In response to last week's border attack in the Sinai peninsula which murdered 16 Egyptian soldiers, today Egyptian military attack helicopters fired missiles on suspected Islamist militants in Sinai, reportedly killing 20. The air strikes on Tumah village – the military's first in Sinai since Egypt's 1973 war with Israel – were carried out as security forces massed near Rafah on the Palestinian Gaza border for what they called a decisive confrontation with the militants. Without addressing Sinai's severe social challenges, particularly a widespread feeling of neglect, discrimination and disfranchisement among its Bedouin population, the army's tactics might exacerbate an already dangerous situation.
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