The ISIS affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula has issued a statement today claiming Israel has launched multiple airstrikes against them over the course of the last three days, saying that one of their recruits, a Hamas defector named Abdullash Kishta, was among the slain.
Israel has yet to confirm or deny the attacks, which isn’t unusual. They have very close military ties to the Egyptian military junta, however, and it would not be surprising for them to cooperate with the junta in attacking ISIS forces in Sinai.
ISIS also reported attempting to retaliate against Israel with a pair of grad rocket attacks, which they intended to launch at an Israeli border crossing. The rockets did not ultimately reach Israel, however, and crashed in an empty area within Egypt.
The ISIS faction in Sinai was originally an independent Islamist faction, and Egypt’s military attacked them immediately after the 2013 coup, claiming the group was in league with the elected government. The offensive in Sinai has continued ever since, growing the Islamist faction and leading them to link up with ISIS internationally to get more support.
