November 17th, 2015 | https://lobelog.com/egypt-sisis-rule-teetering/#more-31926

Egypt: Sisi’s Rule Teetering

by Emile Nakhleh
The recent downing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai peninsula, most likely due to a bomb, is emblematic of the inability of the Egyptian regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to comprehend the threats facing it and its incompetence in dealing with them. The growing threat from the Sinai affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS or IS), known as “Wilayet Sinai” or the “Sinai Province,” should be even more troubling to the regime. The Sinai IS branch, which used to go by the name of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Supporters of the Holy Mosque), is a radical Sunni Salafi group of tribesmen located in northern Sinai and the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The name change occurred after the group declared allegiance or bay’a to the Baghdadi self-proclaimed caliphate.
The group has been battling Egyptian security forces in the area for several years and has had contacts with radical Salafis in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. It challenged Hamas control in the southern part of the Strip, claiming its religious ideology was “purer.” It was subsequently bloodied in a firefight with Hamas in Rafah. After Morsi was elected president of Egypt, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis overran a military post in northern Sinai, which prompted Morsi to wage a military campaign against it.https://lobelog.com/egypt-sisis-rule-teetering/#more-31926