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 "We execute the wishes of God," the commander told a Reuters
reporter who had been taken to the location blindfolded in mid
January. The militant spoke in a small room with an open window.
Outside, a desert wind blew over the barren landscape. "We will
create an Islamic state in Egypt," he said.
The militant said he was from the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which
has killed hundreds of security forces since the military ousted
Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt's presidency amid
popular unrest in 2013. Last week the group claimed responsibility
for attacks on a military base and hotel in north Sinai that killed
25 and wounded at least 58, including nine civilians, on January 30.
It was the heaviest toll on government forces for three months.
Despite those attacks, however, Reuters' visit to the Sinai earlier
that month showed how the jihadists' mission has become tougher:
Current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former head of the army,
appeared to be gaining ground in his drive to crack down on Islamist
groups.
Even the militant commander said he faced greater difficulties. "Our
numbers are smaller than before," he said. "Lots of people were
killed. Lots of people were detained. Security forces are
everywhere."
 Since taking office in June 2014, Sisi has neutralised the
Brotherhood, taken bold steps to repair the economy and announced a
series of mega-projects designed to create jobs. He has also made a
dramatic call for a "revolution" in Islam, saying that Islamist
militants are destroying the religion and harming its reputation.
All those ambitions depend on maintaining national security and
taming militants in Sinai, a remote but strategic part of Egypt
located between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal. So Sisi
has poured more troops into the area and won support from some
Bedouins, who have helped the army locate weapon-smuggling routes
used by jihadi groups, security officials said. The tactics have
brought gains.
Early last year, Ansar was in control of about a third of the
villages in Sinai and several areas were no-go zones for the army.
Now the picture has changed, according to the Ansar commander,
security officials and Sinai residents. Their accounts of the
struggle suggest the militants, while still capable of deadly
attacks, have lost some of their previous momentum.
"A year ago we could not get to places where they hide," said a
police captain, referring to a traditional Ansar stronghold. "Now we
are spread across north Sinai."
In Husaynat village, a collection of one-storey cement structures in
northern Sinai where chickens and goats roam, gasoline trader Eid
Salman said that militants have all but vanished from the area.
Attacks by military helicopters, which once took place daily, have
subsided, though there are occasional clashes at night, said Salman.
"We used to see lots of Ansar pass in front of our house in cars
waving their black flags one year ago," said Salman, wearing a
traditional Bedouin galabiya robe. "Now we barely see them. Life is
much calmer."
TUNNELS DESTROYED
One measure of the pressure on the militants was how hard it was to
meet the Ansar commander. Last year similar meetings were far easier
and fighters could be seen in the streets. This year, the militants
were much more cautious.
 After making contact with a Bedouin middleman, the reporter was
blindfolded and had his cellphones taken away. The driver who
transported the reporter paused at the roadside briefly every 20
minutes or so in an apparent attempt to evade anyone who might be
following. Asked why he was taking such steps, he said: "It's none
of your business."
Speaking with a heavy Bedouin accent, the militant said he and his
comrades were inspired by Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot that
has seized large chunks of Iraq and Syria, and imitated their
practices. Ansar recently changed its name to Sinai Province after
pledging allegiance to Islamic State, which has called on Ansar to
keep up attacks against Egyptian security forces.
"We capture anyone who betrays us. We behead anyone who is a
traitor. This scares other people so that they don't act against us.
This is the language and ways of Daesh," the militant said, using an
Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
But the militant seemed less confident than comrades interviewed by
Reuters last year. "About 1,000 of us have been killed and about 500
or 600 arrested," he said.
The government declared a state of emergency in parts of Sinai late
last year and is clearing a buffer zone where Sinai's northeast
corner abuts the Gaza Strip. The militant said security forces have
destroyed tunnels from the Gaza Strip, depriving fighters of what
authorities say were vital arms supply routes.
"There are far fewer weapons because tunnels have been destroyed. It
is difficult to move weapons," said the militant.
Sources in Israel declined to comment on Ansar or the tunnels, but
said relations with Egypt over unrest in Sinai were better than
under Mursi. "The situation on the border is stable. The Egyptians
have been taking action to secure Sinai, knowing that insecurity is
a threat to Egyptian rule," said an Israeli military officer briefed
on ties with the Egyptian armed forces. "We coordinate when it comes
to activities near the (border) fence in order to prevent terrorist
attacks potentially spreading into Israel."
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An Egyptian official said that Israel was providing Egypt with
intelligence help to track Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis. "I can't say
whether it is useful, but I can say that it is appreciated," the
diplomat said.
In Sinai, Egyptian security forces have boosted their presence
across the north. They were better equipped with flak jackets and
helmets and appeared far more alert than last year. To combat
suicide bombers, security forces had stationed police vehicles in
front of checkpoints and increased the number of metal detectors.
A senior security official said Sisi had doubled troops in Sinai
since last year. He would not give specific numbers. Checkpoints
once manned by a handful of soldiers are now being guarded by about
30.
Militants have responded with hit-and-run operations, kidnappings of
police and assassinations of Bedouins suspected of cooperating with
intelligence officials. They have released videos showing militant
fighters beheading Bedouins whom the group said had cooperated with
security forces.
AFRAID OF BOTH SIDES
Though Sisi's forces have made gains, the militants still pose a
dangerous threat, both to lives and to Egypt's fragile economy. Two
of last week's attacks were notable for targeting Port Said and
Suez, cities at either end of the Suez canal, which is a vital
source of revenue for the country. The military said those and the
other attacks came in response to its success in putting the
militants under pressure. Successive Egyptian leaders have found it
impossible to stamp out militants completely.
Egyptian officials say they have valuable information on Ansar
leaders, but that good intelligence on rank-and-file fighters is
harder to come by. The militants still live among ordinary
civilians, blending into the local populace in a way that makes it
difficult for security forces to identify them.
"People could come by now and talk to us pretending to be civilians
and after a few days they blow themselves up at a checkpoint," said
a senior police official. "Once we went to attack a village and
found one of them (a militant) had passed by us days earlier telling
us 'may God give you victory over the terrorists.' A few days later
we arrested him during clashes in a village."
Stepping up security operations could cause civilian casualties and
spread resentment among Sinai residents, especially Bedouins who
have long complained of neglect by the central government.
"The authorities have to find a way to protect us," said Osama
Shabana, a teenage student in the village of Toma. "We are afraid of
both sides - the security forces and the terrorists. When we hear
shooting, we hide at home."
An army officer who has interrogated militants gained insight into
the risks of pushing too hard. "One of them recalled how his brother
was killed by security forces. He described how his sister-in-law
cried and urged him to take revenge or else he would look weak,"
said the officer.
He also noted that some fighters were foreign and had trained in
Syria, complicating efforts to stabilise the Sinai. A further
difficulty, said the police captain, is that after Egyptian
authorities destroyed tunnels from the Gaza Strip, Ansar militants
built similar structures in Sinai to conceal weapons and other
equipment.
Tensions in the wider populace remain evident. In the run-up to the
anniversary of the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in
2011, anti-government protestors clashed with security forces in the
capital and other cities. Authorities said 25 people were killed.
They blamed the Brotherhood for the bloodshed. Militants and
opponents of the government accuse the security forces of being
heavy-handed.
After the violence, authorities in northern Sinai extended the
curfew there for another three months.
Sisi still faces a tough fight to impose his authority and maintain
stability in the most populous Arab state. But he appears determined
to do so, judging by a meeting with security officials a few weeks
ago.
According to a senior security official he told the meeting that he
wanted more progress and that within six months he "didn't want to
hear about any terrorism in Sinai."
(The name of the correspondent is being withheld for security
reasons; Additional reporting by Ali Abdelaty in Cairo and Dan
Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Michael Georgy and Richard Woods)
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