Egyptian security forces uncovered over the weekend 190 anti-tank missiles and 10 anti-tank bombs, ready for smuggling from Sinai into Gaza. Egypt had just announced the day before that there are no terrorist organizations in the Sinai Peninsula.
The security forces raided storehouses in northern Sinai as part of a wide-scale police operation to ferret out drugs and weapons.
IDF and Shabak leaders have warned in recent months that world Islamic Jihad terrorist groups have established many terror cells throughout the Sinai. The gangs have reportedly amassed large amounts of weapons and ammunition, and are constantly engaged in recruiting members.
"Very Dangerous Place"
This past Wednesday, a special Israeli committee on terrorism categorized the Sinai as a “very dangerous” place for Israelis, following intelligence warnings of planned terror attacks. The committee stated that Israelis in the Sinai are under “very high concrete threats,” and that they should not spend the upcoming holidays there.
In response, a high-ranking Egyptian military official announced that the peninsula is under his country’s full security control, and “not even one terrorist organization is present there.”
The Egyptian official said, just a day before the discovery of the Gaza-bound rockets, “These are untrue rumors, started by Israeli tourism companies that wish to promote domestic Israeli tourism.”
Sinai has been under Egyptian government control since 1906. It was captured by Israeli, French and British forces in 1956, after Egypt closed the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping, but was “returned" to Egypt several months later under heavy international pressure. Israel captured it again during the Six Day War in 1967, heading off Egyptian threats to “throw Israel into the sea.” Israel retained the Sinai for 15 years, until 1982, after Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty.