Egypt Warns of Security Threat to Israel During Muslim Holiday

Sinai Peninsula along Egypt Israel border. Photo: wiki commons.

An Egyptian security official told the German news agency DPA Thursday that Israel and Egypt are coordinating security along their shared border after intelligence reported increased threats to the Jewish state during the Eid Al-Adha Muslim holiday.

“Egypt and Israel are taking security measures on their shared border in Sinai as a precaution against infiltration operations or raids by the extremist groups, who often carry out attacks during holidays,” the official, who requested anonymity, told DPA.

DPA also reports that the official said, “Egyptian forces are also on alert against Islamist extremists sneaking into Sinai through the illegal tunnels that link the border region with the Palestinian Gaza Strip.”

According to the DPA report eyewitnesses near the border in the Sinai had seen increased activity by security forces on both sides of the border, with Egyptian troops searching people and vehicles at fixed and mobile checkpoints.

The Algemeiner has been unable to confirm the report with Israeli officials.

Since the Arab Spring and the fall of Egypt’s leader Hosni Mubarak there has been increased activity along the border between the two countries. In September an Israeli soldier was killed and another was wounded when three men breached the border from the Sinai into Israel. In August of last year armed terrorists entered from Egypt, killing eight and wounding thirty.

According to an article on CNN.com Eid Al-Adha is a three-day holiday that “commemorates when God appeared to Abraham — known as Ibrahim to Muslims — in a dream and asked him to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience. As Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, God stopped him and gave him a sheep to kill in place of his son.”