The US troops, part of a peacekeeping force that helps maintain the 1979 treaty between Egypt and Israel, were transferred about 480 kilometres south to a more secure area.
The move comes as the Obama administration is considering whether to scale back the 700 US troops in the Sinai and instead use remote sensors, cameras and other technology to monitor the border.
Sinai Province, a militant group that last year declared allegiance to Islamic State, has carried out multiple attacks on military outposts in the northern Sinai. Its fighters have killed dozens of Egyptian soldiers, including eight this month when militants fired a rocket at their armoured vehicle.
The extremist group claimed responsibility after a bomb exploded aboard a Russian-chartered passenger jet over the Sinai on October 31 and killed all 224 passengers and crew. In July, the group hit an Egyptian frigate in the Mediterranean Sea with a shoulder-fired missile.
The Multinational Force of Observers, or MFO, has 1680 troops from a dozen countries. The Americans, who live behind blast walls and travel in armoured vehicles, have increasingly found themselves at risk in the insurgency.
Four were injured when their convoy hit two roadside bombs in September. Several weeks earlier, an American soldier was shot in the arm when gunmen targeted the camp.
The Pentagon responded last northern summer by sending 75 more troops plus counter-mortar radars and new communication equipment.
As peacekeepers, the US troops aren’t authorised to fire at the militants - only the Egyptians are allowed to do that.
The recent attacks were among the topics that General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed on Saturday in a closed-door meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Heliopolis, a Cairo suburb.
Any major change in the peacekeeping force must be approved by all signatories to the accord, which followed the wars between Egypt and Israel in 1967 and 1973.
The US government provides $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt. It has been the second-largest recipient of US foreign aid since the 1979 peace accord with Israel.
The Obama administration briefly suspended military aid in 2013 to push Mr Sisi, who had seized power in a military coup, to improve his government’s human rights record.
Although Egypt has launched military operations against militant targets in Sinai, US officials believe they need a more targeted, counter-insurgency approach that would be likely to gain support of Sinai residents and prove more sustainable.
But US officials say that many Egyptian leaders have resisted American efforts to prompt changes in their Sinai strategy, preferring to stick to their use of US-funded weaponry such as the F-16 and Apache attack helicopter.
“The Egyptian military wants US arms, but it bristles [at] constructive advice as to how best to use them in its current confrontations,” said Zack Gold, an Atlantic Council scholar.
- WASHINGTON POST
