Two Rockets from Sinai Hit Southern Israel
JERUSALEM, Israel – Two rockets fired from the Sinai Monday morning hit southern Israel, following a weekend drone attack that killed four ISIS terrorists.
The rockets, launched from northern Sinai, exploded in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council, without injury to people or property, the Israel Defense Forces reported.
The Color Red air raid sirens did not sound because the projectiles were tracked to to open areas, but Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said "bomb disposal experts" were deployed to the scene.
Meanwhile over the weekend, the Islamic State blamed Israel for a drone attack that killed at least four members of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, an ISIS affiliate in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Two weeks ago, another ISIS-affiliated group claimed responsibility for four rockets that targeted Eilat, Israel's southernmost resort city. The Iron Dome anti-missile defense battery intercepted three of the rockets. The fourth exploded in an open area.
Islamic groups embedded in the Sinai flourished during the one-year term of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, a lifetime member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
Since Morsi's ousting and the election of former military chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egyptian security forces have been trying to regain control of the vast desert region.
The Israel Defense Forces and Egyptian security forces oftentimes work together in anti-terrorist moves. But Hamas, the Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, continues to smuggle weapons and fighters into the Sinai and to attract local Bedouins to join them in terror-related activities.
El-Sisi was reportedly the first international leader to congratulate newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported, saying he'd expressed hope that the Trump's presidency "will inject new life in Egyptian-American relations."