Egypt's repeated warnings that terrorism is a global phenomenon that requires coordination from the international community has proven accurate, according to a report from state news agency, MENA on a statement from foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Badr Abdel-Ati Abdel-Ati's statement on Tuesday comes in the wake of a joint US-Arab airstrike on Islamic State strongholds in Syria. The US and some Arab countries including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain launched on Tuesday, air and missile strikes in Syria's Raqqa, 400 km northeast of Damascus. Abdel-Ati's statement mirrored a similar statement made by Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on rising political Islam in the region. El-Sisi, in an interview with AP on Saturday, said he warned about the great danger of terrorism and political Islam a year ago. "But it was not clear (to others) until the events in Iraq and the Islamic State's swept over much of the country,” El-Sisi stated. El-Sisi also said that Egypt is prepared to give whatever support is needed in the fight against the Islamic State group, calling for a “comprehensive strategy” to tackle the roots of extremism across the region. Egypt has been waging its own battle against terrorism domestically for over a year. Terrorist attacks against the police and army in Egypt's North Sinai governorate are occurring on almost a daily basis. Civilians have at times been caught in the crossfire in the ongoing battle between the Islamic militants and the security forces. Egypt's capital was not safe from these terrorist attacks either. Meanwhile, Abdel-Ati, said that Egypt's current intensive diplomatic and political activity on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York shows that it is regaining its regional role. Abdel-Ati added that there was a regional void left by Egypt in the past period, which no country could fill. “There is an international conviction that Egypt is the main element for stability in the region and is the main line of defense in the fight against terrorism,” Abdel-Ati added. President El-Sisi is currently in New York along with a number of Egyptian diplomats for the UN General Assembly meeting. El-Sisi is scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama sometime during his trip as well as deliver a speech at the UN's 69th General Assembly's session. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/111538.aspx
