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US peacekeeping forces may redeploy in Sinai over Islamist terror threat
Washington is apparently considering redeploying American peacekeeping troops in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, due to the threat of Islamist terror groups in the region.
The US-led Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) has helped monitor the border region since Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979. 12 countries contribute peacekeeping troops in the area, but the 700-strong American contingent is by far the largest. The peacekeepers are in place to ensure compliance with the 36-year-old peace treaty. However, their role has become somewhat less taxing with Israel and Egypt closely cooperating on security issues. Israel routinely permits Egypt to increase its military presence in Sinai beyond the terms of the treaty, as Cairo looks to tackle Islamist terrorists in the region.
Since the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 2013, the Sinai Province group, which is affiliated to ISIS has targeted the regime of President al-Sisi, persistently attacking Egyptian military forces in Sinai. Although the regime in Cairo is the primary target for Sinai Province, the group has also made clear that it is committed to attacking Israel and has fired rockets across the border. In addition, six peacekeepers were injured in a roadside bomb in September.
As a result of the terror threat, CNN reports that the United States is considering moving its peacekeepers from the el-Gorah camp in northern Sinai, to a less dangerous location near Sharm al-Sheikh in southern Sinai. Apparently, the US plans to use cutting edge equipment to enable the peacekeepers to carry out monitoring duties from afar.
US Defence Department spokesman Christopher Sherwood insisted that Washington continues to back the MFO force, commenting that it “supports the role being played by the Multinational Force and Observers in supporting the Treaty of Peace between Israel and Egypt.” However, Fox News says that talks are taking place “at the highest levels” between US, Israeli and Egyptian governments about the future size of the American force in Sinai.