Egypt’s El-Sisi Orders ‘Brute Force’ Operation to Pacify Sinai
- President gives police, military 3 months to restore security
- Order comes days after militants killed over 300 at mosque
Last week as many as 30 militants stormed a mosque in a small Sinai town west of Al-Arish, shooting dead more than 300 people and wounding over 100 others.
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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ordered the military to restore security in northern Sinai within three months, authorizing the use of “brute force” days after militants carried out the single worst terrorist strike in the country’s recent history.
Addressing an audience of Muslim clerics, El-Sisi said he had told Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Mohamed Farid Hegazi: “You are responsible, you are responsible within three moths to restore security and stability in Sinai.”