8/4/2019 Terror in the South - August 2011- Eng

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The South Under Terror Attack

Operations Room

The Sinai Peninsula Terror Training Ground

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About 20 rockets fired at Israel from Gaza in the past day

August 19th 2011

Yesterday, a series of coordinated terrorattacksonIsraelicivilianvehicles, tookplaceat approximately 12:00 PM along the Israeli

EgyptianBorder,some10KilometersNorthofthe Southern city of Eilat, when gunfire wasopened on an Israeli bus. 14 people wereinjuredintheoneinstanceandwereevacuatedto nearby hospitals. Almost simultaneously,an additional bus and two civilian vehicleswerefiredonbyanotherterroristgroup.Thecombinedattacks left over40people injured

and8dead.READ MORE

The scene of the attack - Watch the Video

MostrocketsfellinopenareasintheAshdod,Ash-

kelon, Be'er Sheva andKiryat Gat regions. Two

rockets hit populated areas inAshdod and sev-

enpeoplewerewounded,includingonecritically.

READ MORE

A review of the massive smuggling of military

arsenalintotheSinai.READ MORE

10PalestiniansattemptedtoinfiltrateIsraelfrom

Sinai last year - The terrorists who committed

the attacks near Eilat on Thursday (August 18)

originatedfromtheGazaStripandinfiltratedinto

IsraelfromtheSinaiPeninsula.READ MORE

IDFsoldierkilledasaresultofterrorattack-Staff

Sgt.MosheNaftalywaskilledwhiletryingtocome

totheassistanceofacivilianunderattack.READ

MORE

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information

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8/4/2019 Terror in the South - August 2011- Eng

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The South Under Terror Attack

August 19th 2011

The Sinai Peninsula Terror Training Ground

Israels southern border with Egypt has been

considereduntiltheAugust18thdeadlyevents,as

aquietfrontier,hardlycoveredbythemedia.On

August18ththischangedandthisborderbecame

thenewfocusonthewaragainstterrorismaswellas a focal point to guarantee the security of the

StateofIsraelanditscitizens.

Since the fall of the Mubarak Regime in Egypt

andtheemergenceofaleadershipthatquestions

EgyptsforeignpolicytowardsIsrael,avacuumhas

evolvedintheSinaiPeninsula,allowingforterror

activityinthatregion.Inshort,theSinaiPeninsula

isbecomingaTerrorIncubator.ThoughthemanyIsraelitouristsvisitingSinaidescribetheregionasTheEgyptianGarden

ofEden,thereexistsaconstantundercurrentorterroractivitywhichprimarilyinvolvesthe

smugglingintotheregionofmilitaryhardwaredirectedbyextremeIslamicgroups.LedbyAl

Qaeda,theseseektofillthevacuumcreatedbythepartialwithdrawalofpolicingforcesthat

weredeployedthere.

The military contraband finds its way to Sinai

travelingthroughArabcountries,directedbyIran

withitsvestedinterestinapplyingitsinfluenceon

PalestinianTerrorgroups.Theprincipalsmuggling

routesoriginateinIran,throughSudan,ontoEgypt

andintotheSinai.

TherehavebeenrecentreportsintheArabmedia

of the uncovering of military hardware caches

particularly in the northern Sinai coastal area of

El Arish. The Palestinian News agency MAAN

reportedonAugust29th2010ontheuncoveringof

amassivecacheofmilitaryarsenalbytheEgyptian

securityforces.Thereportrelatedto110antiaircraft

missilesandhundredsofkilogramsofexplosives.Anotherreportrelatedtoninecaches

uncoveredinthenorthandcentralregionsoftheSinai,aswellasinthecitiesofRafahand

ElArish,whichincludedavarietyofarsenalsuchasmachineguns,ammunition,missiles,

anti-tankminesand100KGofTNT.

ParalleltothisactivitywithinthePeninsula,thesmugglingofhardwareintotheGazaStripcontinuesinfullforce.TheIsraelSecurityServicesreportinMay2011,thatsincethebeginning

of2010,theSinai-Gazasmugglingaxishasseenhundredsofconventionalrockets(mostly

coveringrangesof20and40KM),aboutonethousandRocketPropelledGrenades,dozens

ofAntiTankweapons,tonsofexplosivesaswellastonsofrawmaterialsforthemanufacture

ofexplosives.

ThereportclarifiesthattheweaponstrafficinSinaiistheprincipalsourceofincomeofBedouin

TribesresidingintheSinai.TheseBedouintakepossessionofthecontrabandontheSudan

EgyptfrontierandmoveitthroughEgypt,intotheSinaiandfinallytotheGazaborder.SoastoguaranteeIsraelssecurity,theIDFoperatesincollaborationwiththeEgyptianArmed

Forcestocurtailfurtherterrorevents.Furthermore,IDFmilitaryengineersconstantlyworkto

uncoveranddestroythetunnelswhichformanintegralpartofthesmugglingoperation.