Inside Story

Has Egyptian President Sisi’s approach in Sinai failed?

Heavy crackdown in Sinai questioned after repeated attacks by armed groups in the peninsula.

At least 32 soldiers have been killed and dozens more injured in the latest of a series of co-ordinated attacks in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The government has blamed the banned Muslim Brotherhood for the violence. But an armed group calling itself the ‘Sinai Province’, previously known as Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, is claiming responsibility.

Despite unprecedented security measures in the region, including a controversial buffer zone along the border with Gaza, will president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi change course in Sinai? Or can his army end attacks in the area?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests:

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi – Fellow at the Middle East Forum and specialist on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and armed groups.

Mohamed Khairat – Founder and editor-in-chief of EgyptianStreets.com.

Maha Yahya – Senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center.