El-Sisi gives army free hand to crush terror

CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has given the army and the Interior Ministry three months to restore security in the Sinai Peninsula with freedom to use “all brute force.”

This comes a week after 311 Egyptian worshippers were killed and 128 others injured in a terrorist attack on a mosque in North Sinai during Friday prayers.

The Egyptian president repeated the phrase “brute force” in what appeared to be a response to criticism in a number of foreign newspapers and on social networking sites after the phrase was used last Friday to describe the response to any future terrorist acts.

The uproar prompted presidential spokesman Bassam Radhi to explain that what El-Sisi meant by “brute force” was “the ferocious force that mercilessly tackles the aggressor, pursues the terrorists, and kills them all.”

Retired Egyptian Air Force Gen. Hesham Al-Halabi, who is now an adviser at Nasser Military Academy, told Arab News that the use of the term “brute force” after terrorist operations against civilian targets confirms that the Egyptian state will not tolerate any groups or terrorist plots that target civilians.

“There are increasing indications that terrorist organizations are directing the bulk of their operations in the current and short term against civilians and civilian institutions in order to push the people of North Sinai to leave their homes and evacuate the area,” Al-Halabi said.