The Unified Command of the Area East of the Canal is an Egyptian military formation that was created to combat the terrorism and insurgency in the Sinai.

[1][2] President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi chaired a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in January 2015, during which he issued two declarations.

The first changed the force structure of the army by creating a "unified command" to oversee counterterrorism operations east of the Suez Canal.

Askar's former deputy, Muhammad Abdullah, has been appointed commander, and Tarek Anwar Helal the chief of staff, of the Third Field Army.

The manoeuvre began with Egyptian forces carrying out a mock pre-emption of two major attacks planned by Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, with Islamic State (IS) support, in retaliation for Egypt's aerial assault against IS strongholds in Libya.