Press TV
Egypt has deployed thousands of troops in the Sinai to tighten security as tensions escalate with Israel following Tel Aviv’s killing of several Egyptian border guards.
The deployment of the troops in Sinai would have violated the 1979 peace treaty between Tel Aviv and Cairo, which stated that Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula would be a demilitarized zone, but Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak agreed to let Egypt station helicopters, armored vehicles, and thousands of troops in the Sinai desert, the Economist reported.
The Israeli military killed five Egyptian security personnel on the Rafah border crossing on August 18, which triggered massive protests outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo.
Protesters have called for an end to the country’s peace accord with Israel and the expulsion of Tel Aviv’s ambassador to Egypt.
