Egypt's military spokesman says Cairo has coordinated its ongoing offensive in the Sinai peninsula with Israel and that the campaign does not violate the two nations' peace treaty.Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali also told reporters Saturday that five weeks into the operation Egyptian forces have killed 32 people, arrested 38 and destroyed 31 tunnels along the border with Gaza. He did not provide details on those killed or detained.
Egypt launched the offensive following an Aug. 5 militant attack near the border with Israel and Gaza that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers.
The operation has included unprecedented numbers of troops and heavy weapons in Sinai, chunks of which are demilitarized according to the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
Egypt's armed forces have dubbed the 32 killed "criminal elements".
Ali said the arrested in "Operation Sinai included "non-Egyptians", some of whom had been arrested on drug charges.
"The operation will continue until its goals have been achieved... These are not just military goals but also developmental goals for the Sinai," Ali said.
He added that "the deployment of the armed forces, on all the territory of Sinai, is not a violation of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel."
"Our presence (in Sinai) is in the frame of coordination," with the Israelis, Ali said.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said last week he expected the Egyptian army to withdraw its reinforcements from the peninsula at the end of the operation.
"They must act against terror and if they have to bring in troops, let them do so. And when it ends, they must take them out," Barak said in an interview with Israel's army radio.The tunnels trade, which analysts estimate is worth half a billion dollars a year, has played a significant part in Gaza's economy since Israel first imposed a blockade in 2006 following the capture of one of its soldiers, who has since been released.
They are used for bringing in a wide variety of goods, including food, fuel and building materials in what many say is a lifeline for the Gaza population.
Israel's grip on the Gaza strip has led the UN and several humanitarian agencies to declare a humanitarian crisis in the strip home to nearly 1.5 million Palestinians.
Up to 80 percent of Gazans are dependent on food aid, and malnutrition is widespread.
But Egypt claims the tunnels have also been used to smuggle weapons.
"We have seized arms, rockets, RPGs, automatic rifles," said Ali.
He said that the armed forces were eager to maintain stability in the peninsula and would only use weapons against armed elements.
"The armed forces will combat thought with thought and arms with arms. We will only use weapons with those who have weapons," Ali said.
The Egyptian government has long struggled with militancy and smuggling in the region but unrest has worsened since an uprising overthrew veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak in February last year, prompting the collapse of his discredited police force.
Bedouins living in the Sinai, where most of Egypt's luxury resorts are concentrated, had long been marginalised under Mubarak's regime.
(AP, AFP, Al-Akhbar)
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment