The capture of Al-Qaeda's number one man in Sinai, Adel Ibrahim, also known as Adel Habbara, who was the leader of the groups that carried out the second Rafah attack, is a major victory in the war against terrorism since the military operations against militant jihadist and takfiri groups began in Sinai. These operations underwent a qualitative shift both in approach and efficacy in the aftermath of a spate of attacks by these groups against army and police targets in July. With Habbara, or “the snake's head”, now in the hands of the authorities, a qualitative shift in the investigation and intelligence-gathering tasks connected with these groups is expected. Habbara was arrested in a paint store in Arish after security agencies obtained information from undisclosed sources on his whereabouts. Security sources and military affairs experts suspect that the sources were other jihadist elements who decided to feed Habbara to State Security in the hope that this would lead to a reduction in the intensity of the powerful offensive against these groups. Habbara had been sentenced to death in absentia in the Taba bombing case in 2004. However, he managed to escape to Gaza where he jointed the Army of Islam organisation headed by the Palestinian jihadist Momtaz Daghmash. Security sources believe that Habbara has been involved in most of the attacks that have occurred in Sinai since then. Taking advantage of the security breakdown that followed the 25 January Revolution in Egypt, Habbara then moved back into Sinai where he became one of the founders of the Tawhid wal-Jihad Organisation that is ideologically affiliated with Al-Qaeda. However, a statement attributed to the organisation in January 2012 said that Habbara had pledged his support for Ayman Al-Zawahri's taking over the leadership of Al-Qaeda beneath the banner of another Sinai-based group, Ansar Al-jihad. Kamal Habib, an expert on the radical Islamist groups, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the available information on Habbara indicated that he was indeed a valuable catch. He was a key member of Tawhid wal-Jihad, the largest known jihadist organisation in Sinai, for example, Habib said, this having played a key role in four of the major terrorist attacks in Sinai since 2004. “Habbara was involved in the terrorist operation that led to the murder of Egyptian soldiers. Here we have a person who had escaped from a death sentence and, at the same time, from popular demands that those responsible for the appalling massacre of the soldiers be brought to justice,” Habib said. “But the problem I fear is a repeat of the scenario in the case involving the assassination of minister of interior Hassan Abu Basha, where some persons were forced into making false confessions. It later came to light that others had been the real perpetrators of the crime. However, information from Habbara should nevertheless reveal important insights into the Salafist jihadist groups in Sinai, many details of which are still shrouded in mystery.” The security agencies notched up the state of alert in the region to high following the arrest of Habbara in anticipation of possible retaliatory attacks by his followers. Such attacks could target army or security personnel or locations such as stationary or mobile security checkpoints. Consideration is also being given to the possibility of attacks in more than one direction using suicide bombers to strike in different places or missiles against ships passing through the Suez Canal, for example. On Monday, Armed Forces Apache planes bombarded three sites at the border area with the Gaza Strip. The military operations led to the shelling of weapon stores owned by takfiri groups and the killing of several takfiri elements during their attempt to flee. A military source told the Weekly that the tight security in Sinai had led to complaints from local people that it restricted their movements. However, the reality was that it protected them from possible attacks, especially since many terrorist elements have been using the olive groves in Area C — in the area of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid — as hideouts, he said. Commenting on the security situation in Sinai, military affairs expert general Hamdi Bakhit said that there was a high level of coordination between the various security agencies and that this was one of the factors that had enabled them to keep the terrorist elements there under effective surveillance. “Most local people are now aware of the important role these agencies are playing,” Bakhit said, adding that the combing operations currently being carried out by special anti-terrorist units would continue. There would be no slackening of the security agencies' resolve to deal firmly with them, he said. Meanwhile, five more border tunnels have been closed as part of the process of drying up the sources of support for the terrorist groups in Sinai from Gaza, Bakhit said. Although some people in Rafah had objected to this policy on the grounds that it involved destroying houses, the military source from Sinai told the Weekly that these houses had been vacant and that they had been used in smuggling operations that had undermined Egyptian national security. Speaking to the Weekly from the Gaza side of Rafah, the Palestinian researcher Mohamed Abu Shaar said that Hamas was now facing what was its gravest political crisis since it had assumed control over the Strip. Its manoeuvrability was restricted because it no longer enjoyed the political window that Egypt once provided, while also facing Israel's political and security clampdown in addition to an economic blockade. “There used to be some 180 products that were smuggled through the tunnels, mostly foodstuffs, building materials and fuel. By July, as a consequence of the current operations in Sinai, these products had dropped by two-thirds. During the past week they have totally ceased,” Abu Shaar said. He added that the smuggling of people through the tunnels had also come to a halt following the ouster of the Morsi regime in Egypt and the Egyptian army's operations to secure control over Sinai. Abu Shaar said that prices had soared in Gaza and that no goods or materials could enter the Strip except via Israel and the international relief agencies. This had compounded the Hamas government's dilemma, he said. “What is certain to everyone in Gaza is that the situation cannot remain as it is and that the future will bring major developments that will alter the status quo that has existed here for several years and that received a boost during the year of Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt.” According to Abu Shaar, the Hamas security agencies have now imposed such heavy restrictions that it is no longer possible to bring up the subject of the jihadists on the Palestinian side and their connection to events in Egypt. For the people in Gaza, “the most pressing question is not the future of the Palestinian cause but the future of the cause of life,” he said. It is believed that the Egyptian army may proceed with the creation of a buffer zone along the border in Rafah, a plan that has long been under the consideration of the security agencies. Ibrahim Al-Manie, founder of the Organisation of Independent Tribal Elders in Sinai, told the Weekly that “the army is speaking of the need to create a 250-metre wide zone along the border. However, this matter is still under negotiation because there are people who live in those areas.” The safety of the shipping lanes in the Suez Canal have naturally also been of major concern to the Egyptian security agencies, which have succeeded in thwarting a number of attempted attacks. The most recent of these occurred last week, when, according to Director of the Suez Canal Authority General Mohab Mamish, a group of gunmen had been intercepted before they could attack a ship passing through the northern sector of the canal in an attempt to obstruct navigation. Mamish stressed that this had been an isolated incident and that its only effect had been to underscore the need for tighter security of this vital waterway, described as an “artery of goods for Egypt”. With regard to last week's incident, Mamish said that the canal authorities had arrested the attempted attackers and handed them over to the relevant military investigative authorities.
