# In Sinai everything is possible: Egyptian army's Operation Eagle is open-ended



## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

The trip to Sinai seems long and exhausting for visitors these days, unlike at any other time. As soon as you arrive at Al-Salam Bridge security procedures by the army and police intensify for the next 220km. They work separately and the majority is army troops who under Operation Eagle are constructing trenches and fortifications on the hills above the remains of weak fortifications at check points at Al-Nasr, Al-Baluza, and all the entrances and exits at Areesh. More checkpoints were added there, enforced with armoured vehicles, bomb detection units and special forces.

Starting at Al-Reesa checkpoint, past Al-Sheikh Zoweid and until the Rafah border crossing, all vehicles are stopped, except for local residents after close inspection of their IDs. Private vehicles traveling to Sinai are also closely scrutinized as licenses and passenger IDs are inspected with forensic tests. All these intensive procedures make for very long lines at every checkpoint.

In Areesh, some government buildings fly banners announcing ‘The Armed Forces have taken over this building’, including large structures such as the new court building where roadblocks declare ‘No Entry’. Even after being searched, entry is still denied. The same happens outside the new Police Station 3 which was not handed over to the police – whose presence is noticeably absent from all residential areas in Areesh.

Some 1,000 Egyptian soldiers have been deployed in Sinai after an Ok from both the US and Israel, in accordance with the stipulations of the US guaranteed Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. They are there to take part in Operation Eagle aimed at cleansing the Sinai Peninsula of all outlaws, including what some believe to be Al-Qaeda elements and members of militant Islamist groups which view society as heretic. Operation Eagle began after Shari’a Friday two weeks ago when Salafi supporters and leaders organised protest demonstrations in various parts of the country, including in Sinai; some of the Salafi protesters destroyed a statue of former President Anwar Al-Sadat and blanketed the area with flyers stamped with Al-Qaeda seal.

full story at In Sinai everything is possible: Egyptian army's Operation Eagle is open-ended - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online


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