ISIS and Egypt's Militants

News sources recently announced that Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM), Egypt’s most active and seemingly best organized terrorist organization that has conducted several successful attacks on state security assets, had formally pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). As the story spread like wildfire over social media outlets, ABM’s official Twitter account denied any such pledge. The incident sparks questions surrounding the false claim, connections between international jihadi terrorism and Sinai, and the reasons why a local group may or may not join an international “Caliphate.”

Zack Gold, a Middle East analyst and author of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague research paper “Security in the Sinai: Present and Future,” explores these ideas on EgyptSource:

Recent ABM statements, calling on Allah to bring victory to IS, have clearly sided with the Islamic State in its tussle for domination over al-Qaeda for leadership of the global jihad. This leaning toward ISIS is part of the reason many believe a formal affiliation is forthcoming. However, it appears that there could be an internal tussle in ABM over support for these international organizations. Indeed, many of the ABM members that have fought abroad in Syria and Iraq did so alongside IS, and the skills gained there have greatly advanced the Sinai group’s capabilities over the past fourteen months. This faction of returnees, especially, likely sides with the Islamic State and may be pushing the al-Qaeda loyalists to formalize relations with the ascendant group. Indeed, one possible source of this week’s “ABM statement” may have been an ABM faction trying to nudge the group toward an allegiance.

Read the entire article on EgyptSource: The Islamic State and the Internationalization of the Sinai Conflict

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ISIS and Egypt’s Militants