Round up of events in the Middle East

Today’s Top Stories

1. The Egyptian army retook the northern Sinai towns of El-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid after Islamic State forces managed to seize and hold the towns for several hours yesterday.
The IDF boosted its defenses along the border, but beyond that, Israelis are clearly rattled.  Army sources talking to Israeli media are concerned about Islamic State infiltrating and abducting Israelis, firing rockets, or making good on recent threats to enter Gaza and topple Hamas. Might Cairo invite Israel to join the Sinai fray? Haaretz writes:

An Egyptian source familiar with Egypt’s decision-making process told Haaretz that if Islamic State comes near Gaza, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi may “invite” the Israel Defense Forces to act against it. This will not be seen as an Israeli breach of Egypt’s sovereignty, because Gaza falls under Israel’s responsibility.
 
“The two armies may already be coordinating in preparation for such a possibility,” the source said. “The Egyptian problem is that a military campaign inside Gaza could lead to breaking down the fences and a mass flight of civilians from Gaza to Sinai.”

2. What’s known about Hamas and Sinai jihadists ties?


3. Expect the UN Human Rights Council to harshly criticize Israel “without demanding sanctions or any concrete moves.” Haaretz saw a draft of the resolution:

It is one-sided, and makes no mention at all of the UN inquiry commission’s criticism of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza. The draft makes no mention of the rocket fire from Gaza or the harming of Israeli civilians, despite the relatively extensive discussion of this in the commission’s report.
 
According to the draft, it is also Israel’s fault that the Palestinians do not conduct investigations into alleged war crimes that they commit.

Israel and the Palestinians

• Hamas, Hezbollah said to discuss Israel ceasefire



• The ‘humanitarian aid’ aboard the recent flotilla to Gaza fit in two cardboard boxes, reports the Washington Post. It made correspondent William Booth‘s tweet of the day. You’re looking at one solar panel, and one nebulizer machine used to inhale medicine.




The BBC’s resisting attempts by parliamentarians to stop calling Islamic State by that name. According to the Times of London, the MPs want the Beeb to refer to the group by its Arabic acronym, Daesh, which Islamic State considers derogatory.

MPs want the corporation to drop the label Islamic State to deprive the extremists of associations with Islam or statehood.

I’m with the Beeb here. Arab acronyms like Daesh mean nothing to English news consumers. As for the names ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) or ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), neither conveys Islamic State’s reach across the Mideast. Disassociating Islamic State from Islam doesn’t serve the public interest. The Independent picked up on the story too.


• For Egypt, avenging Sinai may include striking Gaza