CAIRO – 13 January 2018: In their latest video released concurrently with Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018, the Islamic State (IS) announced that one of the Egyptian young men who were claimed by TV programs affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood to have been arrested by police, had actually joined them as a terrorist in Sinai a long time ago.
In the video released on February 11, Omar Ibrahim al-Dieb appears laughing, telling how he and his colleagues “proudly” targeted several checkpoints affiliated with the Egyptian army and police. “We are getting stronger every day. We promise you with more harsh days to come,” Dieb said.
The intended message of the video was to say that the terrorist group has not been affected by the latest army operation; however, they proved that Brotherhood-affiliated media was lying. The video showed a number of well-known anchors saying that Dieb was studying abroad and that his only guilt is that he is the son of one of the senior MB leaders.
“When he came back home to his family, the police arrested him,” one of the TV anchors said, claiming persistently that it was a forced disappearance.
“Omar left his home and family and came to join us in Sinai after knowing that the Muslim Brotherhood’s method was not the right or proper way to implement Sharia Islamic law within societies,” the IS video stated.
The video, full of blood and terrorist attacks on army, police and even civilians in Sinai, aimed to send threatening messages to Egyptians, urging them not to participate in the upcoming elections as voters. “Stay away from the voting ballots, because they are our coming targets,” one said in the video.
He described democracy as “infidelity” and peace as “disgrace”.
In a rigorous message that affirms Egypt's serious intentions to eliminate terrorism in all its forms, the Egyptian Armed Forces announced a new major military operation dubbed "Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018" on February 9 to purge the country of terrorism and preserve its security and stability.
“This operation has very strict and clear meanings and messages that need to be delivered to the whole world; it says that the army is completely capable of protecting our homeland and determined to uproot terrorism from the whole state and especially Sinai,” Staff Officer Mohamed al-Shahawy told Egypt Today on Friday, February 9.
He added that this operation will raise the morale of the armed forces members and increase their combat efficiency. “This operation will not just end in one day. I believe it will take time and effort, not because of the militia response, but I believe that the army will not end the operation until completing all its goals.”
The army released two video statements to announce the launching of the operation.
Army spokesperson Tamer el-Refai released the army statement "Communique 1 from the General Command of the Armed Forces" on state TV. It detailed the launch of the operation and the state of high alert declared across different governorates.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior said that it was raising the state of alert and security preparedness to the maximum level nationwide, taking all precautionary measures to maintain security throughout the country, especially in light of the fierce operations conducted by police forces in coordination with the armed forces, to root out terrorism.
Since then, until Monday, February 12, five statements have been released, including the initial results of the military operation.
“Egypt’s security forces destroyed 60 targets, killed 12 terrorists following exchange of fire, arrested 92 criminals and seized 20 vehicles that terrorists used in carrying out terror acts,” the fifth statement released by the Egyptian Armed Forces announced on Monday.
On the fourth consecutive day of the full-scale security operation, the Egyptian military and security forces destroyed 30 hideouts used by militants to carry out their attacks against military and police personnel as well as civilians, added Refai in his statement.
The statement revealed that 23 explosive devices had been discovered and defused, and seven farms of marijuana were burned, in addition to finding more than half a ton of drugs ready for immediate usage. Four vehicles carrying ammunitions and arms and 27 motorbikes were targeted by the Air Forces, Refa'i continued.
Omar’s case is not the first
Omar was not the first to be claimed to have disappeared in Cairo while accusing the Egyptian police of orchestrating it.
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood pressured the Egyptian state on claims that the security forces detained and secretly hid their members and supporters so that the Brotherhood could falsely accuse and sue the Egyptian state in international courts.
In 2016, the Egyptian security forces succeeded to identify extremists in the Delta governorates who recruited youth, deceiving them that they would obtain lots of money when they fight for the militant group of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
On the other hand, these recruited youth’s families did not know about their sons’ recruitment to IS and other militant groups. Therefore, they directly accuse the security forces of detaining their sons.
Egypt’s state news agency MENA reported in August 2016 that two brothers formed a terrorist cell in the Sharqia governorate, where they convinced young men of “the importance and necessity of Jihad in Libya and Syria against their national armies.”
According to MENA, the investigations revealed that false allegations claimed by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood accusing the security forces of arresting, torturing and hiding the Brotherhood supporters were baseless after the disclosure of that terrorist cell in the Delta governorate.
In August 2017, a 25-minute video circulated on social media platforms revealing that student Mohamed Magdy al-Dalaay had joined the Islamic State militant group, despite widespread claims that he had been abducted by security forces.
Dalaay appeared in the video with the moniker Mosaab al-Masry, and he was reciting hateful words and subversive ideas that sought to spread chaos throughout the Egyptian society.
The student was said to have disappeared after being forcibly arrested two years ago.
Previously in April 2015, the Romana police station located in North Sinai received a report regarding the disappearance of the student, who was born in the Kafr el-Sheikh governorate.
On November 24, 2015, the Swiss Inn Hotel in Arish City witnessed a huge blast from a car bomb. One of the two attackers managed to get inside the hotel, where a number of people were injured and killed as a result of gunfire and a subsequent suicide bombing.
Authorities reported at least seven dead, including two judges who had been in Arish to supervise the country's second round of parliamentary elections, which were held the day before.
The IS-affiliated Wilayat Sinai claimed responsibility in a statement released later the same day.
Later on, it was disclosed that one of the attackers was “abducted” by the Egyptian security forces; however, the terrorist attack revealed that he had joined IS without the knowledge of his family, who accused the police of their son’s disappearance.
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