Egypt turns its fury on North Sinai over massacre of hundreds

CAIRO — Egypt said its warplanes struck militant targets in North Sinai on Friday night, destroying weapons dumps as ground forces raided militant hideouts, as part of a major offensive against the Islamic State in one of the group’s most enduring Middle East strongholds.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is running for re-election next month, ordered the offensive after Islamic State militants killed at least 311 people in a ruthless gun-and-bomb assault on a mosque in North Sinai on Nov. 24, in Egypt’s deadliest terrorist attack. Soon after, el-Sissi set a three-month deadline for the army to defeat the militants. The operation began Friday morning.

Although the military prepared the Egyptian public for large-scale casualties, it provided scant detail on the operation. The main news release, issued as a video by the military, featured dramatic imagery and music but no information on the goals of the operation. The images — tanks firing shells, warplanes dropping bombs and armed boats sweeping through the seas — represent the kind of warfare Egypt’s U.S. allies have discouraged for years. U.S. officials have urged Egypt to adopt more low-key counterinsurgency tactics in Sinai, centered on gaining the support of local residents.

Still, the images released Friday appeared to be mostly stock footage from previous Egyptian operations, and analysts said they were struggling to understand the specific goals of el-Sissi’s much-vaunted drive in Sinai. The operation comes days before Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson is set to visit Cairo.