Armed Movement Committees (Ikhwani Entity, Egypt)

The Armed Movement Committees [LHM; Lijan Harakat al-Musalla] was a little-known network of Ikhwani Islamist militant cells primarily active in Egypt’s Nile Delta region. The outfit served as a proxy force of local and exiled elements of the Muslim Brotherhood.¹ Its objective was to help delegitimize the Egyptian government by creating chaos and obstructing economic development.²

The LHM was loosely structured and lacked central leadership. Its various cells operated largely independent from each other. Some of the nuclei had already been active before their incorporation into the LHM. A module based in the Asiyut governorate helped train members of other LHM cells.³

Local leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood played a key role in the organization. Moadh el-Sheyoukhi coordinated and funded the activities of the LHM cells in Dumyat.⁴ Former Brotherhood associates Ahmed al-Hawari and Mohammed Naqrish led the local branch in the Gharbiya governorate.⁵

The LHM was apparently formed in early 2016. On Jan. 25, one of its cells bombed a segment of an oil pipeline in the Dumyat governorate.⁶ In response to the attack, Egyptian security forces started to crack down on the outfit and raided one of its hideouts in Dumyat on Feb. 26. LHM militants fired at police during the operation, sparking a gun battle in which two of its members were killed and two officers were hurt.⁷ The next day, police forces rolled up another LHM cell and arrested five of its operatives in Damanhur, in the Beheira governorate.⁸ The militants had been planning to attack military and police facilities in the city.⁹

In early July 2016, the LHM was dealt a serious setback when security forces arrested 36 of its cadres and seized weapons during operations against its cells in the Gharbiya governorate.¹⁰ Several other operatives were apprehended in police actions in the governorates of Asiyut, Beheira and Sharqiya on the same day.¹¹

The government’s crackdown on the LHM continued over the next months. Security forces arrested six members of a cell during raids in the village of Basarta, in the Dumyat governorate in mid-October 2016.¹² A few weeks later, police raided an apartment used by a local LHM affiliate in the Gesr al-Suways suburb of Qahira, sparking a gun battle in which four officers were injured and one of the cell’s operatives was killed.¹³ Another module was rolled up by the authorities during operations in the Fayoum governorate in early November 2016.¹⁴ The militants were plotting to attack police stations, courthouses and people who cooperated with the security forces. Under the relentless pressure from the Egyptian security forces, the LHM never matured. It apparently dissolved in late 2016.