As a region of difficult geography, which has came to the fore very frequently in the decades-long crisis environment of the Middle East, the Sinai Peninsula has now regained a respectable amount of importance with the Arab Spring. Especially after the removal of Mohammed Morsi, first elected president, by a coup in 2013, the already existing tension in the region was peaked; the Salafi jihadist group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis swore allegiance to ISIS and renamed itself to Wilayat al-Sina or Province of Sinai. Hereby, the Sinai issue has escalated from a domestic issue to an international crisis.
Rocky Terrain of the Bedouins
In order to grasp the situation in Sinai Peninsula, some brief information about the region would come in handy. The Sinai region, (excluding the Southern Sinai region which includes one of the tourism hubs of Egypt, Sharm el-Sheikh) covered with deserts and populated with Bedouins, is known to be neglected by the Egyptian government and as a result, to be underdeveloped economically. Bedouins have historically inhabited t in the northern and central parts of the peninsula. As a result of the aforementioned underdevelopment, Bedouins usually consider themselves to be discriminated. Therefore, whenever the Sinai issue has arise, Bedouins usually feel the need to point out that they are a primary component of the Egyptian population, and they ought to have equal rights with 'the kids of the Valley' or 'the kids of the Delta' (this naming is used because the Egyptian society are in general settled in the Nile Valley), but the state has discriminated against them.
The widespread smuggling in the region (including arm smuggling) and having border with Gaza Strip which has tense relations with Egypt and Israel, the organic relations between Bedouins and Gazans also negatively impacts overall perspective of Egyptian society towards Sinai people; this, in turn, lead to a cautious approach among Sinai people towards ‘Delta man’. As a result, those habitants of the Delta have perceived Gaza and the Hamas as a threat for their national security, and the Sinai tribes as bridges of Gaza and Hamas in Egypt. The Egyptians authorities claim that the armed attacks in the region, which have peaked following the overthrown of Morsi, have been supported by Hamas. It also is a widely common mindset that there are dozens of 'potential Israeli agents' among the Sinai tribes. As this opinion of 'the people of the Delta' also portraits the opinion of the Egyptian government, Sinai tribes also consider the government as well as 'the people of the Delta' as a threat against their interests, among which are 'unofficial' commercial connections and arms trafficking. Besides, Sinai youths not being accepted to the army and the general problems about right of property, usually prevent, weaken or even strain the communication between the population and the government.
An important feature of the Sinai Peninsula is that, the Egyptian army can only dispatch a limited amount of military force on the peninsula in compliance with the 1978 Camp David Agreement. The agreement signed with Israel specifies that the Sinai region is divided into three regions according to the presence of military and safety forces. In this region which divided three starting from the Suez Canal, the Egyptian army presence is reduced as getting closer to the Israeli border. Especially during the Mohammad Morsi’s term, the killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers during an attack near the Israeli border turned the relevant article of Camp David Agreement into a hot debate topic for the Egyptian public.
Ansar Bait al-Maqdis and Its Allegiance to ISIL
Although the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis group appeared after the deposition of the Mobarak regime, the Sinai Peninsula was no stranger to bloody attacks before this. But it could be said that the bloody attacks in Sinai were stepped a notch after the appearance of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis following the emergence of vulnerabilities in national security after the overthrowing of Hosni Mobarak, because the armed attacks became more organised.
The most commonly accepted thesis about the basis of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis is that the roots of group is rested on a group called 'Jama'at Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad', which had been operating in Sinai. The roots of the 'Jama'at Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad' could be traced back to 2000. This group, which was established against Israel, is known by the attacks targeting pipelines delivering gas to Israel and some tourists. Ansar Bait al-Maqdis also targeted the pipelines delivering gas to Israel after its appearance in 2011. However, after the presidential elections which resulted with Mohammed Morsi’s victory, the situation escalated to another dimension in August 2012 with 16 Egyptian soldiers being killed during an attack in a Sinai border zone. The military operations and counter-strikes has also gradually increased as of this date.
The counter-strikes of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis targeting the Egyptian army increased more following Mohammad Morsi’s deposition with a coup d’état in July 2013. Linking the attacks to the Hamas in Gaza and Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian army extended its operations. The situation further weakened the government authority in Sinai Peninsula.
The escalating tension in Sinai, and Ansar Bait al-Maqdis swearing allegiance to ISIS in November 2014 caused the international concern about the region because ISIS, which became a global threat, now was expanding its existence in one of the most important Arabic nations. ISIS existence in Sinai becomes even more important because of its border with Israel.
Undoubtedly, the reason behind Ansar Bait al-Maqdis’ allegiance to ISIS lies within the affinity of religious faith; but the rapid spread of jihadist groups in the region and becoming the most popular organizations among the jihadist groups is also an important factor. Before its allegiance, the ISIS official spokesperson Abu Mohammad al-Adnani praised Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, and encouraged them for ISIS-style attacks. Similarly, he also called ISIS linked organizations for help to jihadist groups in Sinai following the Egyptian army crackdown on the Sinai Peninsula. The possibility to get assistance from regions such as Syria or Iraq where ISIS gradually spread, has played a major role in the decision of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis swearing allegiance to ISIS and renaming itself as 'Wilayat al-Sina'.
Globalisation of the Sinai Issue
Although the developments in Sinai Peninsula were an authority and security issue for the Egyptian government from the start, the issue was regarded as 'terrorist actions' of a Salafi-Jihadist group. Although these 'terrorist actions', which generally targeted the pipelines delivering gas to Israel and occasionally tourists, were echoed within worldwide public opinion; the Sinai issue was never regarded as an issue of utmost importance. However, the Sinai issue, began to be seen from a different aspect both by international actors as well as the Egyptian State, due to the authority gap in the region emerging after the removal of Morsi; the bloody attacks by the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis which gradually got stronger thanks to the authority gap; renaming itself to 'Wilayat al-Sina' as well as swearing allegiance to ISIS, which is a global threat; and the geographic proximity of the region. The Egyptian Army presence in Sinai, which became a buffer zone between Egypt and Israel, and treated in the context of Israel’s security with the Camp David, has been completely reorganised according to Israel’s security. Consequently, the authority gap and the security flaws in Sinai are not only a issue for the Egyptian central government, but also for the 'Israeli safety', which Egyptian government is responsible for.
On the other hand, developments in west of Egypt and the increasing ISIS threat in the neighbouring Libya, makes the ISIS existence in Sinai even a bigger issue. While Egypt engaged deeply in the developments in Libya, which perceived as a threat to its national security; Egypt being the target of similar threats in its own territory poses a great menace to the role given to Egypt, a special position for the stability of Middle East, as a part of the global power balance.
The ISIS presence within Sinai, which is the Achilles’ heel of Egypt and a border zone with Israel, constitutes a critic part of the group’s recent fast-paced expansionism in the Middle East. When Egypt’s position in international balances over the Middle East is considered, it could be understood better how these balances are under threat by the spread of ISIS, as Egypt is trapped both from east (Libya) and the west by the ISIS threat. This 'being trapped' plays a great role in the nation’s calls to UN and international public for counter-terrorism. The Egyptian government now expresses at every chance that military means are not enough, and international cooperation is now a must.
This article was published in Ortadoğu Analiz journal with the title of “Sinai Peninsula: From a Regional to a Global Issue”
