Cooperate...

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi offered a rare acknowledgement of his close security cooperation with Israel in the Sinai peninsula during a U.S. television interview with CBS'.

Under Sisi, Egypt has quietly cooperated with Israel on security in Egypt's Sinai, a desert peninsula demilitarized as part of a U.S.-sponsored 1979 peace treaty between the two countries but where Cairo's forces now operate freely.

Asked whether the cooperation was the closest and deepest that he has had with Israel, Sisi responded: "That is correct."

"The Air Force sometimes needs to cross to the Israeli side. And that's why we have a wide range of coordination with the Israelis," Sisi said.

Defeating militants in the Sinai and restoring security after years of unrest has been a key promise of Sisi, who was re-elected in March last year in a landslide victory against no real opposition.

Islamist militants have been waging an insurgency for years in the north of the peninsula, which lacks basic infrastructure and job opportunities.  

Egyptian security forces have battled Islamist militants in the mainly desert region, stretching from the Suez Canal eastwards to the Gaza Strip and Israel, since 2013.

Asked why he had not managed to wipe the militants out, Sisi responded by pointing to the difficulties that the United States has faced in Afghanistan against the Taliban insurgency.

Sisi's critics accuse him of cracking down on all dissent, but supporters say tough measures are needed to stabilize Egypt,  and fight the militant who are hated by the world.