New Video Documents Siege by Bedouin on Multinational Force Mission in Sinai, Indicates Links to Salafi-Jihadis in Gaza
On March 9, 2012, the blog Ansar Al-Shari'a, which chiefly follows Salafi-jihadi activities in Egypt, reported that the same day, armed Bedouins had surrounded the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) base in Sinai and laid siege to it. According to the report, they blocked access to the base from all four directions, in an attempt to pressure Egypt's "apostate government" to release jihadis from its prisons, chiefly Muhammad Al-Raba', Younis Abu Jurair, Osama Al-Nakhlawi, and Muhammad Gaiz.
The following day, the jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam picked up the story, reporting that dozens of Bedouin were protesting on the roads leading to the base, blocking personnel and supplies from reaching the international forces there, and that they had even set up portable roadblocks, turning back anyone who was not a local resident. According to the report on Shumoukh,, the demonstration came in response to the Egyptian authorities' violation of a commitment to release jihadis from its prisons – a commitment made by the commander of the Egyptian 2nd Army during the Bedouin's previous round of demonstrations in late January 2012, in northern Sinai's Bir Lahfan area, in which they demanded, among other things, to halt natural gas exports to Israel and to release their prisoners.
To read the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/blog_personal.htm?id=5852¶m=GJN.
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