As the war on terror in Sinai drags on and as Egyptian police and military casualties continue to mount, Silah Report’s podcast team discussed the situation and the questions about the competency Egyptian forces on the ground and their commanders’ strategy for dealing with the continuing insurgency.
If you missed last week’s episode, you can find it here.
https://soundcloud.com/silah-report/v11-training-of-egyptian-conscripts-changes-since-1973-to-2019-and-more
This week Silah Report’s Miles and Adham were joined by Ataka, Vlad, MENA, and Middle Brit.
Topics Discussed:
Although the militant Islamist group Wilayat Sinai (ISIL-Sinai Province) is heavily worn down it has proven still capable of carrying out effective operations. We discussed what makes such groups and militias in the MENA region capable of giving national armies in the region such a hard time?
Why is it that Egypt, an Arab country that takes pride in its military and has a long history in modern warfare, is not faring well against the ISIS insurgency?
What elements are missing from the Egyptian army’s efforts that are limiting the effectiveness of their counter-insurgency operations?
Why are some analysts suggesting that Egyptian infantry in 1973, during the last major conflict with Israel, were more competent and overall better than their modern-day counterparts?
To address these questions we used modern and historical materials relating to the Egyptian army to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Linking into the discussion about Egyptian military training here are some images from a graduation demonstration, taken in August 2018, showing some of the unusual ‘physical feats’ performed by Egyptian cadets:
Do Karate, fire loops, and various sport acts, increase a rifleman’s combat effectiveness or is just a waste of time and resources? How many units and officer cadet classes are trained to do such presentations and does it impact on time spent on practical training for combat?
If you support us on Patreon you can submit questions and topics for our panel to discuss on future editions of the podcast.