Egypt’s 11th hour agreement to extend the UNEF mandate which expires at midnight tonight brought no immediate relief to the tension that has been building up in Sinai in recent weeks. While the UN troops are continuing their routine patrols and inspections without incident, Israeli sources are increasingly concerned over what they see as potentially menacing moves by Egyptian land and sea forces.
Egyptian troops which face Israeli forces across the UN-patrolled buffer zone are carrying out various maneuvers aimed at strengthening their position in the event of a new outbreak of hostilities. There has also been an increase of Egyptian naval activity at both ends of the reopened Suez Canal.
Egyptian naval units have been reported steaming toward the straits of Bab el Mandeb, the narrow, strategic waterway at the southern end of the Red Sea which links it with the Indian Ocean. Shipping using the Israeli port of Eilat must pass through the straits enroute to and from Africa, Asia, the Far East and Australia, Egypt blockaded the straits during the Yom Kippur War.
While any overt military moves by Egypt seem less likely following Cairo’s agreement to a three-month extension of UNEF, Israeli forces are deployed along advance lines in Sinai under conditions of an alert against possible surprise actions by Egypt.
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