Jihadi organization Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which morphed into “the Sinai Province of the Islamic State” when it pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, self-proclaimed caliph of ISIS, is slowly losing steam. Torn apart by internal strife and new enemies it is less and less active.

Terrorist attacks plummeted from 594 in 2015, to fewer than half that in 2016 and 2017, according to a recent report of Al-Ahram Weekly. This is due to several factors, first and foremost, the Egyptian Army which is doing much better since it killed the organization’s leader Abu Anas el Ansari in May 2016.

ISIS appointed in his stead Abu Hajer al-Hashemi, who is not Egyptian and is rumored to be a former Iraqi Army officer. More non-Egyptians were appointed to the leadership of the group or swelled the terrorists’ rank and file. Among them were deserters from the Izzadin Kassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, who fled the Gaza Strip because they were dissatisfied with what they perceived as the lack of resolve of Hamas against Israel and against the Palestinian Authority.

The growing influence of these “foreigners” led to significant changes. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis no longer took into consideration the tribal intricacies of northern Sinai and did not hesitate to target local civilians and Beduin, even those who in the past had demonstrated sympathy toward the jihadists. The new policy was following the basic tenet of Islamic State: Apply maximum savagery to terrify to reach its goal: setting up an Islamic regime based on the Shari’a and ruled by a caliph.

The November 24 massacre at Al-Rawdah Mosque, linked to the Sufi school of Islam, was a stark demonstration of that new policy. More than 300 civilians were killed in the attack carried out during the Friday morning prayers. The large Tarrabin tribe, which in the past had helped the jihadists, supplying them with information and affording them sanctuary, then turned hostile and greatly hampered their movements. According to reports, armed tribesmen had started unspecified operations against the jihadists last summer. Meanwhile, there were bitter conflicts between the “Egyptians” and the newcomers among the terrorists.

The tribe’s hostility combined with the growing pressure from the army led to the desertion of many militants. Some went back to Gaza, others departed for Libya. Those who did not want to leave the Sinai Peninsula joined another terrorist group, The Army of Islam, which protects them from the vengeance of Daesh. It is a small organization affiliated with al-Qaida that appeared in 2011 and lately carried out two attacks, against the army and against Daesh.

Worse, there were incidents between the two sides inside Daesh. Some weeks ago, 20 bodies were found in a desert area south of El-Arish, apparently the result of an armed confrontation between their followers.

DETAILS ABOUT the parlous state of the Sinai Province of Islamic State were revealed in a series of letters sent at the end of last year by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, apparently from Syria, to the leaders of the movement in Libya. They fell into the hands of another terrorist group linked to al-Qaida and somehow found their way to a Saudi daily published in London, Asharq al-Awsat. On November 30 the paper published letters dispatched in October and November when ISIS was suffering a string of defeats in Iraq and Syria and lost Sirte, its last outpost in Libya.

The tone of these letters reveals the feeling of frustration and defeat of the leader. He calls on his followers in Libya to go south and regroup taking advantage of the difficult and desert areas carved deep into the wadis and offering protection against drones and warplanes, urging them to keep on fighting, and to welcome militants fleeing from Iraq and Syria. He gives them detailed instructions on how best to reorganize and to mastermind from there operations in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Mali. They are told to recruit children and send them to watch the fighting and absorb the spirit of the movement to become the next generation of militants. It may thus be that those desert regions of southern Libya will become one of the new centers of operation of Islamic State.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is angry at Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, because many of its members have fled to Libya. “Your unseemly behavior was brought to my attention,” he writes, “it was caused by militants who came from the Bayt al-Maqdis Brigades, and distorted the spirit of jihad.” He then explains that the Sinai front is part of the grand scheme and must not be abandoned.

It is not known how the deserters from Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis were received in Libya and if indeed they were made to go back to the Sinai Peninsula. However, the Sinai Province of the Islamic State is still active despite the many threats it is facing, such as the “reconciliation” between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and the pressure applied by Egypt to Hamas to stop all cooperation with Daesh.

Hamas did install a buffer zone between Palestinian and Egyptian Rafah, preventing contact between terrorists of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in Sinai and their supporters in Gaza and the Salafi organizations, while arresting dozens of them. Daesh had always considered Hamas as infidel, the movement having abandoned the path of jihad, and relations between them have always been ambivalent, born of their common interest against Egypt and Israel and kept to a minimum. Gaza was a place of refuge for jihadists wounded and at times for terrorists fleeing the Egyptian Army. It may have also been a convenient site for experimenting with weapons and ammunitions.

In return, Daesh let open Hamas supply routes in Sinai, bringing a steady flow of contraband ammunitions and weapons as well as necessities from Egypt and Libya to the Gaza Strip. In fact, it often helped the transit. No more. Now jihadists are attacking those routes and Gaza, deprived of civilian and military supplies, is feeling the pinch.

A video of the barbarous execution of a Daesh member who attempted to smuggle weapons from Sinai to Gaza was recently put online. The victim was a former member of the Izzadin Kassam Brigades who had deserted to join Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis; so was the executioner. To all intents and purposes, the Sinai Province of the Islamic State is blockading Hamas in Gaza, and there are murderous fights between the two groups.

THIS IS NOT the only woe to plague the Sinai Province of the Islamic State. As seen above, there is intense infighting within the organization; and ISIS in Syria and in Iraq, to which it had pledged allegiance, is collapsing and gradually losing all possibility of supplying it with weapons and money it needs not only to fight but also to keep functioning. At the same time, it is facing an all-out offensive of the Egyptian Army while having to deal on its own territory with hostile Tarrabin tribesmen and with Hamas which is not ready to abandon its supply routes.

Nevertheless, it is not to be expected that Sinai Province will disappear anytime soon. Its members are fueled by a never-ending sense of divine mission, and are fiercely dedicated and deeply committed to the Koran, the undisputed supremacy of Allah and the commandment to fight his enemies to the bitter end.

All operations suspended at Mitiga airport as rival groups battle for control amid claims of thousands being held in secret prison, like reported by middleeasteye.net

At least nine people have been reported killed in fierce fighting that has forced the closure of the Libyan capital’s only civilian airport on Monday, officials said, after a militia in charge of security there said it had been attacked.

The Facebook page of Mitiga airport, in eastern Tripoli, said “flights have been suspended because of fighting that broke out this morning”.

Al-Radaa, a force loyal to the UN-backed Libyan government and tasked with keeping the facility secure, said in a statement it had come under attack.

An armed group “has attacked Mitiga international airport… which is home to a prison where more than 2,500 people are held for various” reasons, Al-Radaa said on Facebook.

Fighters attacked in a bid “to free” some of its members being held there, it added, without identifying the attackers or saying if there were casualties or damage.

Heavy gunfire could be heard as far away as Tajura 30km east of Tripoli, the AFP news agency said, adding that all roads to Mitiga were closed.

A Libyan pilot said the airport, the scene of frequent clashes between rival militias, had been evacuated.

“All the staff and passengers who were at the airport were evacuated,” the pilot said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We saw tanks in the airport’s perimeter,” he added.

Mitiga, a former airbase, has been a civilian airport since Tripoli’s main international airport was badly damaged in fighting between rival militias in mid-2014.

Libya has been wracked by chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with rival authorities and militias battling for control of the oil-rich country.

The North African country has rival administrations, with the authorities in the east not recognising the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital. Al-Radaa is loyal to the GNA and also serves as a police force in Tripoli.

A bomb destroyed a car in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on Sunday, wounding one person, security sources said.

Television footage from Sidon showed a column of smoke rising from an area near the eastern highway of the city.

The Lebanon 24 news website said the bomb that tore through a silver-colored BMW targeted Hamza Hamdan, a known Hamas operative.

Initial information suggested explosives had been planted under the car. It is unknown at this time whether Hamdan was the person wounded in the explosion, nor was any information given on the severity of his wounds.

Security forces cordoned off the site of the explosion in Sidon.

The mayor of Sidon told local media that the car was booby-trapped and that the bomb exploded as soon as the driver opened the door.

Tunisian security forces made 16 arrests against Islamic extremists amid rising confrontations with the protestors, some of whom were under custody or house arrest, the Tunisian Interior Ministry announced, like reported by aawsat.com.

Interior Ministry Spokesman Khalifa al- Chibani warned against the possibility of terrorist organizations exploiting social protests to mobilize dormant terror cells, pushing Tunisia towards further chaos.

Defendants proved their involvement in looting and arson across several provinces amid national demonstrations protesting price hikes, said Chibani in a statement.

The Interior Ministry also reported that it had also arrested a terrorist in the north-eastern town of Al-Hawariya and said that the accused had published and set up posters provoking anti-security forces sentiment.

After publicly announcing allegiance to ISIS, the terrorist also had deliberately uploaded posts and pictures glorifying the terror organization on his personal Facebook page.

He is accused of inciting and implicitly stoking pro-terror sentiment in an upbeat manner with raging protests nationwide.

According to official statistics provided by the interior ministry, about 800 terrorists who had fought along militias on battlefields now have returned to Tunisia.

Some 137 terrorists are under security surveillance or under house arrest.

When it comes to Tunisia, terrorism is a threat in such situations involving public unrest– as it strives after investing in it, as do smuggling mobsters who thrive in similar environments, Tunisian security expert Ali al-Zermaidini told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“As security forces strike terror groups and successfully carry out operations, terror sleeping cells and radicals always look for a chance to spur disorder and incite chaos to weaken state institutions,” Zermadini added.

National security agencies say that the number of sleeping terrorist cells is between 300 to 400 cells—all of which present an imminent threat waiting for an opportune moment to attack civilians and disturb state institutions.

Meanwhile, the ministry said the situation in Tunisia has been gradually calming.

The clashes have caused damage in 11 provinces to municipal depots, police stations, private businesses, commercial spaces and banks.

According to Chibani, 96 security guards were injured and 87 vehicles were damaged during the three nights of confrontation.

A report by the Tunisian National Directorate of National Security revealed that 31 percent of participants in looting and vandalism are between 15 and 20 years old, while 55 percent are between the ages of 21 and 30.

The Greek coast guard has impounded a freighter carrying explosives, allegedly to war-torn Libya. Authorities described the vessel as a “moving bomb”, like reported by dw.com.

The Tanzanian-flagged freighter Andromeda was impounded at the port of Iraklion on Crete on January 6, the Greek coast guard said Wednesday.

Four days of inspections of the ship found 29 containers with explosives and detonators.

“The coast guard neutralized a moving time bomb that could have had unpredictable consequences both for people and for the marine environment,” Rear Admiral Yiannis Argyriou was quoted by Kathimerini as telling reporters.

Greek authorities stopped the ship south of Crete and brought it ashore after receiving a tip.

An international ban prohibits weapons shipments to Libya, where there is a civil war and multiple armed groups operate.

The explosives were reportedly loaded on the freighter in the southern Turkish port city of Mersin and destined for Djibouti and Oman.

The ship’s captain was later instructed by its owner to deliver the explosives to the Libyan port city of Misrata, the coast guard said.

The crew of five Indians, two Ukrainians and an Albanian were arrested. They are due to appear before a prosecutor on Thursday.

Hamas security forces recently set out on a large-scale campaign of arrests against Islamic State-aligned operatives, especially those belonging to the Salafist sect, in the wake of a video clip released by Wilyat Sinai, the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State, like reported by breitbart.com.

The video showed a former Hamas member and the son of a high-ranking official in the terrorist group executing suspected Hamas agent Moussa Abu Zamat, who infiltrated the ranks of IS in Sinai and fed information to Hamas.

The executioner, Rashed Dajani, is the son of Hamas official Yehya Dajani and was seen in the video shooting a Hamas member from Rafah. The clip angered Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Dajani family was quick to release a statement condemning the execution and denying any responsibly for Dajani’s actions, which they called a crime that contradicts the values of Islam and the Palestinian people.

Senior jihadist Abu Baker al-Maqdesi said that among those jihadists arrested recently are some who were released in recent weeks from Hamas prison facilities. Some were imprisoned for over a year before their recent release.

According to al-Maqdesi, the number of arrested individuals between last Thursday and early Monday morning has passed 50, and 40 of those arrests were conducted on Thursday and Friday following the release of the video.

Al-Maqdesi said some of those arrested were taken into custody on the grounds that they used to be Dajani’s friends before he joined IS.

The campaign of arrests focused on the areas of Khan Younis and Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. According to al-Maqdesi, the reason arrests focused on these areas stemmed from the fact that other Gazans and former Hamas members who joined IS appeared in the video alongside Dajani and are all from these areas.

A security source in Hamas confirmed the claims that arrests were made in recent days against IS-aligned jihadists, but he said there is no direct connection to the video.

“We are always arresting anyone who tries to endanger the security of the residents of the Gaza Strip,” said the source.

“The terrorists in Sinai want to drag the Gaza Strip into conflict with Egypt and we won’t be complicit in that,” the source added. Hamas officials often use strong language against their rivals.

Firefight breaks out during raid on suspected hideout in el-Arish city; weapons seized from group planning attack on security forces, according to Interior Ministry

The Interior Ministry said Tuesday the firefight broke out when the forces raided a suspected hideout in el-Arish city. It said the militants were planning attacks targeting security forces, and were in possession of explosives, rifles and ammunition.

Egypt has been battling militants in the northern part of Sinai Peninsula for years, but the insurgency became far more deadly after the 2013 military ouster of Mohammed Morsi, an elected but divisive Islamist president.

An Islamic State affiliate based in the Sinai has carried out a number of high-profile attacks in recent years, mainly targeting security forces and Egypt’s Christian minority.

On December 28 a roadside bomb planted by Islamic militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula hit a military vehicle on Thursday, killing six people, including a senior army officer.

The bomb struck a military convoy that was patrolling an area just outside the town of Bir al-Abd in northern Sinai.

Bir al-Abd, near el-Arish, was the scene of the deadliest terrorist attack against civilians in Egypt’s modern history, when militants killed 311 worshipers in a mosque on November 24.

Two members of the Islamic State (IS) who planned to carry out a car bomb attack in the Libyan capital of Tripoli were arrested, China’s Xinhua news agency reported the state’s Ministry of Interior as saying.

“After tracking and monitoring of the movements of (the) suspects, two persons were arrested and confessed that they belong to IS,” the Joint Deterrence and Interference Force, a security force of the ministry, said on social media platform Facebook.

Footage posted on Facebook by the force showed the two IS members’ confession of plotting a car bomb attack in the city. They placed a bomb near the industrial district of central Tripoli, but failed to detonate it twice before they were arrested.

The terrorists, who fled from the northern city of Benghazi, also admitted their previous plots to bomb security and military sites in Al-Drebi area of Tripoli, but failed more than once due to a technical fault.

Just on Saturday, the security force successfully dismantled an explosive device in a market in Al-Drebi area after receiving a report.

Despite IS defeat in northern cities of Benghazi and Sirte, the fleeing terrorists continue to carry out car bombs and suicide attacks in the North African nation, most notably the attack in October last year on a court complex in Misurata city, some 190 kilometers east of Tripoli, which killed three security personnel.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, and is now plagued with political division and escalating violence.

Clashes renewed in Tripoli between rival militias that support Fayez al-Sarraj’s National Accord Government, which demonstrated its inability to impose its control over the Libyan capital, like reported by aawsat.com.

As a result of the unrest, the General Electric Company stated that it had to cut electricity because the armed clashes led to the disconnection of power lines to the eastern part of the city.

Local sources reported that Castelverde, 60km east of Tripoli, witnessed an exchange of fire with the use of heavy weapons and tanks.

The “Kanyat” Seventh Infantry Brigade declared in a statement that Castelverde has become a military zone, demanding that a suspect wanted in the killing of one of its fighters be handed over.

The government meanwhile abstained from commenting on the developments until Sunday evening. Earlier, it had only announced that Sarraj had met a US medical team at his Tripoli headquarters.

The National Commission for Human Rights of Libya voiced fears over the latest rounds of violence in Castelverde, demanding a prompt ceasefire to save civilians.

It urged local councils in Tarhuna and Castelverde to intervene immediately in order to reach a ceasefire and end the escalation.

It also called on the United Nations Security Council and international human rights organizations to impose international sanctions and prosecute parties involved in the military escalation.

Hafez bin Sassi, the municipal chief of Libya’s western Zuwara city, revealed that an agreement was reached with Sarraj’s government to suspend a military operation, which was launched by pro-government forces on Friday to seize the Ras Jadeer border crossing.