Egypt has set up anti-aircraft missiles in the Sinai Desert, without notifying Israel and in violation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, according to Israeli reports, even as Egypt’s new leader has seized control of Egypt’s vast bureaucracy.Widlankski notes that Egypt putting missiles along Israel’s border, without Israel’s consent, is reminiscent of when Egypt attacked Israel in 1973--using the cover of anti-aircraft missiles in what became the Yom Kippur War.
So far, Israeli officials are not speaking publicly about Egypt's latest move.
This comes in the context of Morsi ousting the leadership of the military and replacing it with a leadership more sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood.
He quotes Dr. Guy Bechor, an Israeli expert in Arab affairs, who notes that in the absence of Parliament, which has been dissolved, Morsi is the leader in terms of all aspects of government policy both foreign and domestic:
He finalizes international agreements, interprets the constitution, and has the power to appoint a taskforce that will draft a new constitution. And so, after a year and a half of semi-anarchy, Egypt is once again a country ruled by one person – a dictatorship.Read the whole thing.
...“the current dictatorship is even harsher than Mubarak’s, whose decisions were reached together with parliament, political parties and the courts. Here we are talking about one man who controls everything.
Last week, Dr. Aaron Lerner anticipated the eventuality of Egypt exploiting its increased presence in the Sinai, a presence that seemed predicated on illusory Egyptian retaliatory missions against terrorists in both Gaza and Sinai.
The question is how far Egypt is willing to push in the lack of an Israeli response to date.
See a timeline of events following the August 5 terrorist attack in the Sinai.
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Technorati Tag: Israel and Sinai and Egypt and Mohamed Morsi.
Israel has quite a few SRBM's, IRBM's and shipborne and subborne missiles to inflict frightening levels of damage on Egypt.
ReplyDeleteThat's all well and good, but what will it take for Israel to feel justified in using them.
ReplyDeleteAnd what missiles has Egypt accumulated over the years that it could use in response?