Egypt is currently encountering many terrorist threats. Terrorist episodes have normally taken place more often in North Sinai than corresponded to any other area in Egypt. However, Egypt is peeking at terrorist threats across the country. For counterterrorism Egypt has worked closely with the UK, focusing on their strategy for combating the financing of terrorism, and also strengthening connections in the Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF).
Recently, The joint Egyptian-British training exercise on fighting terrorism kicked off with the participation of elements from the Egyptian Thunderbolt and Paratroopers Forces and features from the British Special Forces.
The exercise continued for several days at the combat activity fields of the Thunderbolt Forces Command in Egypt. The training began with lining up for the troops and a review of the weapons and tools used for training purposes.
It was designed to implement some training exercises aimed at unifying concepts, exchanging and gaining experiences, and honing the skillfulness of the participating forces from both sides.
This exercise was conducted within the framework of the common training plan of the armed forces with friendly countries to swap experiences and enhance aspects of military cooperation.
The Egyptian and UK military engineers are employed in collaborative training at the headquarters of Egypt’s Military Engineers Institute. It concentrated on effectively countering improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The training contained a series of theoretical and practical activities, introducing state-of-the-art methods using the latest tools to catch and handle IEDs on roads and in facilities, Abdel-Hafez said at the time.
In late 2022, the Egyptian-British Hurghada Air Show 2022 was carried out in Hurghada’s Sahl Hashish, with the participation of the Egyptian Air Force’s Silver Stars and the British Royal Air Force aerobatic team Red Arrows.
Moreover, in October 2023 The UK Prime Minister spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, following the terrorist horror carried out by Hamas in Israel. He voiced his condolences for the Egyptians who have lost their lives, along with so many others. The Prime Minister stated that terrorism is an evil which must be confronted, wherever “we” find it. It was also essential that the conflict did not spread further. He mentioned the importance of Egypt’s historic role in the region, including in seeking de-escalation.
The UK Prime Minister recognised the challenging security situation at the Rafah border crossing. He suggested the UK’s support to try to manage this situation and maintain the route open for humanitarian and consular reasons, including for British nationals.
Earlier in 2017, UK Ambassador in Cairo John Casson said his country backs Egypt in its war against terrorism. “In the immediate term, there needs to be a powerful and effective security response against these cold-blooded murderers and Britain to sustain that,” Casson contended.
“Through the UK army, we are supporting the Egyptian army in opposing the roadside bombs which we have an understanding of from Afghanistan, which are targeting Egyptians in North Sinai too, but that also has to be part of a longer-term effort to tackle the root causes of this problem and that means tackling the extremist thinking, it means creating opportunities for Egypt’s large young population which was 80 million strong at the time of the Arab spring and it could be 130 million by 2030,” he added. And so Britain has got a specific collaboration with Egypt in each of those areas to fund education, support jobs and to support security.”
Ambassador further said, No one has asserted the recent attack yet but it certainly bares the hallmarks of the pernicious Daesh ideology “we have seen” and Daesh episodes we have seen in both in North Sinai and in the region.
