© Eyad Baba/APAn Egyptian navy vessel hoses down another, which caught fire on the Mediterranean Sea after being hit by a rocket/missile on July 16, 2015.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has claimed its first naval attack on an Egyptian frigate in the Mediterranean, according to reports Thursday from SITE Intel Group. The Sinai branch of ISIS said they destroyed the naval ship with a guided missile.
The Egyptian military said in an early statement that a navy vessel had caught fire just off the coast of Sinai following a clash with militants. In a Facebook post, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir said there were no fatalities among the vessel's crew in the shootout with "terrorists."
However, photos posted by ISIS on Twitter appear to show the frigate being hit by a rocket.
Sinai Province of #ISIS claimed destroying a frigate of the Egyptian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea with a rocket. pic.twitter.com/3CuU7Gaqlt
— SITE Intel Group (@siteintelgroup) July 16, 2015According to AP, security officials said the vessel routinely patrols Egyptian territorial waters, sometimes used to transport army and public personnel to mainland Egypt.
Egypt's ISIS affiliate killed at least 17 soldiers in a July 1 attack in the Sinai peninsula. The same group attempted to attack a military post on a highway between Cairo and Suez on Wednesday. ISIS said via Twitter it succeeded in killing several soldiers but Egypt's military denied the claim, saying it foiled the attack.
Last week ISIS claimed a bomb attack in front of Cairo's Italian consulate that killed one person. Militant violence has surged in Egypt since the army overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties
by Oded Yinon
"If Egypt falls apart, countries like Libya, Sudan or even the more distant states will not continue to exist in their present form and will join the downfall and dissolution of Egypt.
(...)
(Regaining) the Sinai peninsula with its present and potential resources is therefore a political priority which is obstructed by the Camp David and the peace agreements. The fault for that lies of course with the present Israeli government and the governments which paved the road to the policy of territorial compromise, the Alignment governments since 1967. The Egyptians will not need to keep the peace treaty after the return of the Sinai, and they will do all they can to return to the fold of the Arab world and to the USSR in order to gain support and military assistance. American aid is guaranteed only for a short while, for the terms of the peace and the weakening of the U.S. both at home and abroad will bring about a reduction in aid. Without oil and the income from it, with the present enormous expenditure, we will not be able to get through 1982 under the present conditionsand we will have to act in order to return the situation to the status quo which existed in Sinai prior to Sadat's visit and the mistaken peace agreement signed with him in March 1979."
This essay originally appeared in Hebrew in KIVUNIM (Directions), A Journal for Judaism and Zionism; Issue No, 14--Winter, 5742, February 1982
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