As the Egyptian capital and the surrounding cities fall prey to fighting between the military and ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters, there are large swaths of land, away from the banks of the Nile, which could prove critical in the battle for political dominance in Egypt. The Sinai Peninsula, left unchecked, could quickly become a radical Islamic strip of territory capable of threatening Egypt’s military and the surrounding nations, in addition to helping bring on the fulfillment of broader Bible prophecies.

The Sinai is controlled by two of Egypt’s 27 governorates. Despite government control and a recent addition to Egyptian military forces in the peninsula, the Sinai is influenced heavily by the Bedouin and local tribes. With the Bedouin having an unsurpassed understanding of the terrain and its myriad of smuggling tunnels, the Egyptian government needs the Bedouin knowledge in the fight against terrorists more than the Bedouin need the government.

In the lead-up to the July 3 overthrow of Morsi, the Sinai was witnessing some of the heaviest military crackdowns since the instability of 2011. Despite political and social unrest, the military was still conducting operations to limit terrorist activity by residents of Gaza and the local Bedouin following a spate of kidnappings and reports of gun-running. This crackdown served to cool relations between the Egyptian military and those who would use the Sinai as a highway for trafficking.

While contention is building in Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to capitalize on the situation in the Sinai. If chaos can be kindled in the desert, it will weaken the military’s grasp on the country. The military is already using deadly force to try to contain the violence in Egypt’s main cities. The military has a vast area to cover, and Egypt is the most populous Arabic nation in the Middle East. If the Brotherhood can divide the military’s attention between the Nile region and the Sinai, it stands a better chance of weakening the government.

To drum up support, the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has been working in the Sinai, garnering supporters of Morsi’s reinstatement. It might appear a tough sell, considering it was Morsi’s government that gave the go-ahead for the recent operations to destroy the tunnel systems into Gaza. However, the military under Hosni Mubarak did a far more thorough job of keeping the Sinai free of terrorist activity. Mubarak may have been a dictator in many respects, but he knew how to keep a lid on terrorism within his country.

There is plenty of proof that security in the Sinai under Morsi was far less stringent. The black market trade to Gaza was booming, with people trading anything from a turnip to a tv. The desert was a vast open highway for terrorists wanting to commute between Libya, Egypt and Sudan to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and vice versa. A few tunnels may have been demolished or flooded, but the fact stands that the Sinai was a haven for terrorists. Under Mubarak, Gaza was more isolated, making it harder for terrorists such as Hamas to receive weapons through the southern border. Even with a more limited presence, the military was able to keep tabs on the Sinai. Then, as soon as Morsi came to power, the region was overrun with terrorists, which led to attacks across the peninsula.

The Bedouin tribes play a crucial role in the Sinai. The military needs their intelligence to counter terrorist activity in the peninsula. However, the relationship is held together with bribes. If Morsi’s supporters can win over the Bedouins, the military will lose much of its insight into the goings-on in the area, weakening its fight against terrorism.

Today, the Muslim Brotherhood is using the strengthened terrorist presence in the Sinai to aid in its fight against the military. The most recent attack was carried out on police close to the city of Rafah, near the Gaza border. The bloody attack involved dragging 25 policemen from a couple of mini buses and shooting them execution style on the side of the road. It was carried out in broad daylight, which shows the growing audacity of terrorists in the area.

In 2012, 16 border guards were killed in a border post attack. Some sources are claiming that there have been “daily attacks” since the fall of Morsi on July 3. Daily or not, these attacks are enough to undermine military authority and create the conditions necessary for the Muslim Brotherhood to perpetuate the unrest it has created.

If the military can’t defeat terrorism in the Sinai and public support dwindles, it is possible that it may resort to more extreme methods than those already being employed. If the situation in the Sinai were to deteriorate that far, the Egyptian military could find itself fighting on two fronts. The dangers posed by the Brotherhood in the Sinai are real and could prove a decisive factor in the future of Egypt.

If the Muslim Brotherhood gained control of the Sinai, it would not only affect Egyptians. Terrorists, and those who support them, would benefit from lax security in the region, as they did in late 2011 while the country was in turmoil. People in Gaza would also benefit from having more access to black-market goods through the tunnels. Israel, which shares a considerable border with Egypt, would like to see the Sinai return to its demilitarized past. However, it must deal with the reality of the current scenario, in which a lot more troops would be required to lessen terrorist activity. A return to Mubarak-like conditions, when a few troops kept the region quiet, is a far fantasy for now.

The Egyptian military has not yet regained anywhere near the control it had in the Sinai pre-2011. Immediately after the fall of Mubarak, the Bedouin rushed to take over. As the Jerusalem Post reported, “Egyptian police authorities have abandoned dozens of police stations throughout the peninsula after they were attacked by Bedouin armed with missiles and assault rifles.” The peninsula has never been the same since.

What about the international community? The truth is, the storms brewing in Egypt will eventually shake nations around the world.

While not knowing the specific details of how, the Bible does reveal to us that Egypt will align itself with Iran under the banner of radical Islam. We had a taste of that under Morsi, but more is yet to come. Daniel 11:42 shows that Egypt will be in such an alliance. With the turmoil at the moment, it can be hard to see where Egypt is headed in the short term. But we do know the final outcome. Egypt will turn radical, but such events will lead right to the return of Jesus Christ to establish a greater government over the whole Earth. At that time, places such as the wilderness of Sinai will bud and blossom as the rose.

If you want to understand more on where Egypt is heading, be sure to read The King of the South.