Fight against Sinai terror far from over

It is safe to assume that no one was surprised by Sunday's terror attack at the Taba crossing. Over the past few months, Egypt has been dealing with a rise in terrorism, courtesy of global jihad. Based in Sinai, these terrorists have made it their mission to topple Egypt's military regime and replace it with an extremist Islamist one.

Sunday's terror attack against the South Korean tourist bus, like most of the attacks that preceded it, was perpetrated by the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis jihadi group, which is the biggest terror organization operating in Egypt today. This group has carried out hundreds of terror attacks in the heart of Egypt and in Sinai, mostly against government and military targets, and has claimed responsibility for several terror attacks against Israel, including multiple rocket attacks against Eilat and the August 2011 attack on Highway 12, north of Eilat, which left eight Israelis dead.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis operatives number in the hundreds. The organization is made up mostly of Sinai Bedouins, who have turned to terrorism for financial and ideological reasons, and a handful of foreigners, veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, who have military experience.

Ideologically, the group is considered to be an al-Qaida offshoot, which has set two goals for itself in the region: creating a caliphate -- an Islamic state -- in Egypt, and fighting Israel.

Israel and Egypt have both been intensively seeking ways to fight the growing threat posed by global jihad, and the two counties are even cooperating on the matter, knowing that any major terror attack may have far-reaching strategic implications for the region. As part of these efforts, the Egyptian military has deployed ground forces and tanks in Sinai, and is using helicopter gunships to fight the terrorists.

Sunday's terror attack, which followed a series of smaller attacks in cities across Egypt, proves that victory is nowhere in sight. Unlike various reports in the Egyptian media, it is highly unlikely that the attack was related to former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's trial, but it will still be used by the regime to step up its fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and its Gaza Strip-based ally, Hamas.

Sunday's terror attack had a double goal: to harm Egypt's tourism industry, which is a major source of revenue for the economically struggling country; and to prove to Egyptian security forces that there is no place in the country that is immune to attacks.

The Taba crossing is a highly secure area and reaching it involves going through a series of checkpoints, which were easily crossed. The group's success in targeting a South Korean tour bus deep inside what was supposed to be a sterile area should worry Israel as well -- not only the Israeli government, which is already concerned about the growing global jihad presence on all borders, but also the average Israeli -- as the chaos in Sinai means that there are no guarantees, and those who choose to take a "cheap dream vacation" there may be signing their own death warrants.

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