What the commentators said

The Islamists behind the Sinai attack are “bent on creating maximum mayhem”, said Simon Tisdall in The Guardian. The Isis affiliate held responsible, Wilayat al-sinai, has already ventured outside the region to hit Coptic churches in Cairo and Alexandria. Now it has thrown down a challenge to Egyptian society as a whole by slaughtering fellow Muslims. But Sisi’s response will only make matters worse. More air strikes in Sinai will kill more innocent civilians, inflaming local opinion against the Cairo regime. Previous Egyptian leaders also relied on brute force to crush their enemies. “All failed. And Sisi will, too.” The local tribes already have every reason to hate the government, said Mona Eltahawy in The New York Times. Marginalised and neglected by the regime, many have sided with the Islamists in a conflict that is growing ever more vicious: 1,000 soldiers and policemen have been killed since 2013. Yet the government’s response has followed a grimly familiar pattern: “detain, torture, jail”.

Alas, Sisi knows no other tactics, said Robin Wright in The New Yorker. When he seized power in 2013, he promised to deliver security and economic prosperity in return for “neartotal political control”. Since then, Cairo has effectively banned all anti-government protests, locked up its enemies without trial, and persecuted those brave enough to champion human rights. Even the US State Department, normally a loyal friend to Cairo, has been moved to protest at what it calls the “excessive use of force by security forces”. Nor has Sisi made good on his promise of prosperity: unemployment among young Egyptians now stands at an astonishing 30%. Whatever the president’s failings, the latest outrage will strengthen his hand when it comes to winning military support from the West, said Robert Fisk in The Independent. And the extra weaponry that will bring will help to cement the army in power. Result: the government “will feel even bolder in arresting or torturing its political opponents”.