Israeli Intelligence Helped Pinpoint ISIS Role in Sinai Plane Crash
Image by Getty Images
Intelligence intercepts being used to assess what happened to a Russian airplane that crashed over the Sinai Peninsula came from Israel.
Israeli officials would not comment on the claims by an unnamed U.S. official and a diplomatic source, CNN reported Sunday.
The communications between ISIS affiliates in Sinai were captured by Israeli intelligence focused there and passed along to the United States and Britain, the sources said.
Investigators looking into the crash of the Metrojet flight bound for Russia told Reuters on Sunday that they are “90 percent sure” a bomb on board is the cause. All 224 people aboard were killed in the Oct. 31 crash, including a former program director for Hillel Russia.
The Sinai affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for bringing down the passenger flight, saying it was in retaliation for Russian airstrikes on rebels in Syria’s civil war.
Russia began launching airstrikes on Syria in September, saying it was coordinating with Syrian President Bashar Assad to combat terror groups such as the Islamic State.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
