Egyptian Court Accuses 170 ISIS Elements of Photographing Air Base

Egyptian troops in north Sinai. Reuters
Egyptian troops in north Sinai. Reuters
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Egyptian Court Accuses 170 ISIS Elements of Photographing Air Base

Egyptian troops in north Sinai. Reuters
Egyptian troops in north Sinai. Reuters

Egypt's judicial authorities issued sentences Tuesday against 11 members of the Muslim Brotherhood group, which Cairo considers a terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian court accused 170 ISIS elements of photographing an air base and targeting vital installations in the case known as "filming the Belbeis airbase."

The court decided to set the hearing on June 12 to issue the verdicts.

The incident included killing the deputy of Faisal police station in Suez, placing an explosive device near a cinema in Suez, targeting army vehicles, the gas line at the Suez Petroleum Company and a ship in the canal, monitoring 101 battalion north Sinai, Security points along the Ismailia canal, monitoring security checkpoints and some members of the force of the center of Abshoy in Fayoum and burning the vehicle of an officer in Atfih.

The indictment added that the terrorist elements have also received by illegal means one of the country’s defense secrets by taking photos, using a mobile phone, for Belbeis air base in preparation for targeting it.

In February, Egypt’s security forces launched an all-out offensive against militants, deploying tens of thousands of troops and police backed by fighter-jets, helicopter gunships, navy vessels and tanks in Sinai and in the Western Desert.

At the end of November, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi gave orders for the army and police to "use all the force to root out terrorism"

Egypt has been battling ISIS elements for years, but the insurgency gathered steam and grew deadlier after the 2013 ouster by the military, then led by Sisi, of Mohammed Morsi. Morsi was Egypt’s first freely elected leader whose one year in office proved divisive.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”