This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com:
- Egypt's military action against Sinai Bedouins comes to a standstill
- Egypt defends need for army tanks in Sinai
- Greece's border guards fail to stop the influx of illegal immigrants
- Turkey still unsure about Syria buffer zone as refugees pour in
Egypt's military action against Sinai Bedouins comes to a standstill
The August 5 ambush by armed Bedouin militants in Sinai that killed 16
Egyptian soldiers shocked the Egyptian public, and has substantially
raised the profile and power of Egypt's new president Mohamed Morsi.
Morsi immediately sent Egyptian forces into the Sinai, after obtaining
permission from Israel to violate their 1979 peace treaty. However,
the military action has been halted, as a result of a negotiated
week long true to allow further discussions between the army
and the terror groups. However, the truce may have been a necessity
for the army, since most of the armed extremists have fled into
into the mountains. Morsi's supporters claim four accomplishments
in this military campaign:
- He's developed a public reputation as a tough fighter against
terror and an enemy of radical Islamic groups.
- The army has damaged some of the terror infrastructure in
Sinai.
- Morsi initially deployed tanks to Sinai without prior coordination
with Israel, allowing him to claim that he doesn't fear a showdown
with Israel.
- Morsi used the terror attack in the Sinai as a pretext to expel
top army officers whom he considered a threat to his power
base.
Israeli officials are concerned that in the event of a future
conflagration with Palestinian terror organizations in Gaza, Egypt's
government will respond by pressuring Israel - for instance, by
deploying large army concentrations in border areas, in contravention
of the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. Haaretz and Al-Shorfa
Egypt defends need for army tanks in Sinai
Israeli officials are unhappy that Egypt's leaders deployed tanks to
the Sinai Peninsula before consulting with Israeli leaders following
the August 5 ambush. Egypt's new defense minister Abdel-Fattah
el-Sissi defended his country's increased military presence in the
Sinai Peninsula, saying it is needed to fight terrorism and is
temporary. According to Egyptian officials, el-Sissi reaffirmed
Cairo's commitment to the 1979 peace accord. AP
Greece's border guards fail to stop the influx of illegal immigrants
Arrivals of illegal immigrants into the northern regions of Greece on
the border with Turkey have plummeted, as a result of an increase in
the number of border guards. However, migrants, chiefly Afghans,
Syrians and Palestinians, are now reverting to more southern routes,
across the islands in the Aegean Sea. Greece is the major pathway for
migrants to enter the European Union. As the influx of migrants into
the country continues unabated, the number of apparently racially
motivated attacks has increased. Kathimerini
Turkey still unsure about Syria buffer zone as refugees pour in
French President François Hollande is pressing to support a buffer
zone on Syrian soil for Syrian refugees from the continuing slaughter
by the Bashar al-Assad regime against women and children in
residential neighborhoods. This would be a strip of land on Syrian
soil protected from Syrian assault by Western allies. Turkey has been
talking about establishing such a buffer zone for almost the entire 18
months since the Syrian conflict began, but is still unsure, even
though 80,000 Syrian refugees are now in refugee camps in Turkey.
However, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu emphasized last
week that Turkey would not accept more than 100,000 refugees and that
the creation of a buffer zone could be necessary to contain a refugee
flow onto its soil. Zaman (Istanbul)
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