Non-Egyptian National Involved in ‘Oasis’ Attack

People carry the coffin of Egyptian police officer Ahmed Fayez, who was attacked with other security forces by militants in Egypt's western desert, in El Hosary Mosque outside Cairo, Egypt, on October 21 (Reuters photo)
People carry the coffin of Egyptian police officer Ahmed Fayez, who was attacked with other security forces by militants in Egypt's western desert, in El Hosary Mosque outside Cairo, Egypt, on October 21 (Reuters photo)
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Non-Egyptian National Involved in ‘Oasis’ Attack

People carry the coffin of Egyptian police officer Ahmed Fayez, who was attacked with other security forces by militants in Egypt's western desert, in El Hosary Mosque outside Cairo, Egypt, on October 21 (Reuters photo)
People carry the coffin of Egyptian police officer Ahmed Fayez, who was attacked with other security forces by militants in Egypt's western desert, in El Hosary Mosque outside Cairo, Egypt, on October 21 (Reuters photo)

Egypt revealed details concerning the horrifying terror ambush in the Western Sahara which killed a number of police officers last October. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that all members affiliated with the responsible terror cell have been killed save for a single assailant.

According to Sisi, the attacker was a non-Egyptian national without disclosing further information.

Sisi said that the media would be handed further information on the face behind the 14th terrorist taken in alive.

More so, the President said that the intensifying attacks targeting the oasis zone had pushed for more stringent security measures to fail and surging of new terror cells.

In the same vein, security experts and strategists said that “Egypt provides its western borders around-the-clock air support, ground border guards and satellites”.

Consequently, terrorists suffered great losses.

Strategists added that “the large number of weapons seized from terrorists during recently suggests large funding.”

The interior ministry said security forces hunting down terrorists in the region were attacked on a road to the Bahariya oasis in the country's Western Desert, some 200 kilometers southwest of Cairo.

An official statement said a number of the attackers were killed, but did not give any figures for losses on either side.

A deadly attack on the police in Egypt's Western Desert was claimed by a new militant group risks opening up another front for security forces far beyond the remote northern Sinai, where they have battled a stubborn ISIS terror group since 2014.

A little-known group called Ansar Al Islam claimed responsibility for the October 21 attack. Analysts and security sources said the heavy weapons and tactics employed indicated ties to ISIS or more likely a Qaeda brigade led by Hesham Al Ashmawy, a former Egyptian special forces officer turned extremist.

Authorities have been fighting the Egyptian branch of the ISIS group, which has increased its attacks in the north of the Sinai peninsula more than 500 kilometers away from the latest violence.
In response to the latest bloodshed Egyptian security forces appeared to step up their operations in the area of the attack.

The Muslim Brotherhood remains to be the other ultra-hardline group threatening Egyptian security next to ISIS.



EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the group claimed attacks deep into Israel.  

The Israeli military said Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into Israel during the day. Some of them were intercepted but others caused damage to houses in central Israel, according to AFP images.  

A day after the health ministry said Israeli strikes on Beirut and across Lebanon killed 84 people, state media reported two strikes on Sunday on the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel's military said it had attacked "headquarters" of the group "hidden within civilian structures" in south Beirut.

War between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in late September, nearly a year after the group began launching strikes in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following that group's October 7 attack on Israel.

The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.  

On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.  

Earlier this week, US special envoy Amos Hochstein said in Lebanon that a truce deal was "within our grasp" and then headed to Israel for talks with officials there.  

In the Lebanese capital, Borrell held talks with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of ally Hezbollah.

"We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701," Borrell said.  

"Lebanon is on the brink of collapse", he warned.  

Under Resolution 1701, which ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces present in the southern border area.  

The resolution also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, and reiterated earlier calls for "disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon."