ISIS Releases Footage of Sinai Failed Attack

An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, in this May 25, 2015 file photo.   REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/Files
An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, in this May 25, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/Files
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ISIS Releases Footage of Sinai Failed Attack

An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, in this May 25, 2015 file photo.   REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/Files
An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt, in this May 25, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/Files

Hours after security authorities in Egypt announced the death of a security recruit who stopped a bomb-laden car driven by a suicide bomber on its way to the Central Sinai Cement Factory, terror group ISIS published footage related to the attack on Wednesday.

In its statement, ISIS said that the executor was called Abu al-Qaqaa al-Ansari.

According to security sources, Wednesday evening “a guard at the main gate of a cement factory in the center of the center of Sinai was killed after a vehicle driven by a suicide bomber tried to storm the factory.”

Ahmed Ban, a researcher on Islamic movements in Egypt, told Asharq Al-Awsat that ISIS doesn’t publish failed operations, except for some of its attacks.

In the case of the cement factory in Sinai, the circulated footage was meant to "challenge the official reporting relayed by Egyptian authorities and provoke doubts over authorities declaring the security guard to have died as a hero.

Since the toppling of former President Mohamed Morsi, terror groups have incessantly targeted the military, security men, security installations and checkpoints. They adopted the approach of carrying out many killings against soldiers, mostly in Sinai— and even targeted a Russian passenger plane flying over the peninsula.

An ISIS-linked website published on Wednesday 3 pictures showing at which the suicide terrorist attempted to drive the car into the factory’s premise, the moment of detonation.

Sources cite that it was the guard opening fire at the vehicle that prevented a true disaster in central Sinai.



Syria Announces 200 Percent Public Sector Wage, Pension Increase

FILE PHOTO: Bundles of Syrian currency notes are stacked up as an employee counts money at Syrian central bank, in Damascus,Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Bundles of Syrian currency notes are stacked up as an employee counts money at Syrian central bank, in Damascus,Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
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Syria Announces 200 Percent Public Sector Wage, Pension Increase

FILE PHOTO: Bundles of Syrian currency notes are stacked up as an employee counts money at Syrian central bank, in Damascus,Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Bundles of Syrian currency notes are stacked up as an employee counts money at Syrian central bank, in Damascus,Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo

Syria announced on Sunday a 200 percent hike in public sector wages and pensions, as it seeks to address a grinding economic crisis after the recent easing of international sanctions.

Over a decade of civil war has taken a heavy toll on Syria's economy, with the United Nations reporting more than 90 percent of its people live in poverty.

In a decree published by state media, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a "200 percent increase to salaries and wages... for all civilian and military workers in public ministries, departments and institutions.”

Under the decree, the minimum wage for government employees was raised to 750,000 Syrian pounds per month, or around $75, up from around $25, AFP reported.

A separate decree granted the same 200 percent increase to retirement pensions included under current social insurance legislation.

Last month, the United States and European Union announced they would lift economic sanctions in a bid to help the country's recovery.

Also in May, Syria's Finance Minister Mohammed Barnieh said Qatar would help it pay some public sector salaries.

The extendable arrangement was for $29 million a month for three months, and would cover "wages in the health, education and social affairs sectors and non-military" pensions, he had said.

Barnieh had said the grant would be managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and covered around a fifth of current wages and salaries.

Syria has some 1.25 million public sector workers, according to official figures.