Egyptian army said to intensify home demolitions in Sinai

Egypt’s military intensifies home demolitions in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula as part of its campaign against a local affiliate of the Islamic State group, an international rights group says Tuesday.

The military launches a massive security operation in early February in restive northern Sinai, the epicenter of an Islamic insurgency spearheaded by the local IS affiliate. The campaign also includes parts of the Nile Delta region and the Western Desert, along the porous border with Libya.

Human Rights Watch says in a report that Egypt’s military vastly expanded widespread destruction of homes, commercial buildings and farms in Northern Sinai province since February 9.

“The new destruction, including hundreds of hectares of farmland and at least 3,000 homes and commercial buildings, together with 600 buildings destroyed in January, is the largest since the army officially began evictions in 2014,” HRW says.

— AP