugee crisis continued to “weigh heavily” on economic, security, social, educational and health aspects of the country.

He said Lebanon’s infrastructure and limited resources “are unable to sustain this population increase,” and he urged the international community to take urgent steps to help resolve the refugee situation. Peace in the region, he added, would only come by recognizing the rights of others, however difficult and costly that may be.

Joseph Spiteri, the Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon, stressed the need for international diplomatic and economic support for Lebanon to tackle its internal and external challenges, including the Syrian refugee crisis. The Papal envoy added: “In the context of the ever-evolving geopolitical reality, we hope that Lebanon will remain stable and able to benefit from its pioneering role in the region, drawing on its rich history and experience over the last 75 years of its existence as a republic.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese security forces said the three detained Syrians, born in 2000, 1968 and 1997, had been arrested for belonging to “a terrorist organization.”

One of the detainees was said to have confessed allegiance to Daesh through a Syrian group religious leader in the Lebanese town of Arsal. The statement said the detainees had revealed that groups supporting the terrorist organization had been set up through social networking sites to attract recruits.  One of those arrested had been recruited to form a terror cell to operate within Lebanese territory and was associated with a Daesh Iraqi commander and other commanders in Syria, Palestine, Turkey and Europe.

“They published video recordings on how to prepare explosives and manufacture lethal poisons from materials available in local markets,” the statement said. “He (the detainee) bought some of these materials with the knowledge of his father, the third detainee, and he conducted more than one experiment to make explosives in order to assassinate a person from Arsal and to carry out operations against Lebanese army bases and patrols in the town. The material was seized inside his (the detainee’s) house in Arsal.”