Egypt, a recurrent target of jihadist terrorism

Recently, Egypt has again experienced the scourge of Jihadist terrorism. An attack on an army armoured vehicle on the Sinai peninsula this week caused several casualties among the armed forces. The figures are not clear. Reuters agency has reported that the explosion, produced by an improvised device, killed or injured ten soldiers. Other media, such as Al-Monitor, claim that the ten soldiers were killed. In the expectation that the human toll would be confirmed, Daesh claimed responsibility for the terrorist act through a publication by Amaq, his semi-official news agency.

"These initiatives will not stop the brave men of our armed forces in their defence of the nation's resources," the Egyptian Ministry of Interior said in a brief official statement. In an operation in response, the soldiers killed two terrorists, although it has not been specified whether they took part in the earlier attack.

The incident, the most serious so far this year in the country of the Nile, came just a week after he was arrested in neighbouring Libya, Mohammad Mohammad al-Sayyid, one of the most wanted terrorists in all of North Africa. This individual, of Egyptian origin, was under the command of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis ('Followers of the House of Jerusalem', literally). He is expected to stand trial in his home country. The entity he led is considered the most important branch of Daesh on the Sinai Peninsula. 

The Cairo government had already inflicted some major blows on the organization, with the arrest and execution of former leader Hisham al-Ashmawy, who was executed along with 36 of his co-religionists.

Egypt's history in recent decades is inseparably linked to the wave of jihadist terrorism that has become a major global threat. In fact, before the founding of Al-Qaeda in 1988, the country of the Nile was the place where the first modern jihadist organizations appeared.

Egyptian universities were the breeding ground where, in the 1970s, the ideas that inspired their establishment began to gain acceptance. At that time, many students participated, to a greater or lesser extent, in the events organized by the Muslim Brotherhood.

In the face of the lack of response from the secularist governments of the Arab world, the Islamist organization began to make a name for itself among the young. Precisely, the postulates proposed by an Egyptian thinker named Sayyid Qutb began to have a predicament among its most extremist sectors. Qutb is the main ideologue of the Takfirist doctrine, which states that any model of social organization not strictly based on the sharia and on the most rigorous interpretation of the Koran is impure and, therefore, must be fought through violent action. This includes, of course, the governments of Muslim-majority countries.

These ideas crystallized into the formation of two main groups: the Egyptian Islamic Group (EIG) and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ). The latter had the longest run; in 1981, one of its commandos assassinated President Anwar el-Sadat during a military parade. Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who arrived in Pakistan in the 1980s to collaborate to the best of his ability with the mujahideen in the Afghan-Soviet war, also left its ranks. 

Al-Zawahiri established himself as one of the most influential voices of the emerging Islamist movement and was one of the three founders of Al-Qaeda, along with Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam. In May 2020, 42 years later, he continues to lead the global terrorist network. Just a few days ago, the elderly leader made a new public appearance to coincide with the beginning of the month of Ramadan.

Throughout these four decades, Egypt has suffered constant attacks by jihadist groups. Despite the departure of Al-Zawahiri to Al-Qaeda, the EIJ did not cease its activity and, until the mid-1990s, launched a bloody campaign of attacks from its safe havens in Sudan. The porosity of the borders greatly facilitated the work of the terrorists. 

One of their most notorious actions was the assault on the Hatshepsut temple in Luxor in November 1997, in which 62 people, mostly international tourists, were killed. This episode was a turning point, since the little acceptance that terrorists could have had in society has since faded, at least for a while. 

Hosni Mubarak's mandates at the beginning of the 21st century enjoyed a certain stability. However, with the arrival of the social upheavals of 2011 and 2012, Islamism found new ways to expand. At the political level, the Muslim Brotherhood, which was later outlawed, capitalised on the indignation caused by the systemic corruption of the administration. Mohammed Mursi even won the elections, but was removed from office because of the pronouncement of Abdelfatah al-Sisi.

On the level of terrorist activity, Daesh came into the picture and, in view of his resilience and durability, it seems that he is an actor who has come to stay. The Sinai Peninsula, where the last attack took place, was precisely the territory where he established himself most strongly. The Egyptian security forces have been one of the main targets of his attacks. Its militants have also launched several campaigns against Hamas in neighbouring Gaza.

Despite the efforts being made by executives such as those in Cairo and Khartoum, the war in Libya continues to be a very difficult factor of instability to control. Fayez Sarraj's Government of National Accord (GNA), supported by Qatar and Turkey, is a new entry point for the most extremist political Islamism in the Mediterranean basin, since the Brotherhood enjoys a great deal of power. 

Furthermore, its armed forces, which are currently fighting against Marshal Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), are largely fed by militiamen from jihadist groups based in Syria, such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham - the former al-Nusra Front - or the Syrian National Army. 

In this context, Egypt is providing political and military support to Haftar's troops, who are seen as a strong power capable of keeping the jihadist groups still operating in the area under their control. However, until a lasting ceasefire is reached and Turkey continues to transfer fighters from the war in Syria, the whole of the North African strip will be under threat; in the case of Egypt, groups operating from its own territory will benefit.