Still, a tribal sheik in Sinai told Al-Monitor recently that Egyptians are losing faith in the military’s claim to winning the war on terrorism.

He and the tribal sheik said they then watched as peshmerga forces looted the base, seizing weapons and driving U.S.-supplied Humvees toward Erbil.

In the northern city of Mosul, a bomb killed two police officers, and gunmen killed a tribal sheik, the police said.