Islamic terror elements surrounding Israel are banding together to fight the Jewish State.
By: JNS and World Israel News Staff
The commander of Islamic State (ISIS) forces in the Sinai Peninsula, Shadi al-Menei, is reportedly secretly meeting with Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip in order to develop the cooperation between the two Islamic terrorist organizations and coordinate more attacks against Egypt and Israel.
According to the Thursday report by Israel’s Channel 2, al-Menei and leaders of Hamas’s military wing are discussing the ongoing supply of weapons sought by Hamas, which governs Gaza.
Hamas has also in turn supplied ISIS with weapons, including Kornet anti-tank missiles, that have been used by ISIS against the Egyptian military.
The deepening cooperation between Hamas and ISIS in Sinai is infuriating to Egypt and “worrying for Israel,” the report added.
Al-Menei is the founder of the Sinai terror group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which later pledged allegiance to ISIS and is now referred to as the jihadist group’s Sinai affiliate. The group has waged a bloody insurrection against the Egyptian government led by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
In response, Egypt’s army has been conducting an extensive campaign to destroy smuggling tunnels running between Sinai and Gaza, as part of a broader military campaign in the northern Sinai against anti-regime Islamic terrorists who, together with Hamas, have carried out several deadly attacks against Egypt’s security forces.
In addition to battling Egyptian forces, al-Menei has been behind a number of terror attacks against Israel, including rocket fire on the southern Israeli city of Eilat and a 2011 terrorist attack that targeted an Israeli bus as well as military vehicles that killed six Israeli civilians, two soldiers, and several Egyptian soldiers.
The coordination comes despite past reports of clashes between Hamas and ISIS supporters in Gaza. Hamas has cracked down on ISIS sympathizers in Gaza over fears that they might try to overthrow the Palestinian terror group.