News Analysis: Fighting extremist ideology necessary for Egypt's war on terror

Military campaign against extremists is vital to battle terrorism in Egypt, yet fighting extremist thoughts and ideologies is also necessary for the country's declared war against terrorism, said Egyptian political and security experts.

Egypt's new leadership initiated its war on terror due to growing terrorist activities since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. The following crackdown on Morsi's supporters left about 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.

Since then, extremists and self-proclaimed Islamists who supported the former president, especially those in North Sinai, have begun to attack military and police facilities, leaving hundreds dead.

"Terrorism is ideological in the first place. It is a result of economic and social factors that provided a suitable atmosphere for growing terrorism," said Nourhan al-Sheikh, political science professor at Cairo University.

"There must be an integrated and comprehensive policy to battle terrorism; the security solution is required but side by side with combating the ideological, economic and social factors that lead to terrorism," the professor told Xinhua.

In late 2014, the new Egyptian government under President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi blacklisted the Muslim Brotherhood group, from which Morsi hailed, as "a terrorist organization" after a series of blasts targeted security premises and personnel, although the group denied connection to them.

"Although Egypt designated the Brotherhood as terrorists, issued an anti-protest law, tightened penalties of terror acts and evacuated houses in North Sinai to create a buffer zone, the country just cut off the tree but left its roots," Sheikh said, arguing that uprooting the source of terrorism can be done by getting rid the human beings of terror ideologies.

Egypt has been suffering ailing economy over the past four years due to chaotic political conditions that reflected poorly on businesses, discouraged investors and scared off tourists.

Because of turmoil, large number of people have become jobless, and that, together with illiteracy, ignorance and poor education, have further bred extremism.

Mr. Sheikh pointed out that the security actions are still vital and indispensable, "but to eliminate terrorism in the long run, the security dimension has to be adopted side by side with the legal, economic and social ones."

The Sinai-based, al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) militant group, which has recently pledged allegiance with the Islamic State (IS) group, claimed responsibility for most of the anti-government attacks over the past couple of years.

The Egyptian security forces have been launching massive security campaigns in the peninsula and evacuated over a thousand houses near the borders with the Palestinian Gaza Strip to create a buffer zone in the restive region, killing and arresting hundreds of extremists.

"Terrorism is just like a plant or a tree. Security operations can only cut off the tree and stop a terror wave, but it can grow again, and more fiercely, if the surrounding environment is suitable," said security and strategic expert Mahmoud Khalaf, adviser to Nasser Military Academy.

The expert said Egypt needs to deal with the extremism-encouraging environment by improving education to create a new generation, stressing that schools, universities, mosques, churches and the media have key roles to play in this battle.

"In Sinai for example, the security forces arrested about 2,000 and killed about 1,000 but terrorist activities are still there," Khalaf said.

In October 2014, a car-bomb attack in North Sinai killed around 30 Egyptian soldiers. Later in January, a series of simultaneous terrorist attacks and suicide bombings in the same province killed more than 30 military and policemen in addition to 14 civilians.

"The ideology of a suicide-bomber is a worth-studying phenomenon that needs a specialist or a psychiatrist to see how he was motivated to this point of belief to kill himself for a terror operation," the expert told Xinhua, stressing such thoughts must be eliminated via spreading awareness and focusing on upbringing and education.

With growing terrorist threats regionally and internationally, Egypt found cooperation from most fellow Arab states that agreed in a recent summit to form a joint military force to fight terrorism and maintain Arab national security. The joint force is still in the discussion phase.

Internationally, Egypt expressed its support for a U.S.-led coalition to fight against the IS group, and the country hosted last week the first meeting of the anti-extremism workgroup represented by 21 countries as part of the alliance.

The meeting highlighted the international role of Cairo-based Al-Azhar Islamic institution in spreading moderate Islam and facing extremist thought and ideologies of terrorist groups. Endit