Oil sea shipping is one reason we’re worried about Egypt. Oil Tanker. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Navy. Photo by Mass Communication 2nd Class Nathan Schaeffer
Terrorism can strike anywhere, and it’s a real concern right now for Egypt and Israel. That should matter to you, because—lest we forget Egypt is a crucial part of the oil trade and your gas budget. Ahram Online reported that militants are repeatedly attacking the Egyptian military and other targets in the lawless Sinai region, which borders Israel. The risk of rocket attacks on Israel from the Sinai terrorists has had Israel concerned, according to Israeli media.
And as for Egypt, they’re in the midst of quite a counterterrorism campaign. Ahram reported that in roughly one month’s time, from early July through early August, Egypt’s security forces have killed 60 terrorists. The Egyptian army’s offensive continued through this weekend, using air attacks.
Another 25 were killed or injured on Saturday, Ahram reported the army as claiming.
Sounds like a rough weekend, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There have been media reports that a terror group in the Sinai is accusing Israel of using a drone attack on terrorists in Egyptian territory. If that’s true, that means that Israel is feeling very threatened by the Sinai militants.
In other words, Egypt is in the midst of what is starting to look like a mini-war, and the terrorists there could drag Israel into the fight as well.
It’s not good for all this conflict to be occurring in a part of the world that is important for the oil trade—you’ll recall that oil prices hit their highest in over a year around the time the Egyptian crisis began 6 weeks ago.
It puts the US in a quandary on how to handle the Egyptian army. On the one hand, hundreds of millions of dollars are sent every year to the Egyptian security forces, and more and more concerns are being raised about those funds after the Egyptian army essentially took over their country.
But with terror in the Sinai a real danger, does the Egyptian army need the funds to keep things from spinning out of control—or are they using the money to stoke the flames?
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 11, 2013)