Why Sinai mosque attack is seen as a major ISIS miscalculation
The Sinai mosque attack appears to represent a strategic miscalculation by the Islamic State and its affiliates, the leading suspects in the deadliest act of terror in Egypt’s history.
By waging war on a centuries-old Islamic order and attacking a common ritual of Muslim life – Friday prayers – ISIS is not only alienating the very audience it is trying to recruit, say analysts, but is turning neutral parties into enemies, potentially aiding the very government it is fighting.
In the attack on the Al Rawda mosque frequented by Sufis, ISIS signaled it had found an “enemy” with which it could rally citizens in Sunni-majority states similar to the way it has enflamed sectarian tensions in Shiite-Sunni communities in Iraq and Syria.
But the attack,
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