“Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies…” (Qur’an 8:60)
“Egyptians return to Sinai homes to find Islamic State booby traps,” Middle East Eye, October 24, 2020:
Residents of Egypt’s restive North Sinai are torn between the anguish of displacement and the threat of death posed by explosives left by Islamic State group (IS) militants who previously occupied their villages.
In July, residents of Qatiya, Iqtiya, Al-Ganayen and Merih in Beir el-Abd fled from their homes when militants affiliated with IS occupied the area in the aftermath of a foiled attack on an Egyptian army camp nearby.
Though the militants have since been forced from their villages, residents are terrified of landmines and booby traps left behind, not to mention the threat that IS may return and bring with them renewed air strikes by the Egyptian military.
According to local sources, many are especially concerned about potential long-term displacement, similar to that suffered by the residents of the Sinai cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid in 2014.
“IS militants are still roaming around the area. We are worried they will enter our village again,” one resident from the village of Iqtiya told Middle East Eye, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We don’t feel safe anymore. We are facing either displacement, death by landmines, or IS occupation.”
Bir al-Abd, situated about 80km west of North Sinai’s capital, al-Arish, had been the site of several attacks claimed by IS, including the deadliest attack in modern Egyptian history in which more than 300 worshippers were gunned down in a mosque in 2017.
According to several official and local reports, since August, the army gradually has wrested the villages from IS control, but it delayed allowing those displaced to return.
The delay triggered rare protests demanding a safe return to their villages.
A few days later, the army allowed hundreds to return to Al-Ganayen, Iqtiya, Qatiya and Merih. But they were shocked to see the scale of damage to their homes as a result of the military’s air strikes and clashes with the militants.
The jubilation of returning home was spoiled even further: since 10 October, fifteen civilians, including eleven women and three children, have been killed by explosives left in family homes.
According to a local source, the explosions were caused by booby traps left by militants before their withdrawal from the villages earlier this month….
The combination of the army’s clashes with IS and other military operations have turned most areas of North Sinai into ghost towns, according to satellite images published last year by MEE, comparing the area before and after operations….