Sinai 2018: Egypt boasts 'over 100 militants killed'

A new propaganda video released by the military shows off the purported successes of the Sinai 18 offensive, launched on February 8, including soldiers capturing militants, raiding hideouts, and airstrikes hitting alleged targets.

The video detailed that hideouts and manufacturing warehouses had been discovered and raided, where the army seized weapons, missiles and explosive material, as well as "books that assert the takfiri ideology".

The statement also boasted that more than 4,680 kilogrammes of drugs were seized from underground tunnels near the border with Gaza.

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The military announcement comes the same day as it pounded villages east of Rafah with heavy artillery, according to al-Araby al-Jadeed, and two Egyptian soldiers were reported killed in an IED explosion.

The numbers given by Cairo however cannot be verified as no reporters have been allowed to the area. 

Egypt has also launched a cyber warfare offensive on the region, which has caused widespread disruption to cellular networks as far as Israel and Gaza.

The offensive, an initiative of general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, comes just in the run-up to the presidential elections, which the military strongman is almost certain to win after would-be opposition candidates were either arrested or withdrew their bids shortly after announcing them.