ISIS Appears Ready to Launch Strike Against Israel, Moving Fast on the Border

The Federalist Papers
April 12, 2015

The radical Islamist terrorist group ISIS has been wreaking havoc across the Middle East for several months now. In their path they have left a trail of violence, murder, rape, and barbarism not seen since Islam’s earlier days.  But up until this time, their targets have been in Islamic countries like Syria, Iraq, and Libya.

That may now be changing as the Jerusalem Post reports:

Islamic State-affiliated jihadists in the volatile Sinai Peninsula have claimed the graphic killings of an Egyptian solider and another captive.

According to AFP, the group Sinai Province uploaded a video overnight between Friday and Saturday that allegedy shows the fatal shooting of the solider and the beheading of the other man.

In the video, a man addressing the camera says he is an Egyptian solider who was captured on April 2 by the group formerly called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis during an attack on a military outpost in the northern Sinai.

After the soldier speaks, a masked jihdai from the group — that changed its name after pledging allegiance to the extremist Islamic State group — is seen shooting him in the head, according to AFP.

The Sinai Peninsula borders Israel to the southwest.  Israel controlled the Sinai for decades until a recent treaty with Egypt returned control to the Egyptians.  This is an alarming turn of events if ISIS (or one of their affiliates) is operating so close to Israel.  The Jerusalem Post supplies further details:

A day after the ambush on April 2, the group claimed responsibility for attacks on military checkpoints which killed 15 soldiers and two civilians in Sinai.

Sinai Province said in a statement its fighters used rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons in the attacks, which highlighted security challenges facing Egypt despite one of the toughest crackdowns on militancy in its history.

The group said the operations killed or wounded dozens of people.

If there is a growing ISIS presence in the Sinai, this could spell trouble for not only Israel and Egypt, but for much of the world as well.  The Suez Canal is located on the western side of the Sinai Peninsula.  It connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea and is a vital shipping lane between Europe and Asia.

If ISIS can interfere with ship traffic through the Canal, it could cause a huge disruption of trade in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Egyptian President, al-Sisi understands what’s at stake here as the Jerusalem Post relates:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly called on Arab and Western states to confront Islamist groups, which have flourished in the region since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings toppled autocratic states which contained them.

Sinai-based terrorists have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since then-army chief Sisi toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

 Israel will not stand quietly by and wait for ISIS to invade them.  If the terrorist presence grows in the Sinai, look for Israel to begin military strikes on their bases.

Of course, ISIS would never have been heard of in the first place if President Obama had taken the threat seriously and had the U.S. intervene when they were just getting a foothold in Syria and Iraq.  But remember, this is the President who referred to ISIS as the “JV team”, and who still can’t bring himself to call them Islamic terrorists.