CAIRO — At the Nation’s Story Conference in Cairo Jan. 18 to lay out the achievements during his first presidential term, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that El-Arish International Airport in the northern Sinai Peninsula should resume operation — unthreatened. The airport had been closed since Dec. 19, when the Islamic State-affiliated Wilayat Sinai launched a missile from a farm targeting the jet of the ministers of defense and interior. The incident led to the death of one officer, while two others were wounded.
Sisi said that a safe zone of 5 kilometers (3 miles) deep will be built around the airport. More than 20 kilometers will be demolished if the area is square-shaped, which is equivalent to half of el-Arish city that stretches along 48 kilometers.
