Army base (Archive photo)
Photo: Lior Yado
IDF fights infiltration: Egyptian border reinforced
Two new army bases to be opened near Eilat in order to stop arms and drugs smuggling into Israel, and to thwart infiltration of terrorist cells looking to carry out terror attacks in Israel
The recent declarations made by international terrorist organizations about their intentions to carry out a massive terror attack in Israel were did not go unnoticed by the IDF.
Two new army bases will be opened on the border with Egypt at the beginning of the week in order to prevent arms smuggling into Israel and in order to reinforce the border to stop terrorist attempts to actualize their threats.
A new IDF arrangement has been in place in the south for a year within the framework of fighting infiltration from the southern border, which has become a real phenomenon recently.
Given the need to reinforce and protect the border, it was decided to establish two new bases. One of them will be a company base north of Mount Harif. The other will be a battalion base about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) north of Shikma checkpoint.
A senior military source said this week that establishing two bases of this size, that will also provide improved conditions to the soldiers, required enormous logistical effort. In addition to the two camps that will be established, the Sagi Brigade will be deployed along the Eilat region and will be located near Mount Sagi. All the officers who will serve in the brigade have already been assigned their roles.
In the framework of this renewed arrangement on the border, the IDF has started erecting an electronic fence to replace the simple, low fence along the Israeli-Egyptian border. The cost of the project is estimated to be millions of shekels.
IDF forces said that the existing fence doesn't block the hundreds of drugs and arms smugglings and illegal infiltration.
Concern in the IDF is growing that alongside smuggling arms and weapons, terrorist cells will try to penetrate Israel looking to carry out terror attacks.
Only in the past few weeks, Egyptian security forces discovered a few tons of explosives hidden in Mount Sinai. They are suspected of being set aside for smuggling into Israeli territory or for use in a terror attack in Egypt.
