Official army spokesperson Tamer al-Refa’ai on Wednesday denied a report released by US-based NGO the Human Right Watch, which claimed that the Egyptian army had adopted an illegal wide scale demolition operation against farms and houses in North Sinai. Al-Refa’ai told Egypt Independent that the Human Rights Watch report is not reliable and depends on undocumented and unofficial sources. The Human Rights Watch recently released a new report on the ongoing military operation inside North Sinai conducted by the Egyptian Armed Forces against militants of the IS affiliated group ‘Sinai Province’. The report stated that, as part of the ongoing army operation ‘Comprehensive Sinai 2018’, the Egyptian Armed Forces had demolished a large number of buildings belonging to residents in North Sinai. Since 2014, North Sinai has witnessed a growing number of terrorist attacks carried out by the Sinai Province, including various attacks against security forces.

Source: Egypt Independent May 23, 2018 12:22 UTC