The decapitated bodies of a father and his two sons recently kidnapped by militants were found Saturday lying in the street in the northern Sinai town of Rafah, according to security officials and witnesses — the latest grotesque act of brutality in the country’s long-running insurgency, like reported by arabnews.com.

They said the mother of the two siblings was killed last week by Daesh militants when they raided the family home in the village of Yamit, west of Rafah, and kidnapped the three men they suspect of being collaborators.

The three decapitated bodies found Saturday were taken to hospital, where they were identified and prepared for burial, according to the officials and witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media and feared reprisals, respectively.

A Daesh leader in Egypt vowed this week to escalate attacks against Christians, urging Muslims to steer clear of Christian gatherings and Western embassies as they are targets of their group’s militants.

“Targeting the churches is part of our war on infidels,” the unidentified leader said in a lengthy interview published by the group’s Al-Nabaa newsletter on Thursday. He said churches, security posts and institutions, as well as places where “crusader nationals of Western countries” gather were all “legitimate targets.”

Separately, the Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that policemen on the trail of members of Brotherhood breakaway factions that have taken up arms against the government have located and shot dead two operatives in a gunbattle north of Cairo. It said the two were involved in a bomb attack that killed two policemen and injured others last month in the city of Tanta north of Cairo.

Also on Saturday, a criminal court in Cairo accepted an appeal by the prosecution against a release order issued on Thursday in favor of a senior leader and financier of the Brotherhood, businessman Hassan Malik, who has been in detention for two years but never faced trial.

Malik, arrested in 2015 on charges that he plotted to harm the national economy, was ordered Saturday to remain in police custody for 45 days.

Russia’s newest cruise-missile warship is on course to join Moscow’s naval forces off the Mediterranean coast of Syria, Russian news agency Interfax reported Friday.

The Ministry of Defense announced in a statement that the frigate, which has been at the navy’s disposal for less than a year, will join Russia’s Mediterranean naval forces while on its way from its previous area of deployment, the Baltic Sea, to its home port in the Black Sea.

Russia has no Mediterranean fleet unit and during the civil war in its ally Syria, has periodically sent ships from either its Black Sea or Baltic Sea bases in the waters nearby. Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the formation of such a unit of up to 10 ships in 2013 that has relied on rotational deployments, supported by Russia’s Syrian port in Tartus.

The Admiral Essen frigate now joins the ranks of its sister vessel Admiral Grigorovich and others in the Mediterranean Sea.

NATO and the U.S. have extensive presence in the region and a pair of U.S. warships issued a sharp reminder of that fact last month by executing a cruise missile strike on the Syrian regime last month.

As a result, Russian-U.S. ties have become more tense, prompting Russia to suspend a memorandum intended to prevent unwanted clashes between air force deployments.

Admiral Grigorovich joined the Mediterranean naval deployment immediately after the attack in a move Moscow claimed had been scheduled previously. Admiral Essen’s arrival adds to Russia’s firepower in the region, as it carries a Kalibr cruise missile, as well as missile defense systems and artillery.

The Kalibr is Russia’s new supersonic cruise missile system, which was first tested for military use in 2015 when Russia opted to hit targets in Syria by sea, as well as by air. The launch was once again from a Mediterranean-based vessel, though it was a submarine, not a ship.

The vessel is also capable of carrying a Ka-27 or Ka-31 military helicopter on deck, but there are no reports that it is currently doing so.

Islamic State’s leader in Egypt has warned Muslims to stay away from Christian gatherings as well as government, military and police facilities, suggesting that the militant group will keep up attacks on what he referred to as “legitmate targets”, like reported by reuters.com.

In April, two Islamic State suicide bombers killed at least 45 people at churches in the cities of Alexandria and Tanta, one of the bloodiest attacks the country has experienced in years.

“We are warning you to stay away from Christian gatherings, as well as the gatherings of the army and the police, and the areas that have political government facilities,” the leader, who was not named, said in an interview in Islamic State’s Al Naba weekly newspaper published on Telegram.

Islamist militants are increasingly targetting religious minorities, a challenge to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has promised to protect them from extremism.

Islamic State has been turning its sights on targets outside its base in the Sinai, putting more pressure on the government and presenting extra challenges for security services.

The influx of foreign engineers and pilots could lead to Misrata’s militias once again having access to an air force

Forces loyal to the Libyan general Khalifa Haftar claim foreign mercenaries are being recruited to bolster the air power of rival fighters in the city of Misrata, like reported by middleeasteye.net.

Mohamed Ghunaim, of Haftar’s Libyan National Army, said this week that the 11 mercenaries had entered the city, including “nine jet technicians from Ecuador, one Ukrainian pilot, one missile expert from Georgia”.

A source close to the international mission in Libya, who asked to remain anonymous, also confirmed this to Middle East Eye. Ghunaim told MEE that the Libyan National Army (LNA) was “not in a stage to comment further”.

“In case we decide to announce detailed info, it will be on our official outlets,” he added.

The mercenaries were reported by MEE’s source to have entered the cities of Misrata and Mitiga.

The hiring of mercenaries would break UN resolutions on arms control in Libya.

Clashes between the LNA and militias loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) erupted in mid-April with the former aiming to seize control of towns close to Libya’s northern coast.

This is not the first time that Misrata, which is controlled by pro-GNA militias, has used mercenary services for the piloting and maintenance of its aircraft fleet.

In early 2015, the Misrata-based Libya Dawn Air Force (LDAF) managed to make operational both of its Mirage F1s, but their pilots then refused to “bomb Libyan people”.

The two Mirages flew to Malta in February 2011 during the Libyan uprising, when rebels overthrew the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

They were piloted by two senior officers, Ali al-Rabti and Abdullah al-Salheen, who claimed to have defected after being ordered to bomb civilians protesting in Benghazi.

The jets returned to Okba Ben Nafi air base near Tripoli in February 2012.

From February 2015, the Ukrainian Glissada company, specialising in the supply of spare parts for airplanes and helicopters of various nations, began looking for pilots and technicians with experience on the Mirage F1 for full-time jobs in Africa.

The final client was Libya Dawn, via the Caravana Middle East company based in Jordan and directed by a US-Jordanian, Rami Ghanem Najm, according to MEE’s source. Najm was arrested in December 2015 in Greece on an international arrest warrant and extradited to the US on arms trafficking charges.

The first two foreign mercenaries appeared in Misrata in June 2015. One of them refused to bomb LNA troops and left. The other – an Ecuadorian, reinforced by technicians of the same country – carried out several air strikes against LNA forces, then Islamic State militants in the Sirte region.

Since 2016, the LDAF sided with the new, internationally recognised government in Tripoli, established in December 2015 and unanimously approved by the UN Security Council.

A lack of spares, maintenance personnel and pilots resulted in the LDAF being reduced to one operational Mirage F1, and about 10 other fighter jets by April 2016.

Mirage maintenance is complicated, as many spares were captured by the LNA when it took control of al-Watiya airbase in northwest Libya in 2014.

On 3 June 2016, the sole operational Mirage crashed west of the city of Sirte due to a technical problem. The pilot, a Portuguese mercenary, ejected, but died of his injures.

By the end of July, a lack of money meant that all foreign mercenary pilots and engineers had left Libya, leaving the LDAF with only a few operational pilots and aircraft.

Since the beginning of April, Misrata has been engaged in a trial of strength with the LNA in the Fezzan region.

The LNA air force launched multiple air strikes on Tamanhint air base, 30km northeast of al-Sebha, where fighting was taking place between the Misrata Third Force militia and the LNA 12th Brigade.

The Misrata air force retaliated by bombing the Brak al-Shati airbase, 80km north of al-Sebha, where LNA aircraft were reportedly based.

The reinforcement by mercenaries is timely since the LNA is reportedly running out of air power.

The role of the Ecuadorian technicians is probably to overhaul the Mirage F1, stationed at Misrata since last year, and more probably refurbish other aircraft stored at Mitiga.

Sources say the Ukrainian has been recruited to service MiG-23s. Already, in late 2014, a group of Ukrainian technicians from Odessa Aviarem service were contracted to overhaul and return to service these aircraft and another group of technicians from Zaporozhie in Ukraine to overhaul at least one MiG-25.

Since February 2011, an embargo has been imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1970 covering arms exports, provision of weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, and related spare parts.

Two additional resolutions – 2009 from September 2011 and 2095 from March 2013 – granted permission for provision of non-lethal equipment, technical assistance, training and financial support.

However, the embargoes still in place have been frequently ignored – over the last three years Libya has received a significant quantity of new aircraft and helicopters from various supporters abroad.

It is unclear how Misrata managed to find funding to recruit new foreign pilots and technicians. However, the return to operational service of the Mirages on the GNA side could challenge the LNA air force,  which received a batch of former Russian fighter jets last month.

A powerful local tribe in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula have said they have killed eight Daesh fighters and captured three more, like reported by middleeastmonitor.com.

Known as Tarabeen, the tribe regularly clashes with local Daesh-affiliated groups and attempted to confront head on the insurgency raging in the northern Sinai.

According to a senior member of the tribe, Moussa Al-Delh, the clashes broke out yesterday in the town of Rafah along the Gaza border with no tribesmen reportedly killed in the clashes.

The insurgency has been deadly for Egypt since 2013 with Egyptian security forces battling the extremist group which has operated in the northern Sinai for years.

Attacks on churches and against civilians have all been claimed by Daesh, leaving dozens dead.

Three policemen were also killed yesterday when a gunman attacked a police patrol in Cairo in a late night drive-by-shooting, the Egyptian interior ministry confirmed in a statement.

Algeria has recently been at the center of multiple discussions and speculations. Several analysts – like reported by carnegie-mec.org – believe that the country is about to face the second wave of the so-called “Arab Spring”. The regime would collapse and a civil war would follow. Six years after the Arab uprisings, the Algerian regime showed a remarkable degree of stability and continuity. The regime adapted to the new local, regional and international realities.

The relative peace and more broadly the regime’s longevity can be explained by the combination of elements from both authoritarianism and democracy. The Algerian regime is in fact a hybrid one. To preserve itself while managing democratization demands, the regime opened up the political arena, allowed for more freedom of association and speech, liberalized (selectively) the economy while continuing to co-opt large and diverse interest groups and personalities and to use coercion to avoid social unrest.

The first mechanism used to maintain the regime while managing democratization demands is liberalization of the political arena. Algeria took the first step towards liberal democracy in the Arab world and that was in 1989. We can argue that the experience was short (1989-1991), messy and untidy, yet the one-party system ended, civil society bloomed and competitive elections were held for the first time in the country.

Since the advent of the multi-party system, 15 elections have been held regularly, among them five presidential elections. More recently, in 2012 electoral reforms were initiated to liberalize the party registration process and many parties were allowed to register. There are 23 parties today. The arena is mainly divided between nationalist groups, Berbers, democrats, independents and Islamists who have been integrated into the political game since 1995. More recently, in 2016, electoral reforms were also adopted to enhance individual and collective freedom, improve voting and women’s participation as well as strengthening election oversight with creation of an independent electoral commission.

However, these democratic elements are mixed with authoritarian ones such as the oppression of opposition figures, legal obstacles to party formation and financing as well as restrictions of access to both media and funds. Fraud and gerrymandering stratagems make the elections safe for the regime. Hence, the dominant party of power, National Liberation Front (FLN), wins the majority of votes and keeps a tight grip on parliament. Nonetheless, opposition parties remain significant in national politics yet outsized margins are common but they are more “realistic” to avoid people’s derision. Co-optation, clientelism, patronage are embedded political subterfuges used to maintain the regime and reinforce the status quo.

The second mechanism is in the media and the associative arena. Algeria has one of the most vibrant presses on the African continent. There are 269 accredited publications, including 140 daily newspapers (six are believed to be operated by the government), 16 weekly and 31 monthly magazines and several specialized publications. Online news media has boomed with the development of the 3G network. Social media gave youth a virtual space for contestation and platforms such as Facebook became important safety valves to soothe social pressure.

Even if the Internet is not restricted, the state monitors Internet activities and electronic communications. Coercion is used when the state judges that limits have been crossed. Journalists, cartoonists, bloggers, publishers, editors and human right activists can be harassed, arrested or jailed, newspapers seized, and news organizations sabotaged by means of taxes and regulations. As for the associative world, there are 1,027 national and 92,627 local associations legally registered in the country. Yet, the regime restricted their influence and eroded their capacities to constitute a significant challenge with a number of legal, financial and political actions.

The third instrument is economic liberalization. The Algerian state remains the main economic actor in the country. However, since 2001 it has introduced reforms to boost the private sector and foreign investment. Yet the economic reforms are selective and meant to enrich regime supporters and strengthen alliances between important businessmen and their political allies.

The fourth tool is coercion. The security forces, such as the police and the gendarmerie, receive important material incentives to protect the regime from dissident groups. A crucial player remains the military apparatus that detains the locus of power in Algeria. It is the most professionalized and organized institution in the country.

Despite popular criticism, most Algerians see it as the “savior” that prevented the radical Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) from seizing power and was able to ensure the stability of the country. The military apparatus capitalizes on the population’s fear (which is well-founded) of instability and change – especially with the dangerous situation along the borders with neighboring Tunisia, Libya and the Sahel – to justify, locally and internationally, its grip on power, as the country became a pivotal ally for the US and Europe in the fight against terror.

The military apparatus remains the source of decision-making in Algeria with a strong grip on Algerian society and politics. Even if the older generation is disappearing, it had plenty of time to socialize with and educate new recruits to its visions and way of actions. Except in 1989, the military apparatus never went back to their barracks and are unlikely to do so anytime soon. For the aforementioned reasons, the regime is not likely to crumble even if it faces a fragile situation with the succession problem.

The succession of Bouteflika is a delicate issue and might introduce a moment of instability, yet the Algerian regime has resources to deal with it, and the emergence of weak spots (if any!) will make its old reflexes reappear. The military “young” Generals who do not want to antagonize the civil society as they did in the 1990s, seem likely to accept a slow but steady transition that would put a more representative and consensual government and president in place.

It is possible that the political-military elite is currently trying to organize a consensus around a figure who will preferably be a civilian, a “présidentiable”, someone with historical legitimacy and an acceptable level of public support. But again, one cannot be certain about Algeria’s political-military apparatus’ next step, nor about the durability of Algeria’s civil society and political parties’ consensus on the need for a peaceful transition.

One Monday in early April, Shaher Saeed was driving south of the city of Arish in Egypt’s North Sinai when he came upon a group of Islamic State militants who had stopped a truck carrying cigarettes, like reported by reuters.com.

“I saw them forcing the driver from the vehicle and stripping the upper part of his clothing before tying him to the door of one of their cars,” said Saeed, who lives in the area. “They hit him on the back more than 10 times, then burned all the cartons of cigarettes … They let him go after warning him not to trade cigarettes again.”

Interviews with residents of North Sinai and reviews of Islamic State videos suggest the group’s local affiliate, known as Sinai Province, is seeking to impose its hardline interpretation of Islam on the local populace for the first time. According to Sinai Province videos reviewed by Reuters, the group has created a morality police force, known as a Hisba, to enforce strict rules against such behaviour as smoking, men shaving their beards or women exposing their faces.

Coupled with a sharp increase in attacks on Christians inside and outside its predominant area of operations in North Sinai, the developments mark a significant change of tactics for Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate. Previously, the group had mostly attacked police, soldiers and their informants.

The group’s widening geographical reach and shift in focus present a challenge for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power in 2013 vowing to eradicate Islamist extremism and restore security. Despite government crackdowns that have seen hundreds of militants and protesters killed and thousands jailed, Islamic State is still mounting deadly attacks in Egypt.

The developments reflect how Islamic State is expanding operations in the Arab world’s most populous country as the extremist group faces setbacks in Syria, Iraq and Libya, say analysts. While the group has failed to capture territory in Egypt, it is trying to stoke sectarian tensions and social unrest. An examination of what’s happening in North Sinai, a region rarely accessible by reporters, shows the strategy is scoring some success.

A 25-minute video posted in late March on an internet channel often used by Islamic State showed jihadists announcing the creation of a Hisba in North Sinai, modelled on religious police units operating in parts of Iraq and Syria controlled by Islamic State. The video denounced Christians and Sufi Muslims, and showed enforcers, wearing jackets identifying them as Sinai Province Hisba, burning confiscated cigarettes and drugs and destroying tombs and shrines, which they consider un-Islamic.

In the video, an unmasked young militant warns that the Hisba will punish dissenters according to its interpretation of Islam. Enforcers are shown hitting one man with plastic tubing and beheading two elderly adherents of Sufi Islam, accusing them of sorcery and apostasy. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video, which has since been removed from the internet.

Egypt’s military spokesman declined to comment on the incidents in North Sinai, the thinly populated but strategic peninsula between the Suez Canal, Israel and Gaza where a legacy of government neglect has created fertile ground for radicalisation among disenfranchised locals. A security source downplayed concerns that the militants were capable of spreading the kind of sectarian violence that has torn apart Iraq.

“They are trying to have an impact, and we are not saying we have completely eradicated them, but they are weak,” he said.

The latest shift in militants’ tactics began in December, when an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 28 people at the main Coptic Christian cathedral in the heart of the capital Cairo. In February, Sinai Province declared in another video its intent to wipe out Egypt’s Christians, who account for about 10 percent of the 92 million population.

Christians have long faced sporadic attacks in Egypt, usually sparked by disputes over land, church-building or inter-religious love affairs. But the murder of seven Christians in North Sinai in the three weeks from Jan. 30 was different, more systematic and more insidious, officials and rights groups said at the time. About 175 families fled the area. Some of them told Reuters that hit lists of local Christians had been circulated online and pushed under doors.

Last month, Islamic State militants killed at least 45 people in two church bombings on Palm Sunday, prompting Sisi to declare a state of emergency.

Mokhtar Awad, research fellow in the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, said the new campaign against Christians was an effort to tear at the fabric of society and state when other means had failed. “A confluence of factors has seen this escalation happen now,” he said. “They hope that this is the first step to basically unravel the country.”

As well as launching attacks in major cities like Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta, where the church bombings took place, militants are ranging further afield inside North Sinai. Where fighting once centred around the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, near the Gaza border, militants have carried out more attacks in and around Arish, the provincial capital about 52 km (32 miles) further west.

Since 2014, when homegrown Sinai militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to Islamic State, Egypt has resorted to ever more destructive means to root out the jihadists. It has smashed a network of tunnels used to smuggle weapons in from Gaza; razed hundreds of homes to create a no-man’s land; and mounted numerous air strikes. Those policies have prevented militants seizing territory, but at a high cost for locals.

In the stretch of highway that separates Sheikh Zuweid from Rafah lie about 14 villages. Eleven of them, say locals, are now abandoned. A Reuters reporter drove through three of the villages in October and saw empty streets, destroyed homes and orchards felled by the military to deprive militants of cover.

In the village of El Zahair, about half the residents had gone. Those who remained said they had little alternative.

“We live by planting the land near our house with tomatoes, beans, whatever and eating them. If I went to Arish, I have no money to rent a flat; and if I managed to find a flat, how would I find the money to eat?” said Suleiman Abu Hameed. “The security forces have besieged the terrorists but they have besieged us, too.”

In the village of Moqataa near Sheikh Zuweid, mounds of rubble dotted the streets where houses once stood. Even buildings unscathed by the near-four-year-old war between Egypt’s army and Sinai Province were abandoned.

Karam al-Zubeiydi, a former resident of Moqataa, works at the Arish post office earning 1,200 Egyptian pounds ($65.97) a month and has no immediate plans to return.

“At any moment, an air strike could kill me and my children” there, he said. The military had destroyed his olive trees, Zubeiydi said. “So I planted tomatoes, but then I couldn’t get fuel for the engine that draws water from my well, so I couldn’t live there.”

Zubeiydi’s children used to go school in Sheikh Zuweid, but it became too dangerous and time-consuming to send them, he said, because of the army and police checkpoints on the road. Many people who remain in the villages now educate their children at home, Zubeiydi added.

ROADBLOCKS

On some stretches of road between Sheikh Zuweid and Arish, a coastal city that once drew visitors to its beaches, army and police checkpoints are so close together that one can be seen from another.

To prevent car bombings and shootings, security forces place concrete barriers in zigzag formations or set up defence lines reinforced with sandbags. Some checkpoints force cars to take short detours off the main road. Such measures, however, have not stopped Islamic State fighters from setting up their own impromptu roadblocks, where they check IDs, tell women to cover up and carry out public punishments, locals say.

One female teacher said she was on her way from Arish to the school where she works in Rafah in late February when three masked Islamic State fighters stopped her bus. Two got on and advised the women to veil their faces and travel with chaperones, she told Reuters.

A few days later it happened again, she said. This time, the advice to wear the niqab, or face veil, came with a threat of punishment by lashings or acid attacks for those who refused. The teacher said she did not comply.

“The situation is difficult. People are scared,” the teacher said. She declined to give her full name for fear of retaliation by Islamic State fighters, who have beheaded locals they accuse of going against their austere interpretation of Islam or of collaborating with Israel or Egyptian security forces. She was one of two female teachers who told Reuters that Islamic State fighters had boarded their buses.

Ibrahim al-Tadawy, the top Education Ministry official in North Sinai, said teachers were travelling as normal in ministry-organised buses from Arish to schools in Rafah. “North Sinai is secure and stable and the educational process is taking place as usual,” he told Reuters by telephone.

Despite the tight security, residents of southern Rafah said Islamic State fighters had confiscated satellite dishes, and residents of Arish said a shop which sold videos and DVDs had been attacked. Reuters was unable to track down the owner of the shop, now closed.

The military spokesman declined to comment. The security source said the militants were unable to impose themselves on society.

“This is all nonsense,” the source said. “They come out for two minutes and film two cars and say, ‘We set up a checkpoint.’ This was all for the media, for people like you to write things that bear no relation to the reality on the ground.”

While the army has had some success in purging jihadists from the border areas, militants have resurfaced elsewhere, according to police and residents based in Arish. They say the militants have moved into the city and are now all around them, hiding among the civilian population.

“The places they were living no longer exist or now have a large security presence. Now they have started to come out of the streets in the city to attack us and then disappear among the people,” said Badr Ali, a policeman at an Arish checkpoint. “The problem is that the people, if they spot the gunmen, are too scared to even point to them.”

Mona Barhoum, a local rights activist from Rafah, said that while Islamic State’s affiliated militants don’t control the region, “they are present, they pop up like a jack-in-the-box, they kill or kidnap someone and go back into hiding.”

Unknown assailants tossed on Sunday night seven grenades in Lebanon’s Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, raising fear of the renewal of bloody clashes in the camp, like reported by aawsat.com.

Tensions had been high in the area after the hardline factions rejected the plan to bolster security forces in the al-Tairy neighborhood. The Fatah movement had also refused to withdraw its members from the nearby al-Sohoun neighborhood.

Clashes had erupted in April between Fatah and the hardline Bilal Badr group after the latter refused the deployment of security forces in the camp.

Head of Palestinian national security in Lebanon, Sobhi Abu Arab told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Saboteurs and mercenaries of the Bilal Badr group tossed a number of hand grenades on the roofs of buildings after the security forces unit in the Tairy neighborhood was boosted by 50 new members.”

Thirty of these members are from Fatah and Palestinian Liberation Organization factions and the remaining 20 are from the Islamic alliance forces, he explained.

“Some sides are insisting on resisting the stability in the camp and the deployment of security forces,” he added.

Meanwhile, Fatah sources said the tossing of grenades is evidence that members of the Bilal Badr group are still present in the Tairy neighborhood, “even though we know that Badr himself is present in another neighborhood.”

The sources ruled out the possibility of the re-eruption of the clashes, “but we expect them to keep stoking tensions through inciting security unrest, throwing grenades or even assassinations.”

The developments of the past two days have proven that the Bilal Badr group is still present in the Tairy neighborhood despite an agreement that was reached last month that calls for a halt in armed clashes in that neighborhood, which was considered as a stronghold of the hardline faction.

The deal demanded that members of the group withdraw from the area after Fatah failed to resolve the clashes militarily. Sources at the time predicted that tensions will remain in Ain el-Hilweh as long as Badr remains on the loose.

At least seven people were killed in armed fighting in April in the crowded Ain el-Hilweh camp near the southern coastal city of Sidon. A ceasefire was announced after five days of unrest.

Lebanon’s Palestinian camps, which date back to the 1948 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors, mainly fall outside the jurisdiction of Lebanese security services. There are some 450,000 Palestinian refugees living in 12 camps in Lebanon.

A Palestinian member of the Islamic State group who is prominent on social media claims to have unmasked an attempt by Palestinian intelligence to infiltrate groups of IS supporters in the West Bank.

Rami Jalala is perhaps the most prominent Palestinian member of IS on social media today. Jalala posted on his Facebook account, which is frequently blocked, that an individual who went by the last name of Mohammad who Jalala claims is a Palestinian intelligence official from the town of Bidia near Nablus recently tried to infiltrate the ranks of the organization to uncover IS members and supporters in the West Bank.

Jalala’s post warns of Mohammad’s intentions. According to Jalala, in conversations with “my brother” – a nickname for any supporter or member of IS – in the village of Bidia, “It turned out that Ibrahim Mohammad was a Palestinian intelligence agent since his days as a student at the An-Najah University in Nablus.”

According to Jalala, Mohammad would open fake Facebook accounts which he and “his family” used to speak about Mohammad’s wish to kill infidels. On these accounts, Mohammad said a number of times that he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority for a few days and once said that he had been arrested in Jordan together with another family member for a week after the authorities claimed he was a member of IS.

In his post, Jalala wrote that he discovered through a reliable source that “[Mohammad] wasn’t under arrest that week as he claimed and during those days he was in his town and wasn’t arrested anywhere.”

With regard to the alleged arrest by Jordanian authorities, Jalala wrote, “Imagine what they would have done to someone arrested in Jordan for affiliation with ISIS, and then being released after a week.”

Jalala also wrote that in an attempt to get closer to those considered jihadists and potential supporters of IS, Mohammad tried to marry his sister to one of “the brothers” and, taking another opportunity, tried to invite “a few brothers to a wedding so that as many as possible would come with the intent of confirming their identities so that they would be placed under surveillance by security forces at the same moment.”

According to Jalala, when Mohammad became aware he’d been unmasked, he closed his various Facebook accounts.

A senior jihadist in the Gaza Strip told Breitbart Jerusalem that the case revealed by Jalala did in fact involve IS members and supporters in the West Bank and especially in the Nablus area.

The jihadist, Abu Baker Almaqdesi, claimed that the Palestinian Authority has invested significant effort in infiltrating circles of IS supporters in the West Bank: “We are in a stage in which we choose the brothers carefully and I don’t believe that the services of the traitorous (Palestinian) Authority were successful in infiltrating our ranks. Our goal is to take not only the West Bank from the traitorous (Palestinian) Authority, but to take and cleanse the holy land of Palestine from all the traitors and infidels and the Jews.”

The militants drove by and shot down police stationed at an intersection of the ring road, a busy Cairo expressway, in the city’s eastern neighbourhood of Nasr City, intoday.in

Islamic militants killed three policemen and injured five others in a shooting in Cairo late on Monday, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

Attacks on security forces are common in Egypt’s northern Sinai, where the country is battling an Islamist insurgency, but targeted assaults in Cairo are rare and the shooting comes amid a campaign by militants to spread violence to the country’s mainland.

The militants drove by and shot down police stationed at an intersection of the ring road, a busy Cairo expressway, in the city’s eastern neighbourhood of Nasr City, the statement said.

The attack comes just weeks after two Islamic State suicide bombers killed at least 45 in deadly church bombings in Alexandria and Tanta, one of the bloodiest attacks the country has experienced in years.