Islamic State – Sinai Province

Overview

Islamic State – Sinai Province, known as Wilayat Sinai, is the Islamic State affiliate based in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Formed from Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in November 2014, it developed from a local jihadi organization into a paramilitary force capable of coordinated attacks on Egyptian military positions, assaults on civilians and the bombing of an international passenger aircraft. Its campaign also threatened neighboring Israel. Egyptian military operations, cooperation with Sinai Bedouin communities and Israeli security assistance substantially weakened the affiliate, although remnants remained active.

Founding and ideology

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis formed in Sinai after Egypt’s 2011 uprising. It attacked Egyptian military and police targets as the peninsula’s insurgency intensified. On October 24, 2014, its fighters struck an Egyptian military checkpoint with a vehicle bomb and small arms, killing more than 30 soldiers. On November 10, the organization publicly pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, broke its ties with Al-Qaeda and adopted the name Wilayat Sinai, meaning the Islamic State’s Sinai Province.

Affiliation gave the group a wider organizational identity and greater operational ambition. Experienced Islamic State members from Iraq and Syria supplied technical knowledge that strengthened its fighting capabilities. During the year after the pledge, attacks in Sinai rose by about 130 percent and fatalities by 250 percent. The affiliate sought to impose sharia as a governing system where it gained control. In June 2019, fighters led by Abu Jafar al-Ansari released a video renewing their allegiance to al-Baghdadi despite the Islamic State’s territorial losses elsewhere.

History

Armed groups attacked military and police targets around el-Arish and Sheikh Zuwaid on January 29, 2015, killing 32 people. On July 1, hundreds of Wilayat Sinai fighters attempted to seize Sheikh Zuwaid, North Sinai’s third-largest city. Their assault included a car bomb and attacks on seven security checkpoints; an estimated 70 Egyptian security personnel were killed. By late 2015, the affiliate had become a paramilitary force conducting larger, more frequent and more complex operations. By 2016, about 800 people had been killed in its operations since affiliation, more than half of them security personnel. Its attacks on Egyptian forces then declined in intensity, alongside reduced media activity. An Egyptian airstrike in early August 2016 killed dozens of senior commanders.

The insurgency continued after these losses. On July 21, 2020, Wilayat Sinai attacked an Egyptian military base near Rabaa; the assault reportedly killed about 40 people and injured 65. Fighters temporarily seized four nearby villages, raised their flags, distributed food to attract Bedouin support and attempted to impose sharia. Egyptian forces retook the villages after nearly three months of fighting. Across 2020, the affiliate used small arms, improvised explosive devices, kidnappings, executions, ambushes and complex assaults. Open-source reporting counted 234 attacks across Egypt that year, the vast majority claimed by the group.

Structure and leadership

Wilayat Sinai drew on local relationships as well as the Islamic State’s wider network. Many of its leaders came from the Sawarka and Ramailat tribes and used tribal ties to recruit fighters and obtain support. Personnel and expertise from Iraq and Syria strengthened its combat capacity. Its 2019 allegiance video identified Abu Jafar al-Ansari as the speaker leading the fighters shown. In March 2021, a coalition of Bedouin tribesmen, armed civilians and Egyptian soldiers killed the affiliate’s regional leader. The later surrender of senior figure Abu Hamza al-Qadi further exposed its losses in personnel, funds and equipment.

Funding and sponsors

Wilayat Sinai used smuggling networks linking Sinai and Gaza, chiefly associated with Hamas, a terrorist organization, to obtain weapons, funds and recruits. Assistance from Hamas’s military wing helped Islamic State fighters evade Egyptian forces. Hamas figures crossed into Sinai amid reported training contacts; Wilayat Sinai figures traveled to Gaza, where some fighters received medical assistance. The relationship did not erase hostility between the organizations: a later Wilayat Sinai video denounced Hamas and showed the execution of a smuggler accused of transferring weapons to its military wing. The Islamic State’s branch in Libya and its facilitators also helped move captured military equipment into Sinai.

Attacks and operations

In October 2015, Wilayat Sinai bombed a Russian passenger aircraft shortly after its departure from Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 passengers and crew. The attack demonstrated its ability to strike beyond Egyptian security posts. The Islamic State’s Sinai branch also claimed responsibility for the bombing of St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church in Cairo. In February 2017, hundreds of Copts fled el-Arish after attacks on their community. On November 24, 2017, gunmen massacred Sufi Sunni worshippers at al-Rawda mosque in North Sinai, killing more than 300 civilians and wounding over 100. It was Egypt’s deadliest terrorist attack; Wilayat Sinai was identified as the apparent perpetrator.

The group also posed a threat across Egypt’s border with Israel. On July 3, 2015, it fired three Grad rockets from northwestern Sinai toward populated areas of Israel’s western Negev. It published an image of a tank with an explicit threat against Jews, and the Israel Defense Forces prepared for possible attacks on Israeli civilian communities or military positions. Later operations included a February 9, 2020 attack near Zilzal that killed seven Egyptian soldiers; an April 30 vehicle bombing at Bir al-Abd that killed ten service members; and bombs at al-Barth on June 19 that killed seven local tribesmen. On August 6, a checkpoint attack near Wasit in South Sinai killed 15 Egyptian soldiers. Wilayat Sinai also executed people suspected of cooperating with Egypt’s government or military and bombed a natural gas pipeline carrying gas from Israel to Egypt on November 19.

On May 7, 2022, the affiliate attacked a military post guarding a water pumping station east of the Suez Canal, killing an officer and 16 soldiers. On November 18–19, its fighters seized government buildings in Al-Qantara near the canal and battled Egyptian troops, killing at least five soldiers. These incidents showed its continuing capacity for lethal attacks after the height of the insurgency.

Designations and international status

The United States lists ISIS-Sinai Province as a foreign terrorist organization. Its attacks endangered civilians, Egyptian forces, transport and infrastructure. The insurgency also complicated security for the Multinational Force and Observers, which monitors the Egypt–Israel peace arrangements in Sinai.

Current status

Egypt increased its Sinai deployment throughout a nine-year counterinsurgency campaign. With Israel’s assent, Egyptian forces exceeded the Egypt–Israel peace treaty’s personnel limit in the peninsula; by early 2018, 42,000 soldiers in 88 battalions were operating there. Israel supplied intelligence, and Israeli tactical air support aided some Egyptian operations against Wilayat Sinai. Egypt also enlisted Bedouin tribes to fight jihadi organizations and planned infrastructure and welfare projects for their communities. Expanded cooperation with tribes and other residents played a decisive role in weakening the affiliate. By 2025, its attack frequency had fallen sharply from the full-scale insurgency, but surviving elements still posed limited security challenges in Sinai.