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Egyptian Militant Group Pledges Loyalty to ISIS Egyptian Militant Group Pledges Loyalty to ISIS
(about 9 hours later)
CAIRO — Egypt’s most dangerous militant group on Monday pledged its allegiance to the organization that calls itself the Islamic State, becoming its first international affiliate and expanding the challenge to the government in Cairo. CAIRO — They have slaughtered hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police officers, recruited experienced fighters and staged increasingly sophisticated raids from the Western desert to the Sinai Peninsula. They have beheaded informants and killed an American in a carjacking, say Western officials familiar with intelligence reports.
The announcement, made in an audio statement posted online, is a milestone and a lift to morale for the Islamic State six weeks into an American-led bombing campaign on its strongholds in Syria and Iraq. On Monday, the leaders of Egypt’s most dangerous militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, also pledged obedience to the organization that calls itself the Islamic State, becoming its first significant international affiliate in the bet that the link will provide new money, weapons and recruits to battle the government in Cairo.
Almost no other prominent jihadist thinkers or factions have endorsed the group’s grandiose claims to leadership of all jihadists and even all Muslims. The affiliation could pull the militant group away from its current almost exclusive focus on attacking Egyptian military and security forces toward the Islamic State’s indiscriminate mass killings of civilians. The pledge alone could undermine the government’s efforts to win the trust of Western tourists, a vital source of hard currency.
The Egyptian group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, is the foremost militant group in the most populous Arab state. Its decision is the latest manifestation of a swirling descent into violence around the region amid the dashed hopes for democracy of the Arab Spring uprisings three years ago. The decision expands the Islamic State into the most populous and historically most influential Arab state, a milestone achievement weeks into an American-led bombing campaign against its strongholds in Syria and Iraq. The endorsement is a major victory for the Islamic State in its rivalry with Al Qaeda — a group with storied Egyptian roots — and could now help recruit fighters and affiliates far beyond Egypt. The link is also the latest manifestation of a swirling descent into violence around the region amid the dashed hopes for democracy of the Arab Spring uprisings three years ago.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis first rose to prominence in the northern Sinai Peninsula 16 months ago in a violent backlash against the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. It has faced an unusual crackdown from the new military-led government, recently including the forced evacuation of more than 1,100 families from an area near the border with Gaza that has been a haven for the group. But in practical terms, the Islamic State could also share resources — from its wealth of stolen money and oil, seized-weapons stores or jihadi-world prestige — to add new fuel to the Egyptian group’s insurgency at a critical turning point.
The new alliance is a gamble that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, can help the Egyptian militants survive and expand by providing money, weapons and recruits. The move carries the risk that the Islamic State’s reputation for indiscriminate violence will alienate other Egyptians, especially the disaffected Islamist youth that Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has sought to enlist in its fight, according to Western officials familiar with intelligence reports on the group’s internal communications. In recent weeks, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has come under a withering crackdown by the Egyptian military, which has begun the evacuation and destruction of hundreds of homes in an attempt to eradicate the group from its havens in the northern Sinai. But at the same time the group has confounded the confident predictions of Egyptian officials that it would soon be defeated, raising fears that the fight may just be beginning.
Unlike the Islamic State, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has focused its attacks almost exclusively on military and security forces, and Egyptian and Western officials worry that the new alliance could lead the group to target Christians, civilians and tourists. “The organized army is in confrontation with a group of disorganized ghosts,” said Ahmed Sakr, a government official working on economic development in the Sinai, who said that the military’s “brute force” there was alienating the population while scattering fighters across the country. “I am very worried that there is now going to be more instability in the west, and Ansar Beit al-Maqdis will make inroads into Cairo and the big cities.”
The group has already carried out at least a handful of beheadings of people suspected of being government informants in Sinai, adopting the signature punishment of the Islamic State. The announcement of the affiliation alone may unnerve investors and tourists. Having killed hundreds of soldiers and police officers in a spree of violent retaliation for the military ouster of the Islamist president last year, Ansar Beit al Maqdis has more recently carried out a handful of increasingly sophisticated and deadly attacks on military camps at both the eastern and western extremes of the country, according to Western officials and Egyptian analysts familiar with intelligence reports.
In its audio statement, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledged to “obey” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State’s leader and self-proclaimed caliph. An attack in the western desert on July 19 killed at least 21 soldiers, and another on Oct. 24 in Sinai killed at least 31, the officials say, and both demonstrated that Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has now recruited more skilled and experienced fighters.
“To our people in Egypt, what are you waiting for after the violation of your dignity?” the statement said, reiterating a call to arms that has been a hallmark of the group. “After shedding the blood of your sons on the hands of this reckless tyrant and his soldiers? Most alarmingly for the Egyptian military, Egyptian leaders believe the group has developed military informants with inside information about army deployments, according to several Western officials and Egyptians familiar with intelligence reports.
“When will you take out your swords to face your enemies?” it continued, adding, “Shameful peace will do you no good, nor will blasphemous democracy, and you have seen how it has claimed its upholders and their masters.” In the Oct. 24 attack, for example, the militants appeared to know about the confidential movements of senior officers and reinforcement routes, the officials say, the fighters also displayed skill at targeting mortar fire as well as the confidence to continue their operation even under gunfire during a prolonged firefight.
Details about Ansar Beit al-Maqdis are scarce, in part because the Egyptian military limits access to the areas of Sinai that are the front line of its battle against the group. “This is not just planting a bomb and running,” said Diaa Rashwan, an researcher on Islamist groups at the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies here. “To be able to keep attacking, that means you have real experience.”
The group’s name means Supporters of Jerusalem, and in the 16 months since Mr. Morsi’s ouster, it has exceeded the expectations of most Western officials as well as the Egyptian government’s confident predictions. Western officials estimate that the group includes only hundreds or perhaps a few thousand fighters, but its attacks have already killed hundreds of soldiers and police. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis fighters were also behind the killing of an American during a desert carjacking in August and may have been linked to other attacks targeting desert-ready, four-wheel drive S.U.V.s, according to Western officials — a development that has prompted the Egyptian government to order international energy companies to ground their fleets of S.U.V.s. Apache, British Petroleum and British Gas have all complied with the ban; spokesmen for all three companies and the Egyptian government all declined to comment.
It has recruited skilled and experienced fighters and staged increasingly sophisticated and deadly attacks on military camps across the country — including one in the Western desert on July 19 that killed at least 21 soldiers and another on Oct. 24 in Sinai that killed at least 31. Some Western officials question the evidence linking the group to other carjackings besides the killing in August of the American, an Apache employee named William Henderson, 58. But there is a consensus that the group has confounded attempts by Egyptian security officials to contain it by tightly controlling the limited transit points across Suez Canal into the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian leaders say they believe the group has developed military informants with inside information about army deployments, according to several Western officials and Egyptians familiar with intelligence reports. In the Oct. 24 attack, for example, the militants appeared to know about the confidential movements of senior officers and reinforcement routes. Western officials say Ansar Beit al-Maqdis includes cells of fighters scattered on both sides of the Nile. And they have capitalized on porous borders to obtain refuge and supplies from sympathetic militants to both the east and west of the country— in lawless Eastern Libya on one side, and in the Palestinian territory of Gaza in bordering Sinai on the other.
The fighters also displayed skill at targeting mortar fire as well as the confidence to continue their operation even under gunfire during a prolonged firefight, according to Egyptian analysts and Western officials. In the eastern Libyan city of Derna, a hub of Islamist extremism, at least a handful of fighters have already pledged their loyalty to the Islamic State as well. And in Sinai, the suspicion that critical aid has flowed through the network of smuggling tunnels into Gaza is one reason that the Egyptian government took the drastic step of evacuating and destroying the homes of more than 1,1oo families, all in a zone near the border.
Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis fighters were also behind the killing of an American during a desert carjacking in August and other attacks targeting desert-ready, four-wheel drive S.U.V.s, according to Western officials — a development that has prompted the Egyptian government to order international energy companies to ground their fleets of S.U.V.s. Apache, British Petroleum and British Gas have all complied with the ban; spokesmen for all three companies and the Egyptian government all declined to comment. In the audio statement on Monday pledging to “obey” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State’s leader and self-proclaimed caliph, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis also reiterated a call to rise up against Egypt’s military-backed government — a trademark of its previous statements.
Some Western officials question the evidence linking the group to other carjackings after the killing in August of an Apache employee, William Henderson, 58. But there is a consensus that the group has confounded an attempt by Egyptian security officials to contain it by tightly controlling the limited transit points across Suez Canal into the Sinai Peninsula. “To our people in Egypt, what are you waiting for after the violation of your dignity?” the statement asked. “After shedding the blood of your sons on the hands of this reckless tyrant and his soldiers? When will you take out your swords to face your enemies?”
Western officials say Ansar Beit al-Maqdis includes cells of fighters scattered on both sides of the Nile. Sympathetic Islamist militants to the east and west of the country — in lawless eastern Libya on one side, and in the Palestinian territory of Gaza on the other — have taken advantage of porous borders to provide refuge and supplies. It also added a familiar slap at the Muslim Brotherhood, the mainstream Islamist group that dominated Egypt’s free elections and backed the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, only to end up crushed by the military takeover. “Shameful peace will do you no good, nor will blasphemous democracy,” the statement said, “and you have seen how it has claimed its upholders and their masters.”
At least a handful of militants in the eastern Libyan city of Derna have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State. In Gaza, the flow of critical aid through the network of smuggling tunnels there is one reason that the Egyptian government took the drastic step of evacuating and destroying the residences along its side of the border. Details about Ansar Beit al-Maqdis are scarce, in part because the Egyptian military limits access to the areas of Sinai that are the front line of its battle against the group. Its name means Supporters of Jerusalem, and Western officials estimate that it includes only hundreds or perhaps a few thousand fighters.
Western officials familiar with intelligence reports on the group’s internal communications say that a faction of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis leaders based in the Nile Valley opposed the affiliation with the Islamic State for tactical and ideological reasons, the officials say. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis’s previous statements have cited Al Qaeda as the leadership of an international jihadist movement, and some of the Nile Valley leadership remains loyal to Al Qaeda in its theoretical disputes and rivalry with the Islamic State. Western officials familiar with intelligence reports on the group’s internal communications say that a faction of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis based in the Nile Valley opposed the affiliation with the Islamic State. They worried that its reputation for careless violence will alienate other Egyptians, especially the disaffected Islamist youth that Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has sought to enlist.
Some Nile Valley leaders of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis also appear to remember the lessons of an earlier Islamist insurgency, centered in Upper Egypt in the 1990s. Mass killings of tourists and others backfired, damaging the economy, alienating the Egyptian public and increasing support for the government’s security forces. The group that led that insurgency, Gamaa Islamiya, ultimately renounced violence and appears to have stuck to that view.Some Nile Valley leaders of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis also appear to remember the lessons of an earlier Islamist insurgency, centered in Upper Egypt in the 1990s. Mass killings of tourists and others backfired, damaging the economy, alienating the Egyptian public and increasing support for the government’s security forces. The group that led that insurgency, Gamaa Islamiya, ultimately renounced violence and appears to have stuck to that view.
But the Sinai-based leadership of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has leaned toward an affiliation with the Islamic State for months, said several other Western officials familiar with intelligence reports. Then, in October, two envoys of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis traveled to Syria to meet face-to-face with Islamic State leaders, pressing for money and weapons and discussing a pledge of loyalty — a sign that the debate had been settled. Some Western officials said they expected the announcement to take place in conjunction with a spectacular attack. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis’s previous statements have also looked to Al Qaeda for leadership, and some of the Nile Valley faction remain loyal to Al Qaeda as it has become a rival to the Islamic State for pre-eminence in the jihadi world.
The dispute in Ansar Beit al-Maqdis over its affiliation with the Islamic State could split the group into two wings, with the main Sinai branch joining the international alliance and the Nile Valley leaders remaining apart, Western officials say. As recently as last week, the group formally denied published reports that the affiliation had already taken place, an indication of the internal divisions. The Sinai-based leadership of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has leaned toward an affiliation with the Islamic State for months, said several other Western officials familiar with intelligence reports. In October, two envoys of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis traveled to Syria to meet face-to-face with Islamic State leaders, pressing for money and weapons and discussing a pledge of loyalty — a sign that the debate had been settled, at least temporarily. Some Western officials said they expected the announcement to take place in conjunction with a spectacular attack.
Some Egyptians, including supporters of the current government, argue that the heavy-handed approach to the uprising in Sinai may further inflame it, especially after the forced evacuation of the border areas. The dispute in Ansar Beit al-Maqdis over its affiliation with the Islamic State could yet split the group into two wings, with the main Sinai branch joining the international alliance and the Nile Valley leaders remaining apart, Western officials say. As recently as last week, the group formally denied published reports that the affiliation had already taken place, an indication of the internal divisions.
“If there are three young people in each home, you guarantee that two of them would turn into Ansar Beit al-Maqdis militants,” said Abdel Rahim Ali, a researcher and journalist with close ties to the Egyptian intelligence services. Egyptian officials say the announcement of a link with the Islamic State has vindicated the government’s argument: Its struggle to put down the domestic insurgency is essentially the same fight as the Western war in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State.
But Egyptian officials say the announcement of a link with the Islamic State has vindicated the government’s argument: Its struggle to put down the domestic insurgency is essentially the same fight as the Western war in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State.
“This is what we have said many times before,” said Badr Abdelatty, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. He reiterated the government assertion that Ansar Beit al-Maqdis and the Islamic State share the same goals as the more mainstream Muslim Brotherhood, which dominated Egypt’s free elections for the three years before the takeover. The Brotherhood frequently condemns both militant groups for their violence and extremism.“This is what we have said many times before,” said Badr Abdelatty, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. He reiterated the government assertion that Ansar Beit al-Maqdis and the Islamic State share the same goals as the more mainstream Muslim Brotherhood, which dominated Egypt’s free elections for the three years before the takeover. The Brotherhood frequently condemns both militant groups for their violence and extremism.
“Despite some differences in names,” Mr. Abdelatty said, “at the end of the story, they all have common objectives — achieving an Islamic state by using violence.”“Despite some differences in names,” Mr. Abdelatty said, “at the end of the story, they all have common objectives — achieving an Islamic state by using violence.”
For the Islamic State, though, the link with Egypt is a symbolic victory and “a shot in the arm,” said Brian Fishman, a terrorism researcher at the New America Foundation in Washington.For the Islamic State, though, the link with Egypt is a symbolic victory and “a shot in the arm,” said Brian Fishman, a terrorism researcher at the New America Foundation in Washington.