Sworn Enemies Egypt And Israel Collaborate Against ISIS

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From time to time, even sworn enemies have to work together to defeat a bigger foe. I for one remember a clip from the classic movie ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ in which Tom Hanks tried to persuade Egyptians and Israelis to work together to provide weapons to the Afghans in order to defeat the Russians. They end up making a deal with the help of Pakistan, but not before someone states ‘I better not see one f****g star of David on those crates.’

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Someone must have remembered that when it appeared earlier this week that Israel was indeed helping out the Egyptians by bombing ISIS in the Sinai desert (with unmarked planes and helicopters as to not offend any Egyptian onlooker).

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NYT: Israel conducted over 100 airstrikes in Egypt as part of war on ISIS in Sinai <a href="https://t.co/EWdK78oP6K">https://t.co/EWdK78oP6K</a></p>&mdash; Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/haaretzcom/status/959797914468999169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The airstrikes by Israeli planes are conducted with the support of President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, who has led an often brutal campaign inside Egypt to wipe out the Islamist militant groups but has struggled to defeat them in the desert.

Knowing the striking power of the Israeli air force, he seems to have cut a deal with the cabinet of Mr Benjamin Netanyahu to help both of them get rid of a bigger foe at their borders.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Israel conducted over 100 airstrikes in Egypt&#39;s Sinai: Paper<a href="https://t.co/rCFcmTz4QR">https://t.co/rCFcmTz4QR</a> <a href="https://t.co/Nfv0xiF8gz">pic.twitter.com/Nfv0xiF8gz</a></p>&mdash; Press TV (@PressTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/PressTV/status/960085277506142209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Back in November of 2017, the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State launched a fierce attack in which nearly 40 gunmen stormed the al-Rawdah mosque in Egypt, killing more than 300 worshipers. Mr Sissi has vowed revenge since then.

A former US official who wished to remain anonymous to discuss the sensitive matter said: “It’s a symptom of how close the two countries have become in security cooperation.”

“But it illustrates how poorly the Egyptians have done dealing with the terrorist threat. Both Israel and the United States have complained about the fact the Egyptians have not taken advice and recommendations the United States have been offering for some time.”

Source:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-carrying-out-secret-air-strike-campaign-in-sinai-to-help-egypt-report/