Deterrence Movement of Alexandria (Ikhwani Entity, Egypt)

• Local Name: حركة ردع الإسكندرية
• Transliteration: Harakat Rada al-Iskandariya
• Alternatives: N/a
• Status: 2014 – 2015 (Defeated)
• Conflicts: Islamist Political Violence in Egypt

The Deterrence Movement of Alexandria [HRI; Harakat Rada al-Iskandariya] was a small militant group active in the city of Iskandariya and the Attarin, Dekheila, Raml and Sidi Gabr suburbs. It was made up of about thirty supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Many of the HRI’s members were students.¹ Several minors were included in the outfit’s ranks.²

The HRI was formed in the fall of 2014. It carried out its first operation on Oct. 24 when operatives torched a police post in Iskandariya’s Sidi Gabr suburb.³ More than a month later, the group’s members burnt an electricity transformer in the same neighborhood.⁴ In January 2015, the HRI supported the activation of militants aligned to the Muslim Brotherhood throughout Egypt and escalated its actions dramatically. The group was responsible for more than thirty incidents that month.⁵ Police and public transport were targeted in most cases. In many instances, police discovered and safely dismantled the outfit’s crude explosive devices.⁶

The Egyptian police rounded up 29 of the HRI’s members during a series of raids in Iskandariya on Feb. 09, 2015.⁷ The group was almost completely rolled up in the operation and was not heard from again.