“Targeting citizens in Al-Arish is a cowardly plan by evil people to shake trust in the state, and to tear national unity”, said President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in a comment on the latest incidents in Egypt’s North Sinai. Throughout the past few days, hundreds of Christian families fled North Sinai following increased attacks and threats by ISIS-affiliated militants. Sisi’s statements came during his visit to the second round of the Presidential Leadership Program for youth on Monday, revealing that he had rejected an earlier plan to evacuate North Sinai of its residents to better combat Jihadists in the area. “Forty months ago, I received a plan to evacuate the entire North Sinai region to combat terrorism. My answer was ‘no,’ let the people live their lives and we will act like a surgeon who uses his scalpel to extract the tumor without harming the rest of the body,” the president said. “The state is determined to abolish terrorism in Northern Sinai from its roots,” he asserted. “All sects of the Egyptian people are courageously withstanding the repercussions of combating terrorism, and many families sacrificed their children while facing terrorists in…
Sisi says ‘Evil People’ behind Sinai Unrest, Formerly Rejected Evacuation
March 2, 2017
