The IDF has concluded that Wednesday’s attack on two soldiers at the Egyptian border involved a drug smuggling attempt and “was not related to terror.”
“An IDF inquiry suggests the cross-border attack on patrol was a violent drug smuggling attempt, foiled by Caracal Battalion Company Commanders,” military spokesmen said. ”The perpetrators opened fire from three locations including from a car driving along the border. From the attack the Company Commander, Captain Or Ben-Yehuda and another soldier were wounded. IDF responded and killed at least three of the attackers. We are continuing to review the circumstances of the incident.”
The Egyptian version is totally different. Egyptians security forces directly blamed the attack on the Al Qaeda-linked Ansar Beyt al-Maqdis (ABM) terrorist group.
“The goal is to provoke an Israeli incursion into Egyptian territory, which would then put Cairo in hot water,” Daniel Nisman, president of the Middle East think tank Levantine Group, told The Atlantic.
He added that Israel’s response is limited because “intervening in Egypt would backfire [and] all Israel can do is continue cooperating with the Egyptian government.”
Take the IDF statement for whatever it’s worth, but it is hard to believe that a “violent drug smuggling attempt” is not linked with terror, for which drug smuggling is a big money-maker.
Could it be that the IDF simply is trying to tone down the idea that Al Qaeda terrorists or ISIS sympathizers are active on the border?