Egypt says Israel rocket defence is internal affair

An Egyptian official said on Wednesday, that Israel’s decision to boost its rocket defences near its southern border with Egypt to counter possible attacks from militants is an internal Israeli affair as long as it does not touch Egyptian soil. The official said Egypt is carefully monitoring all changes near its borders, and that it has also ?beefed up security measures on the border with Israel due to the  many militant attacks in ?Sinai recently. Violence in Sinai has surged since the army deposed of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, with militants killing at least 20 people in almost daily assaults in the area. “We hear reports every day of attacks there,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said. “We have indeed strengthened our deployment along the border.” He was speaking on a visit to an Iron Dome missile defense system that was deployed last week in the southern town Eilat. He said that since Mursi’s overthrow, Egypt had increased its efforts to curb militants who have exploited a security vacuum in the Sinai since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. "Clashes are happening between extremist Islamist terrorists and the [Egyptian] military, police and security forces. The fear is of course that in one of these incidents their guns will suddenly be turned on us," Ya'alon said. "Therefore we have bolstered our forces along the border, and here in Eilat we have a deployed an Iron Dome battery in case anyone dares fire at the city,” he added. The situation deteriorated further in Sinai today as a soldier was shot to death after gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint near the town of EL-Arish, officials said. Additional source: AFP