Last week, the Egyptian military announced that Abu Doaa al-Ansari, the leader of the Islamic State group affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula, had been killed in a strike. Ansari is believed to be responsible for the downing of a Russian plane over Egypt in October, 2015, along with a long list of other terrorist attacks on Egyptian targets and even on Israeli targets along the Egypt border. The strike is testament to the Egyptians' success, with the help of an Israeli tailwind, in combating the Islamist extremists who have overrun the Sinai Peninsula. As Israel often states in similar instances, the importance of the assassination is not just in settling a score or in generating deterrence, but also in the direct prevention of more Islamic State terrorist attacks in Sinai. But no one knows better than Israel that cutting off the head of the snake does not always mean taking out an entire terrorist group. The Islamic State affiliate in Sinai sprung from the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis ("Soldiers of Jerusalem") group, which began its activity in the peninsula immediately after former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in early 2011. The organization quickly developed ties with al-Qaida and even carried out a murderous attack against Israel in its name in August, 2012. But later on, in November, 2014, it pledged allegiance to Islamic State. The group relies on local Bedouin tribes, which feel neglected and betrayed by the leadership in Cairo (the leadership is essentially absent in large parts of the peninsula and offers the Bedouin no assistance or economic investment), while being generously compensated by Islamic State, whose operatives live among them. The Egyptians said the attack on Islamic State was carried out by air. This marks an impressive operational and intelligence victory, but also underscores the limitations of airstrikes, like those in Syria, in comparison to ground attacks -- the only way to truly uproot Islamic State fighters from their strongholds. And as long as we're talking about Israel: Before Ansari was killed, Islamic State issued a video accusing Israel of helping the Egyptian military in its war against them and even claimed that Israel's fighter planes were taking part in strikes against Islamic State targets in Sinai. They vowed to settle the score with Israel and threatened that the Jewish State would pay a "steep price". Here is a classic example of an Egyptian success, for which Israel might have to pay a price. In Libya, too, the struggle over the crumbling state is heating up after American planes began participating in strikes against Islamic State targets there. It seems the Americans have reached the conclusion -- if, as usual, late, partial and tentative -- that it is better to take action before Libya falls entirely under Islamic State control, with all that would entail for Egypt, Tunisia and even Europe. Upheaval also shook Syria last week when the leader of the Nusra Front announced a split from al-Qaida, to which the group had belonged since it began operations in Syria about three years ago. This was a consensual split, with the approval of the al-Qaida leader, raising doubt over whether the fracture is real or rather a desperate move aimed at gaining Saudi, Qatari and Turkish support, and, most importantly, achieving immunity from American and Russian attacks on the group's bases throughout Syria. The Nusra Front has indeed mirrored the Islamic State group, and the two were even linked for a long while. But unlike Islamic State, it always knew how to demonstrate moderation and restraint. Its fighters cooperated with moderate rebel groups in Syria, and most importantly, took care to ensure calm along the border with Israel in the Golan Heights. But only time will tell if this was nothing more than a trick or an actual metamorphosis for the organization. Either way, attempts by radical jihadi groups throughout the Middle East to set up territorial strongholds will not succeed. Their extremism and unwillingness to demonstrate flexibility are to their own detriment. But the battle against them is far from over, and their attacks are bad even where they don't have expanses of territory under their control -- as we have seen with the attacks throughout Europe over the last several months.
