‘Terror threat from Sinai-Gaza border rises’

Egypt is diluting its presence in the Sinai Peninsula and redeploying troops from the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip to the Egyptian border with Libya in an effort to fortify its front against Islamic State there, Walla reports.

The move comes in light of the tension between Cairo and Washington as well as Egyptian President Mohammed Abdel-Sissi cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the report, Israeli security officials warn that this development may give an opportunity to radical Sunni terrorists to retake the Egypt-Gaza border and to launch terror attacks from there against Israel.

“Egypt is operating according to its priorities, and at this point sees the porous Libyan border as a more significant threat. This is a strip longer than 1,000 kilometers, on the other side of which Islamic State operatives are running amok, murdering Egyptian citizens,” an unnamed security official tells the Hebrew-language website.

“Redeployment of Egypt’s special forces from the Sinai to the Libya border will weaken the Egyptian pressure on the terror groups that may act against Israel,” the source adds.