Israel, Egypt to increase military presence along Egypt's Rafah border
Egypt and Israel sign an agreement allowing increased military presence in Egypt's Rafah border area, a move that analysts say is a win-win for the two neighbors.
Egypt has announced it will ramp up military troop deployment near the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip in a bid "to strengthen national security."
According to a statement published Nov. 8 by Egyptian armed forces spokesperson Gharib Abdel Hafez on his official Facebook page, "A joint military committee succeeded (during a coordination meeting with the Israeli side) in amending the security agreement to increase the number and capabilities of border guards near the Rafah crossing."
The security agreement cited by Abdel Hafez is an annex to the 1979 Camp David Peace Accords signed by late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin allowing Egypt to maintain a civilian police force only in the eastern strip of the Sinai Peninsula. That, however, has changed in recent years with the warming of ties between Cairo and Jerusalem and Egypt's ongoing military campaign against Islamist jihadi groups waging an insurgency in the northern Sinai Peninsula.
Not only has Israel turned a blind eye to the annex of the Camp David Accords banning the presence of significant Egyptian forces in the area, the Jewish state has also cooperated closely with Egyptian security forces in their war on terrorism in the restive Sinai Peninsula, including by "carrying out a covert air campaign, conducting more than 100 airstrikes (against jihadi targets) inside Egypt," according to a New York Times report published Feb. 3, 2018.
