Posted on 09/03/2015 7:38:47 PM PDT by kristinn
Six soldiers including four Americans were injured on Thursday in two blasts in northeast Sinai caused by improvised explosive devices, the Pentagon said.
The Multinational Force and Observer peacekeepers were evacuated "by air to a medical facility where all are receiving treatment for non-life-threatening injuries," Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement.
The four Americans were struck by the second blast as they were en route to help the soldiers hurt in the first, according to Major Roger Cabiness.
The MFO was created as a result of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and is based in Sinai, the peninsula that lies between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal. About 650 Americans are currently assigned to the force, Cabiness said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Serious. I hope they recover. A lot of “terrorism” in that area is indeed, inspired from Iran imho.
who are they peacekeeping from?
It establishes a buffer zone between Israel and Egypt with restrictions on the number and types of troops and weapons. It is monitored by the UN but there are always 3 BN of Infantry and support troops in the zone, manning OPs, mounting patrols, gathering Intel.
Pretty good info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_Force_and_Observers
I was in the 9th iteration Dec 85 - May 86 with the 9th ID. At some point it changed from 6 mo TDY to a one year tour and NG and AR units are sometimes used.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Not surprising they're being targeted.
The Department of State also has one or two foreign service officers/specialists always on duty there in excursions tours, meaning you lose your time-in-service/time-in-grade/time-towards-retirement if you take such an assignment. Most of these folks R&R in Israel, which is a nice safe place compared to being buttoned down behind the fences or during weekly/daily air patrol from choppers. As of late most of the ground occupy component has been pulled back from being in the line of fire with all the indigenous bad guys roaming the Sinai. Leave it to the West to garrison its combat forces inside walls and allow anyone else free range over the very ground they are supposed to protect. While the original treaty called for an Egyptian-Israeli buffer, this mission would not actually be of much use today because the troops are not training on the terrain or familiar with their surroundings in an operational sense.
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