Following reports in recent weeks of heavy equipment and medical deployments in Ismailia and Sinai, Egypt has officially launched a new military offensive. On Feb. 9, the country announced Operation Sinai, a series of comprehensive military and security operations in the Sinai Peninsula, along the Nile and in the Western Desert area. Although the new operations will focus heavily on the Sinai Peninsula, their stated intent is to root out terrorist strongholds across all of Egypt. And a spokesman for the Egyptian army has released video footage and photographs of tanks, armored personnel carriers and the air force all targeting alleged terrorist hideouts. Egypt is currently struggling in its fight against a variety of militant organizations, such as al Qaeda-linked groups in the Western Desert, urban anti-government groups like the Hasam Movement in the Nile Delta region and the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula.