Israel has begun deploying tanks along the frontier with Egypt, according to the Telegraph.
The move comes after an Israeli civilian worker building a security fence was killed in a terrorist attack along the Sinai frontier. The AP reports that Israeli military responding to the attack killed two attackers and are looking for more.
The incident will likely heighten Israel's worry is that the Sinai area of Egypt — which borders both Israel and the West Bank — has become dangerously lawless since the fall of Mubarak, with Egypt's military and civilian government focused on transfer of power after almost 30 years of rule by one man. The Jerusalem Post says that the number of terror threats from the region has tripled in Egypt's time without a president.
The continuing election strife in the country is no doubt adding the tension, and Israel is likely somewhat apprehensive about the success of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, who have in the past sent fighters for the Palestinian cause.
Israel, perhaps aware that it will have to work with Egypt to battle any terror threat in the region, seems to be careful in its PR-handling of the event. Egyptian officials have been quick to say the tanks have been moved for their technical ability to find terrorists, not because of any threat from Egypt itself, YNet reports.
Israel gave the mountainous region back to Egypt in the 1979 accords, and the area has been demilitarized ever since. The presence of tanks would break the terms of the accord, the Telegraph reports, though it is thought that an informal agreement to allow more troops in the region has been reached last year.
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