The Counter-Terrorism Bureau of Israel has issued an advisory on Monday, warning its citizens to refrain from traveling to Middle Eastern Countries such as Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan for possible terror attacks. The advisory was issued ahead of Passover holiday when many Israeli nationals travel across the borders of Israel for vacation on the Sinai Red Sea coast in Egypt.
The statement from the Counter-Terrorism Bureau of Israel pointed out that there is a possibility that the Israeli nationals may be targets of the terror attacks of the members of the Islamic State (IS) during the holidays. There were also attempts of kidnapping Israeli nationals in the countries that border the ISIS conflict zones. Just recently, there were several terror threats in Western countries including Russia, Germany, Belgium, France and even in non-Western countries like India, Y Net News reports.
During the media briefing, Eitan Ben-Dror, head of the Prime Minister's Office Counter-Terrorism Bureau, said: "The threat has grown, including to Israelis in the coming period, and is the gravest level of threat. Attacks on the Egyptian military, on Coptic Christians...ISIS rockets fired at Eilat and videos from ISIS against Israelis show the high motivation and power of terror groups there."
He also furthered that the possible targets of the terror threats are not restricted to Israeli nationals. Ben-Dror said that everyone especially the Christian tourists in Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan could be the potential targets of the terrorist groups. Based on the information gathered by the intelligence, the Anti-Terrorism Directorate of Israel held that the said travel advisory on Egypt's Sinai is a "Level 1" alert and is described as a "very high concrete threat", Egyptian Streets says.
The majority of beaches in Egypt are located in South Sinai while many of the terror operations were held in the north. However, the advisory is not specific on whether the warning refers to which place on Sinai but rather the locale in general. On the other hand, Turkey was tagged with a "Level 2" warning which is considered to be "a high concrete threat" while Jordan received a "Level 3" which is a "basic-level concrete threat."
