EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT'S WARNING

EL ALAMEIN : Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi told media on Thursday they should prevent defamation of the military, which he warned -

Would be seen as ''High Treason'' amid a campaign to crush all the militants from Sinai.

Sisi's comments at a ceremony to inaugurate the 'New El Alamein'' city in western Egypt comes after complaints by authorities against foreign and local coverage of the campaign in Sinai.

But Sisi also acknowledged that authorities should allow more media access to front lines to ''see how [soldiers and policemen] are dying.''

It is not appropriate that they be defamed and we will not allow it,'' he said in a speech on live television.''

''I hope the media help us confront that without me repeating this demand,'' he said.

''This defamation will be met with the law. It constitutes for me, high treason,'' he added.

Access for journalists has been restricted in the Sinai Peninsula, where the military and police launched a wide-ranging campaign to defeat Islamic State militants on February 9.

The military says it has killed scored of militants in the offensive, and at least seven soldiers have been killed.

It was not immediately clear to whom Sisi was referring, but his comments after human rights group  Amnesty International said the military had used banned cluster bombs in the campaign.

Some media also reported that the operations in Sinai had caused food shortages for residents of the northern part of the peninsula and civilians have been harmed by stray strikes.

A military official told AFP that the army has provided food and supplies to the residents.

''The armed forces have distributed goods to the residents...in coordination with the ministry of supply and [North Sinai] governorate has supplied them with all the goods in short supply,'' he said.

[AFP].