The Sinai insurgency was an insurgency campaign in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt launched by Islamist militants against Egyptian security forces, which also included attacks on civilians. The insurgency began during the Egyptian Crisis, during which the longtime Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The campaign initially consisted of militants, mainly local Bedouin tribesmen, who exploited the chaotic situation in Egypt to launch a series of attacks on government forces in Sinai. In 2014, members of the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) and proclaimed themselves Sinai Province, with some security officials stating that militants based in Libya established ties with the Sinai Province group and blaming the porous border and ongoing civil war for the increase in sophisticated weapons available to the Islamist groups. Egyptian authorities attempted to restore their presence in the Sinai through both political and military measures. The country launched two military operations, known as Operation Eagle in mid-2011 and Operation Sinai in mid-2012. In May 2013, after the abduction of Egyptian officers, violence in Sinai resurged. Following the overthrow in July 2013 of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, "unprecedented clashes" occurred. Hundreds of homes were demolished and thousands of residents were evacuated as Egyptian troops built a buffer zone to halt the smuggling of weapons and militants to and from the Gaza Strip. A report compiled by a delegation from the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) stated that the displaced families were suffering due to government negligence, unavailability of nearby schools, and a lack of health services. From the start of the conflict, dozens of civilians were killed, either in military operations or kidnapped, and then beheaded by militants. In November 2017, more than 300 Sufist worshippers were killed and over 100 injured in a terrorist attack on a mosque west of the city of Al-Arish.
== Background == The Sinai Peninsula has long been known for its lawlessness. Historically, it has served as a route for the smuggling of weapons and supplies. Security provisions in the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979 mandated a diminished security presence in the area, enabling militants to operate with a freer hand. Moreover, the inhabitants of the Sinai Peninsula have expressed grievances regarding their economic marginalization for several decades. This sentiment is exacerbated by perceived injustices, particularly concerning the inequitable distribution of revenues from the tourism sector. The seaside resorts of South Sinai currently represent the peninsula's sole economic assets. However, according to various accounts, the local population derives minimal benefit from this economic activity, as the central authorities in Cairo reportedly reserve land acquisition and employment opportunities for migrants from the Nile Delta. Also, the limited government-directed investment and development in Sinai has discriminated against the local Bedouin population, which values tribal allegiance over all else. The combination of Sinai's harsh terrain and its lack of resources have kept the area poor and ripe for militancy. Following the January 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime, the country became increasingly destabilized, creating a security vacuum in the Sinai Peninsula. Radical Islamic elements in Sinai exploited the opportunity to launch several waves of attacks against Egyptian military and commercial facilities. According to The Economist, the conflict also involves local armed Bedouins "who have long-standing grievances against the central government in Cairo" and that "they are barred from joining the army or police; they find it hard to get jobs in tourism; and they complain that many of their lands have been taken from them".
Timeline
=== 2011–2012 === Since the 2011 uprising against the Mubarak regime in Egypt, there has been increasing instability in the Sinai Peninsula. In addition, the collapse of the Libyan regime increased the quantity and sophistication of weapons being smuggled into the area. The situation provided local Bedouin with an opportunity to assert their authority, leading to clashes with Egyptian security forces, but the cause of violence soon transitioned to salafi jihadism. Hard-line militant Muslims used Sinai as a launch-point for attacks against Israel and turned on the Egyptian state, focusing on Egypt's security establishment and the Sinai's Arab Gas Pipeline.
Operation Eagle
In August 2011, Egypt launched Operation Eagle in an effort to restore law and order, driving Islamist insurgents and criminal gangs out of North Sinai's urban centers, and to attempt to sever the link between militant groups in the Sinai and Gaza by augmenting its control over the Gaza border crossing. The operation had limited success, and a week into the operation, Salafi jihadists carried out the biggest cross-border attack on Israel in the post-Mubarak period.
Operation Sinai
On 5 August 2012, an attack on the Rafah barracks shook the Egyptian military and population. Only a month into his term, President Mohamed Morsi sacked the longstanding defence minister and promoted General al Sisi in his place. Operation Sinai was launched, aimed at eliminating armed Islamist groups, protecting the Suez Canal, and destroying the tunnel network connecting the Sinai with the Gaza Strip. During the operation, 32 militants and suspects were killed and 38 arrested, while 2 civilians were killed by early September 2012.
=== 2013–2014 === Since the July 2013 coup against President Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, Egyptian military and security services in particular were targeted by Sinai-based Islamist groups. In an increase in violence, security forces came under near daily attack throughout July to August 2013. In 2013, the new authorities adopted a more aggressive strategy, leading to mass arrests and harsh security measures. Over the few months leading to 2014, the Egyptian army gained the upper hand in the battle against militias that had found safe haven in the peninsula. After isolating and largely clearing the populated northeastern Sinai, the army put many militant factions on the defensive, most notably Ansar Bait al-Maqdis. However, one thousand armed militiamen were still sheltering in the main stronghold in Jabal Halal, as well as Jabal Amer area. In November 2014, the situation in the Sinai was thrust into the spotlight with the deadliest attack on the security forces since 2011, and the group responsible Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forming the Sinai Province. In the wake of the attack on the security forces, the government declared state of emergency, imposing a curfew and establish a buffer zone in the Sinai's border area with Gaza.
May
===== May 2013 hostage crisis ===== In May 2013, a number of Egyptian Army police officers were taken hostage by armed tribesmen in the Sinai Peninsula, with videos released on the internet with them begging for their lives. As a response, Egypt's government built up security forces in northern Sinai as part of an effort to secure the release of six policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants. On 20–21 May, Egyptian troops and police, backed by helicopter gunships, conducted a sweep through a number of villages in northern Sinai, along the border with Israel. The officials said the forces came under fire from gunmen in vehicles, triggering the clashes. The clashes left one gunman dead by 21 May. The hostages were released on 22 May after talks between the captors and Bedouins. One suspect in the kidnapping was arrested on 30 May 2013.
July
===== July 2013 escalation following Morsi ousting ===== After Morsi's ouster on 3 July by Sisi, there was an increase in violence by armed Bedouin and Islamists. Attacks on security forces took place almost daily — leading many to link the militants there to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which Morsi hails. In response, Egypt launched a major military operation in Sinai against the militants, bringing in two additional battalions. In the two weeks following 3 July, 39 terrorist attacks occurred in North Sinai. In the resulting clashes between armed groups and security forces, 52 gunmen and civilians and six security personnel died. On 15 July, a bus transporting workers to the army-operated Al-Arish Cement Company was attacked leaving five killed and 15 wounded, the highest civilian casualties. On 16 July, attacks resulted in some of the most intense army engagement, concentrated at Al-Masa'id, Al-Joura, and the Central Security camp at Al-Ahrash. Security operations have been largely confined to the 40-kilometre area between Al-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid, extending northward toward Rafah along the border with Israel and up to the Karen Abu Salem crossing. Fighting intensified between the gunmen and the joint army-police forces at night. The frequency of attacks varied from two to five in a single day. In addition, targets expanded from fixed security checkpoints to mobile patrols. In most operations, the gunmen used four-wheel drive vehicles and combinations of light and heavy weaponry. However, in three attacks RPG-7 launchers were used, most likely smuggled from Libya. These grenades are capable of penetrating armoured vehicles and are generally fired at the doors. A bomb was placed at a hotel frequented by security officials on 2 August 2013, though it caused no injuries. A security source told the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that a majority of "terrorists" had been arrested as of 3 August 2013. 2 mausoleums were bombed on 4 August 2013, though no injuries resulted. Twenty-five Egyptian policemen died in an attack in the northern region of Sinai, on 18 August. After militants forced two mini-buses carrying off-duty policemen to stop, ordered the policemen out and forced them to lie on the ground before shooting them. The Egyptian military arrested eleven people, including five Hamas members, three local residents and three foreign nationals, for their alleged involvement in the killings. The person who committed the murders confessed on 1 September 2013. Military spokesperson Ahmed Ali said that Egyptian security forces operations in Sinai, from 5 July to 23 August, resulted in 78 suspected militants killed, including 32 foreigners; 116 people injured; and 203 people arrested, including 48 foreigners, for their alleged involvement in attacks on security checkpoints in the peninsula. Additionally 343 tunnels on the border with Gaza at Rafah were destroyed. However, the Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels were mostly used by civilians and militants in the Gaza Strip to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip. The groups connected to the Sinai insurgency were mostly opposed by the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.
==== September ==== On 3 September, fifteen Islamist militants were killed in an attack by military helicopters. On 7 September, the Egyptian army launched a new operation in the region involving tanks and at least six Apache helicopters. The army jammed communications to thwart militant coordination. The army combed through areas near the Gaza Strip, including locations used by militants suspected in the killing and abduction of Egyptian soldiers over the past year. In the three days of operations, after 7 September, one officer, two soldiers and 29 militants were killed, and 39 militants arrested. On 11 September, a suicide bomber targeted Egyptian military intelligence headquarters in Rafah, bringing down the structure, at the same time a car bomb had rammed an army checkpoint. In the simultaneous attack at least nine soldiers were killed.
==== December ==== On 24 December 16 were killed and over 134 injured in a huge bomb which hit the Daqahliya Security Directorate in Mansoura, in the worst attack on a government site since the ouster of Morsi in July. Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, a Sinai-based group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group deemed Egyptian troops infidels because they answer to a "secular government", warning them to desert or face death.
January
==== 2014 helicopter downing ==== On 26 January, militants shot down an army Mi-17 helicopter in North Sinai, killing all five of its crew members. The weapon the insurgents used was an infrared-homing, surface-to-air missile from the Russian-made Igla family. This was the first time in Egyptian history that an armed nonstate actor dropped a state's military helicopter by a missile. Ansar Bait al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for this attack as well as series of escalating attacks on police and soldiers. Earlier that morning masked men in an SUV attacked a bus carrying soldiers in Sinai, killing at least three and injuring at least 11.
==== February ==== On 3 February, in what was described as the biggest operation in the Egyptian army's ongoing offensive against militants in the Sinai, 30 suspected militants were killed and another 15 injured in a series of airstrikes and another 16 were arrested.
2014 Taba bus bombing
On 16 February 2014, a bomb exploded on or under a tour bus of a South Korean church group in the Egyptian city of Taba, which borders the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Israel. The bombing killed 4 people – 3 South Koreans and the Egyptian bus driver – and injured 17 others. According to The New York Times, the bombing could "offer worrying new evidence that militants who have been attacking Egypt's security forces for months were broadening their campaign against civilians."
October
October 2014 Sinai attacks
On 24 October 2014, 33 army and police soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in North Sinai. The attack was the largest ever since the start of the war on terror in Sinai. As a result of the attack, president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared a state of emergency in the governorate after meeting with the National Defence Council for several hours. The state of emergency was to last for three months and to include a daily curfew from 5 pm to 7 am until further notice.
==== November ==== On 10 November 2014, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forming the Sinai Province group with a confusingly similar name to two Egyptian regional governments. On 14 November 2014, ISIL published a video online that included footage of the group carrying out the October 2014 Sinai attacks.
=== 2015 === During 2015, the intensity and the scale of insurgent attacks expanded.
==== January ==== On 12 January 2015, Sinai Province kidnapped a police officer while traveling in North Sinai and took him to an unknown location. On the following day on 13 January 2015, Egyptian military spokesperson announced the discovery of the dead body of the officer after launching a search operation. He also said that during the operation 10 militants were killed, while two others were arrested. On 26 January 2015, Sinai Province published a video online that included the kidnapping and execution of the police officer kidnapped on 12 January.
January 2015 Sinai attacks
On 29 January 2015, militants from the Sinai Province militant group launched a series of attacks on army and police bases in Arish using car bombs and mortars. The attacks, which occurred in more than six different locations, resulted in 44 confirmed deaths including army personnel and civilians.
====== Security response ====== It was reported that on 6 February 2015 Egyptian security forces attacked the Sinai Province group, killing 47 Islamic militants in Northern Sinai.
==== March ==== On 10 March 2015, a suicide attack on a police barracks using a water tanker was stopped after security forces opened fire on the water tanker causing it to explode before it could get into the barracks. One civilian near the scene was killed and two other civilians alongside 30 policemen were wounded in the blast.
==== April ==== On 2 April 2015, an attack on an army checkpoint resulted in the death of 15 soldiers, 2 civilians and 15 attackers. As a response to the attack, the Egyptian army launched an operation the following day allegedly killing 100 militants. On 8 April 2015, eleven civilians were killed in Sheikh Zuweid when an unidentified rocket-propelled grenade hit their homes. A roadside bomb killed two officers in the same city. On 12 April 2015, 6 soldiers were killed when their armoured vehicle was bombed in North Sinai. On the same day, a separate attack on a police station in Arish resulted in the death of 5 policemen and 1 civilian. 40 were also injured, both policemen and civilians. The attack on the station was carried out by a suicide-bomber using a bomb-laden van, on which the police forces opened fire, causing a large explosion which reportedly created a large crater and shattered house windows near the police station. Militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for the attacks. On 27 April 2015, members from Al-Tarabin tribe in North Sinai launched an attack on Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis positions in Rafah. The attack came after Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis gunmen fatally shot a member of Al-Tarabin tribe in Berth village in southern Rafah, North Sinai, after he refused to take their warning statements ordering them not to deal with the Egyptian military.
==== May ==== On 16 May 2015, three Egyptian judges and their driver were killed, and a fourth judge was severely wounded when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in North Sinai. The attack came hours after a Cairo court issued a preliminary death sentence against former president Mohamed Morsi and 105 other defendants on a range of charges, including murder.
==== June ==== On 9 June 2015, militants fired rockets at the direction of an airport in Sinai used by the multinational peacekeeping forces. There were no casualties reported. ISIL affiliate Sinai Province claimed responsibility for the attack on several Twitter accounts linked to it.
July
July 2015 Sinai attacks
On 1 July 2015, ISIL Sinai Province militants launched one of the largest-scale battles seen in the Sinai Peninsula since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and the largest attack since the insurgency begun in 2011, on multiple Egyptian army checkpoints in the Sinai Peninsula, killing 21 soldiers and wounding 9. However, unknown Egyptian security and medical officials reported that up to 64 soldiers had been killed in the attacks. The attack also targeted Sheikh Zuweid police station. Reinforcements from the Second Army Zone stationed in Ismailia have been deployed to Sheikh Zuweid, including Apache helicopters and F-16 fighter jets. Militants have reportedly killed several civilians who refused to allow them onto their rooftops to target security forces. An army statement claimed the killing of more than 100 militants from the attacking force. The militant death toll increased in the following days, due to Egyptian military operations in the region, reaching 241 killed. On 4 July 2015, a shell bomb struck a house in Sheikh Zuweid, killing a woman and her two children, the shell also seriously wounded another woman and a teenage girl. On the same day, a roadside bomb targeting army and police vehicles killed a five-year-old child in Rafah town that borders the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Three other children and a woman were also wounded in the blast. On 15 July 2015, twenty militants were killed as security forces repelled an attack on a security checkpoint in North Sinai. On 23 July 2015, an officer and three soldiers were killed and three others were wounded when an improvised roadside bomb hit their armoured vehicle in a village near the town of Rafah. On 24 July 2015, the Egyptian army said it has killed 12 terrorists and destroyed two warehouses storing explosive materials. On 31 July 2015, the Egyptian military bombed areas of the North Sinai towns of al-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid, killing 20 suspected militants.
==== August ==== On 1 August 2015, Egyptian army forces surrounded the home of a leading figure of the Sinai-based militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, before shooting him dead.
==== September ==== On 3 September 2015, four American and two Fijian Multinational Force and Observers troops were wounded in an attack involving two IEDs.
Operation Martyr's Right
On 8 September 2015, the Egyptian military launched a major operation code-named "The Martyr's Right". The operation is the largest and most comprehensive operation aimed at rooting out and killing terrorists since July's immediate response to militant attacks. The operation targeted sites in Rafah, Arish, and Sheikh Zuweid, all towns in the northern areas of the peninsula. 535 militants were killed in September 2015. On 13 September 2015, a Fijian soldier attached to the Multinational Force and Observers was wounded by small arms fire.