The Ansar Bayt al-Maqdes and Mujahideen Shura Council broadcasted videos with scenes of what it described as “the military operations in Sinai and the destruction of residential buildings and residents’ properties.”The videos were broadcasted via the blog of Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center, which specializes in posting jihadist messages.
“The attacks were carried out by military aircraft and tanks,” the blog post said. “We published these clips after the media blackout of the events in Sinai, when the army bombed houses with tanks and aircraft and burned cars and houses under the pretext of the war on terror.”
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdes threatened the army, via video, of a strong retaliation to its operations in Sinai, which it claimed aims to displaced people and establish a buffer zone with Gaza.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdes had claimed responsibility for the interior minister assassination attempt earlier this month.
Abdel Hamid Sobh, a leading jihadist in Sinai, said that the army's indiscriminate shelling has begun to calm down a little but said that troops have started to resort to arbitrary arrests. He said that 5 leaders of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdes have been arrested.
“We warn that jihadist groups may commit violence in response to the arbitrary arrests and violence against the residents,” he told al-Masry al-Youm.
“Arrests are much better than murder and indiscriminate shelling. They must [however] stay away from the honorable people of Sinai and not sentence them in absentia,” he went on.
Morgan Salem, a Salafi Jihadist leader urged a halt to the burning and destruction of homes and hoped to calm and stop the violence in Sinai. Salem believed that “if the situation continues the way it is, it will lead to a civil war in Sinai.”
“Jihadists will only accept Islamists in power, and the Sinai [crisis] will only be resolved by a committee of Islamists acceptable by the jihadists in the Sinai. It has to be non-governmental in order to negotiate an end to violence and know the demands of jihadists."
