A senior Egyptian source said that the military operation to destroy tunnels have succeeded in halting terrorist attacks in the Sinai Peninsula.
Al-Hayat reports that in recent months, Islamic terrorist organizations operating in the Sinai Peninsula have been weakened, partly as a result of the destruction of the tunnels that connected the two parts of the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and in Egypt.
A senior Egyptian source told the newspaper that before 2011 there were 1,200 active tunnels at the Rafah border, some of which were used to transport people, weapons, and ammunition.
In the following years, the number of active tunnels increased to 2,500 with several of them having multiple entry and exit points on the Egyptian side of the border, often inside houses. The Egyptian source added that most of the tunnels have now been destroyed, some of which were as far as 2.5 kilometers inside Egyptian territory.
Egyptian security forces have set up a five-kilometer security zone along the border with the Gaza Strip to allow for the tracking and destruction of new tunnels.
The source also said that Islamist terrorists used the tunnels to flee to the Gaza Strip after carrying out attacks against the Egyptian army. Activists from inside the Gaza Strip have integrated into these Islamic terrorist organizations, and some have even assumed leadership positions.