CAIRO — Col. Tamer al-Rifai, the spokesman for the Egyptian army, announced in a televised statement Feb. 9 that the Egyptian army, in cooperation with the police, launched a comprehensive anti-terrorism operation in the Sinai Peninsula under the name Operation Sinai 2018. This called into question the timing of the campaign, which comes one month ahead of the presidential elections in which Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be running for a second term.
Sisi praised the operation and said on his Facebook page Feb. 9, “I proudly follow up the heroic acts of my sons in the armed forces and the police to purge the precious land of Egypt of terrorist elements who are enemies of life.”
