Lieberman: Egypt more worrying than Iran

Hebrew daily Maariv has said that, in a message to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, foreign minister Avigdor Liberman said that he was more worried by developments along Israel's southern border with Egypt than by "the Iranian threat". He advises Netanyahu to send three or four divisions to the area, and to prepare for political changes in Egypt. Egypt has reinforced its army in Sinai, with Israeli permission, with seven battalions to combat terrorism in the peninsula. But Liberman believes that Egypt is liable to breach the peace treaty and send more troops into Sinai without Israeli consent. For a long time, Liberman has been warning in defence discussions about the serious economic conditions in Egypt and the failure of the revolution that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. He believes that the danger from Egypt is liable to escalate and to affect Israel. He therefore decided to officially express his concerns to Netanyahu in writing.