In the Muslim world, Fridays are the prime day for what I call Islamo-seethe....explosions of religiously directed violent rage.
Unlike Christianity or Judaism, there's no concept of a 'sabbath' in Islam - observant Muslims go to mosque and then go about their normal affairs. It's not a day of rest and contemplation. But Fridays are when the imams make their sermons, exhorting the faithful and frequently whipping them into a tempestuous frenzy against the Jews, non-believers, Christians, uppity women, what have you.
Fridays are Islam's Days of Rage.
Today, the Muslim Brotherhood and their fellow Islamists, whipped up by their clerical inciters came out in a slew of 'protests' which would more accurately be described as violent riots.
They swarmed across a bridge over the Nile River toward the state TV building and Tahrir Square, and attacked army units guarding the Republican Guard office where deposed Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi is believed to be held under arrest.
After being pelted by stones, firebombs and reportedly a few gunshots, they fired on the crowd.
The AP is reporting that Health Ministry official Khaled el-Khatib confirmed that one protester was killed Friday and a number wounded, but he did not know the exact number. The Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party reported five killed, but that's probably inflated. I have heard more reliable reports of 3 dead, plus a lot of wounded. According to the AP, many of those injured had the pockmark wounds typical of birdshot, which is the sort of ammo used by fards, a cheap,poorly constructed, locally manufactured and notoriously inaccurate and unstable type of shotgun people buy here on the black market.
That's not the sort of firearm the army would be using, so some of the wounds (not that it matters, obviously)could be due to misdirected friendly fire or misfires.
Of course, no Islmo-seethe would be complete without an attack on the kuffars. In southern Egypt,the Islamists attacked the main church in the city of Qena on Friday, while in Dabaiya, a small city Luxor, Islamists attacked Christians, burned their homes and reportedly set a local church on fire. .
In El Arish, a city about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the Gaza border,things were more serious. The Islamists attacked the airport at dawn today as well as a security forces camp in Rafah on the border with Gaza, along with five other military and police posts. It was an obvious attempt to establish a base for 'resistance which would likely include the Hamas run Gaza Strip. According to my sources, Hamas fighters took part in that attack,as did other jihadi groups in Sinai. The attacks involved RPGs, anti-aircraft guns and other heavy weapons, which of course, came from Libya after President Obama's ill-advised intervention there. The attack was described as sustained and intense,with one soldier killed and several others wounded. But in the end, the Islamists were beaten back and the army has declared a 'state of emergency' in Suez and the Sinai, with General Ahmed Wasfi now in el-Arish to lead what the army is now calling a "war on terrorism" in Sinai.
A crowd of Brotherhood supporters also tried to storm the governor's office in el-Arish but were dispersed by security forces.
It's worth noting that these violent attacks came after an olive branch was extended to the Islamists by Adli Mansour, the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court who is now the nominal head of the country, even though the army is obviously calling the shots.
Mansour tossed the Islamists an olive branch, calling for new elections as soon as possible and saying the Islamists were part of Egyptian society and deserved to participate in the political process. The National Salvation Front, an umbrella group of the opposition who provided the popular will to push Morsi’s out of power, also praised the army's intervention and called for the Brotherhood to be included in politics.
Mansour's words were underlined by army spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, who warned against "gloating," vengeance or attacks on Brotherhood offices, calling for "national reconciliation" and saying there must not be an "endless cycle of revenge."
The Brotherhood has apparently decided to try a Samson strategy. There's no way they'd be elected to power again, so they're going to try to destabilize the country in hopes of picking up the pieces...or perhaps provoking foreign intervention from th elikes of President Obama.
Stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment