The Islamic State – Sinai Province (Wilayat Sinai, originally Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis), is a Salafi jihadist group that formed in Egypt and the Gaza Strip in 2011.[3] After authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power in Egypt in 2011, tribal communities in Sinai, which claimed the Egyptian government oppressed them, drove security forces out of the region. In this power vacuum, members of the region’s active militant population joined the militant group Al-Tawhid wa’al-Jihad to merge and form Wilayat Sinai.[4] Wilayat Sinai shares a similar ideology as Al Qaeda (AQ) and declared themselves AQ’s wing in the Sinai in 2011.[5] However, despite sharing similar ideologies, Wilayat Sinai and AQ were never formal affiliates.[6]
Wilayat Sinai first gained international recognition in July 2012 when it attacked an Egyptian pipeline that exported gas to Jordan and Israel.[7] Wilayat Sinai additionally perpetrated two attacks against Israel in August and September 2012. First, Wilayat Sinai members fired rockets from Sinai to Eliat, a resort in southern Israel. Later, they attacked an Israeli border patrol in response to the release of the American YouTube video titled “Innocence of Muslims.”[8] The Wilayat Sinai attack was part of a larger protest across the Islamic world against the “Innocence of Muslims” trailer for its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as a bloodthirsty and corrupt ruler.[9]
After the Egyptian military removed Mohammed Morsi from power in 2013, Wilayat Sinai focused its attacks on the Egyptian police and army in retaliation for the Egyptian security forces’ suppression of Islamist groups.[10] In 2013, the group was responsible for a suicide bombing that targeted the South Sinai Security Directorate, killing three people and injuring 45.[11] Wilayat Sinai also targeted government officials, including a high-profile assassination attempt on the Egyptian Interior Minister in 2013.[12]
Wilayat Sinai continued to have an active and violent presence in the Sinai in 2014. The organization was named “Egypt’s most dangerous militant group” by the New York Times for its sophisticated attacks on military camps in eastern and western Egypt.[13] On July 19, 2014, an attack in western Egypt killed at least 21 Egyptian soldiers; on October 24, 2014, the organization killed an additional 31 soldiers in a deadly car bombing.[14] These attacks suggest that a more skilled and experienced Wilayat Sinai fighting force has been recruited since 2011 from both Egypt and other countries in the region.[15]
In October 2014, the Egyptian military began to crack down on Wilayat Sinai in counter-terror operations. To avoid direct contact with the better-equipped Egyptian army, Wilayat Sinai turned to attacks via remote targeting and booby-trapping, such as roadside bombs.[16] In December 2014 alone, Wilayat Sinai planted 21 bombs along roads in Northern Sinai, killing four Egyptian security forces and wounding 24 others.[17]
Wilayat Sinai made international headlines in November 2014 when the organization pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in a nine-minute audio speech released on Twitter.[18] By declaring allegiance to IS, it is believed that Wilayat Sinai will receive resources such as weapons, oil, and money, allowing them to perpetrate additional attacks against the Sinai and Gaza Strip.[19] Wilayat Sinai has also attracted new members from around the Arab world, indicated by the surname al-Mohager (“immigrant”) given to many militants native to countries outside Egypt.[20]
The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy considers the period from November 2014 to October 2016 the heyday of Wilayat Sinai regarding the frequency of attacks.[21] Since the group’s affiliation with IS, it has increasingly targeted civilians in addition to its traditional targeting of Egyptian security personnel. Between late 2014 and July 2018, IS claimed 955 attacks in the Sinai Peninsula.[22] In the latter half of the decade, high-profile attacks on civilian targets have included the bombing of a Russian passenger jet in October 2015 and an attack on a Sufi mosque in November 2017. In 2017 and 2018, Wilayat Sinai carried out fewer attacks, but the number of fatalities rose. This may indicate that the group planned attacks more strategically and with the goal of maximizing casualties.[23]
President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi's government responded by launching two major counter-terrorism efforts: Operation Martyr’s Right (September 2015-February 2018), which resulted in the deaths of 3,163 militants, and Operation Sinai 2018 (February 2018-present), which killed 347 militants by July 2018.[24]
Wilayat Sinai’s attacks have steadily declined since 2018, with most incidents consisting of sniper shootings or kidnappings.[25] In 2021, the militant group kidnapped 14 men from the al-Dawaghra tribe, five civilians in Bir al-Abd, and executed two Bedouin tribesmen.[26] Since 2020, Egyptian authorities have encouraged members of Wilayat Sinai to surrender in exchange for amnesty, a strategy facilitated through informal security arrangements with local clan leaders. Mada Masr reported that 23 Wilayat Sinai militants turned themselves in under this system in 2020, with the promise of release after a few months.[27] Additional reports by Human Rights Watch note multiple instances of former fighters receiving stipends and identity cards that allow for restricted movement. While the government has not publicly announced or codified this policy, evidence suggests militants who turned themselves in, such as Mohamed Saad (Abu-Hamza al-Qady), a suspected high-ranking leader, were offered immunity from prosecution following interrogation.[28] The effectiveness of this approach remains unclear, as few militants have been publicly identified as recipients, and the terms of the agreements are opaque, particularly concerning accountability for serious abuses.
In the face of amnesty propositions, Wilayat Sinai claimed responsibility for two separate attacks on the Egyptian military in May 2022, one of which was among the deadliest in recent years.[29] Since then, the group has not publicly claimed responsibility for any attacks. Amnesty International, citing a September 2022 report from the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, stated that the Egyptian military “ha[d] apparently been able to largely eradicate Wilayt Sina’.”[30] Similarly, a March 2024 Human Rights Watch report described the group as being nearly “completely eradicated by the end of 2022,” attributing this assessment to “media reports, residents’ accounts, and official statements,” though the cited government statement is not publicly accessible.[31] As of mid-2025, however, the Egyptian government has not issued a formal declaration of the group’s defeat, nor provided details on any thwarted activity.
