soldiers.

According to SP, this was done via an overwhelming reliance on improvised explosive devices, or IEDs (59 percent of the operations), followed by guerilla attacks (20 percent), and then by snipers (12 percent).

The rest of the deaths were due to close-quarter assassinations of military/security commanders and informants (9 percent).

Limited targeting?

When it comes to targeting the MFO, there are some significant nuances that ought to be highlighted.

Since the brutal escalation of the military operations in Sinai in September 2013, about 90 percent of SP attacks targeted state security and military forces as well as alleged informants and tribesmen working for them.

Attacks on other targets such as Israel and tourists diminished significantly in quantity, but not necessity in the level of damage inflicted, as demonstrated by the case of RussianMetrojet Airbus.

An Egyptian soldier at a checkpoint in Al Arish city, in the troubled northern part of the Sinai peninsula [Reuters]

The attacks on the MFO were also limited. About 10 were recorded since August 2005. Six of them were conducted by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and mines.

In some of these cases, it was unclear if the MFO was the actual target or not. In others, it was clear. In September 2012, armed militants stormed MFO's North Camp, destroyed and took away equipment, and exchanged fire with the Forces, wounding four soldiers.

In June 2015, the MFO-operated El-Gora airport was attacked with a mortar shell and a Grad rocket. But compared to the intensity, complexity, and sustainability of the attacks on the regime's military, the attacks on the MFO are