IMAN Chairman condemns brutal execution of Coptic Christians in Libya
Monday, 16 February 2015
Egypt Strikes IS in Libya, Pushes for International Action
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egypt bombed Islamic State militants in neighboring Libya on Monday and called on the United States and Europe to join an international military intervention in the chaotic North African state after extremists beheaded a group of Egyptian Christians.
The airstrikes bring Egypt overtly into Libya's turmoil, a reflection of Cairo's increasing alarm. Egypt now faces threats on two fronts — a growing stronghold of radicals on its western border and a militant insurgency of Islamic State allies on its eastern flank in the Sinai Peninsula — as well as its own internal challenges.
Islamic State group weapons caches and training camps were targeted "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers," a military statement said. "Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield to protect and safeguard the security of the country and a sword that cuts off terrorism."
The announcement on state radio represents Egypt's first public acknowledgement of military action in post-Moammar Gadhafi Libya, where there has been almost no government control.
Libya is where the Islamic State group has built up its strongest presence outside Syria and Iraq. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is lobbying Europe and the United States for a coordinated international response similar to the coalition air campaign in those countries.
"What is happening in Libya is a threat to international peace and security," said El-Sissi.
El-Sissi spoke with France's president and Italy's prime minister Monday about Libya, and sent his foreign minister, Sameh Shukri, to New York to consult at the United Nations ahead of a terrorism conference opening Wednesday in Washington.
The bombs were dropped by U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets that left Egyptian bases for targets in the eastern Libyan city of Darna, according to Egyptian and Libyan security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk the press.
The strikes came hours after the Islamic State group issued a grisly video of the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians, mainly young men from impoverished families who were kidnapped after travelling to Libya for work. The video shows them being marched onto what is purported to be a Libyan beach before masked militants with knives carve off their heads.
Thirteen of the 21 came from Egypt's tiny Christian-majority village of el-Aour, where relatives wept in church and shouted the names of the dead on Monday.
Babawi Walham, his eyes swollen from crying and barely able to speak, said his brother Samuel, a 30-year-old plumber, was in the video his family saw on the news Sunday night.
"Our life has been turned upside down," he told The Associated Press. "I watched the video. I saw my brother. My heart stopped beating. I felt what he felt."
Libyan extremists loyal to the Islamic State and some 400 fighters from Yemen and Tunisia have seized control of Darna and the central city of Sirte and have built up a powerful presence in the capital, Tripoli, as well as the second-largest city, Benghazi. Libya's internationally recognized government has been driven into the country's far eastern corner.
Without publicly acknowledging it, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates carried out airstrikes against Islamist-allied militias last year, according to U.S. officials.
Responding to the news, IMAN Chairman, Ribal Al-Assad said:
"I am absolutely appalled to hear of this atrocity; so many innocent lives have been lost at the hands of these extremists who obviously have no value for the sanctity of life and will stop at nothing to achieve their aim of an Islamic Caliphate State under Sharia Law. '
Unless these animals are stopped countless more lives will be lost; as I have said on many occasions it is high time that the international community puts aside their differences and works together to defeat the Islamist threat once and for all.
The cancer of extremism is unfortunately spreading, if immediate and robust action is not taken then there is no doubt that we will see a repeat of the barbaric acts witnessed in Libya today.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, the Coptic Christian community and the Egyptian people at this dark time."
