Egypt’s military on Tuesday said it had killed 38 jihadists, days after launching a major operation against an IS affiliate in Sinai Peninsula. But Egypt might not be the only country battling Islamic extremists in Sinai. According to a recent report in the New York Times, it has an unlikely ally—its former foe Israel
Wars in the past
In late 1956, Israel joined hands with Britain and France to invade Egypt to put the Suez Canal back in Western hands and end armed incursions by Palestinians from Sinai. A UN buffer force was set up in the peninsula
A month after Egypt ordered the UN force out of Sinai in 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack and captured the entire peninsula. In 1979, the two countries signed a peace treaty that led to Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai
Israel helps its former foe
Now, in a piece titled Secret Alliance: Israel Carries Out Airstrikes in Egypt, With Cairo’s O.K., David Kirkpatrick, international correspondent at the NYT, writes: “Unmarked Israeli drones and helicopters have … conducted over 100 airstrikes inside Egypt—with the approval of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi” for over two years
Only an ‘elite softening’
Common enemies like the IS and Iran have brought Sunni Arab states and Israel together. “But attitudes in wider Arab society, among intellectuals and the populace at large, do not tend to reflect this ‘elite softening’ towards Israel,” according to BBC