Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Secures Borders and Public Infrastructure as Militant Attacks Escalate

NY Times: "Egyptian Forces Demolish Homes for Buffer Zone Along Gaza Border"
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/world/middleeast/egypt-sinai-peninsula-gaza-buffer-zone.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

This past Friday in what New York Times journalists Kareem Fahim and Merna Thomas have called "the deadliest (attack) on the Egyptian military in years", as many as thirty-one Egyptian soldiers were massacred by militant forces. Since then, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has expedited the establishment of security zones around Egyptian borders and utilities. While ordinarily, such measures would appear rationale means by which to secure public safety, they may instead be the consequence of ulterior motives. As the government's crackdown on dissenters continues to intensify, citizens and international spectators question whether this truly is a matter of public safety or perhaps an opportunistic power grab on the part of the administration.

One of the key problems associated with this particular scenario is that the government and populace are not entirely certain whom it is they are defending against. The authors noted that while the government has often blamed Palestinian militants for the attacks, they have often been unable to substantiate any of these claims with evidence. Additionally, according to one local resident cited in the article "The attack could be from outside the borders, from inside, from the governorates — who knows." Unable to distinguish who the perpetrators are, it is not immediately clear whether these actions are signals of domestic unrest or foreign assault.

The politically questionable policies adopted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in conjunction with the focus of these militant attacks on Egyptian military forces leads me to believe that these attacks are motivated by unrest. Terrorism is defined by its emphasis on civilian targets / populations and it appears that up to this point the attacks have been largely directed towards the government. The nature of these attacks seems to imply that these assaults are internal, motivated by defiance against the administration and its current policies. If this is the case, securing of the borders and public infrastructure will be ineffective in quelling the violence. Perhaps President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recognizes this and is capitalizing on the opportunity to consolidate his power through military control of key infrastructure.