Middle East

Egyptian ISIS Branch Poses Growing Threat To Israel

When ISIS launched rockets over Israel's border, it confirmed fears about danger from the group's branch in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian ISIS Branch Poses Growing Threat To Israel
ISIS
SMS

"We see ISIS at the gates. Across the border in the Golan. Across the border in Egypt," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Warnings about the threat ISIS' Sinai Peninsula branch poses to Israel appeared to come true Friday.

ISIS claimed its first attack on Israel from the Egyptian peninsula. Supporters posted an announcement on Twitter that the branch fired rockets at what it called "occupied Palestine," which was confirmed by Israel's military.

The rockets didn't injure anyone, but did confirm the fears of Egypt's neighbor, that Egypt's inability to control the ISIS branch would spill over Israel's border

It came in the same week as a coordinated attack by ISIS in Sinai on multiple Egyptian military checkpoints that killed at least 17 Egyptian soldiers and about 100 ISIS militants.

It was the biggest attack by the group in Sinai, which The New York Times says raises, "the possibility that it has begun to coordinate more closely with the Islamic State leadership based in Syria."

And in Gaza, militants who support ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula have been staging small attacks against Palestinian militant group Hamas. Which means bitter enemies Israel and Hamas also share a common enemy in ISIS.

This month, ISIS declared Hamas an enemy in a video it posted called "A Message to Our People in Jerusalem." It threatened to "run over" Hamas and "uproot the state of the jews."

Following the attack in Sinai, the Israel Defense Forces moved more troops to the Egyptian border, and the Egyptian military has said it is in control of northern Sinai. (Video via Israel Defense Forces)

This video includes music by Chris Zabriskie / CC BY 4.0.