Israel fears presence of jihadists on borders amid escalating violence in Egypt: Report

Cairo, Aug. 10 (ANI): A surge in violence in Egypt has increased Israel's concerns about the growing presence of Al-Qaeda-linked jihadis along its borders with that country.

Egypt used warplanes in Sinai desert for the first time in decades to strike at the militants this week, after Islamists killed 16 Egyptian security men, stole a truck full of explosives and an armoured vehicle and headed for Israel to try and perpetrate more violence.

The truck exploded harmlessly at the border, while an Israeli fighter plane bombed the other vehicle, preventing what could have been a devastating terrorist attack, The Telegraph reports.

But the incident has underscored the rising level of lawlessness in Sinai and Syria, which could give Israel new security problems, the report said.

"I think we're finally starting to wake up and understand that the instability, in Syria even more than in Egypt, is allowing jihadi groups to come in," David Bukay, a professor of Middle East studies at Israel's Haifa University, said.

"People have to understand that the alternative to Bashar al-Assad is al-Qaeda," he said.

In Syria, the violence has yet to extend to the Golan Heights, the mountainous border region that Israel has occupied since capturing it from the country during the Yom Kippur War of 1967.

In a closed-door briefing last month, the head of Israel's military intelligence, Major-General Aviv Kochavi told Israeli lawmakers: "The Golan area is liable to become an arena of operations against Israel in much the same way the Sinai is today, and that's a result of the increasing entrenchment of global jihad in Syria."

"Egypt doesn't have effective control over the areas and the Islamic fundamentalist tribes are actually controlling the area, challenging the regime and doing whatever they want in Sinai," Dan Harel, a retired Israeli general who commanded Israel's southern region, including the border area with Egypt, from 2003 to 2006, said.

Not much is known about the jihadis operating in Sinai and neither side could precisely say which group carried out the attack.

Israel said that the Sinai extremists have ties to militants in the Gaza Strip, though it's not clear what evidence Israelis have to support it. (ANI)