Egypt Bombs Islamic State in Libya to Avenge Beheadings

by Alaa ShahineTarek El-Tablawy

(Bloomberg) -- Egypt’s military said it bombed Islamic State targets in Libya after the group’s affiliate there released a video purportedly showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.
The military said its airstrikes hit camps and weapons depots, according to a statement on state-run television Monday. “Avenging Egyptian blood is a national imperative,” the military said in the statement.
The airstrikes risk dragging Egypt deeper into the armed conflict in Libya, where a security collapse and a power struggle between Islamists and the elected government have driven the nation to the brink of chaos. The security vacuum that emerged after Muammar Qaddafi’s ouster and killing more than three years ago has only deepened, allowing groups such as Islamic State to take root in the oil-rich north African nation.

The executions in Libya create a new challenge for Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who has been waging his own fight against militants, including groups that
have sworn allegiance to Islamic State. Militants have struck repeatedly at security forces, killing dozens, in assaults that stepped up after El-Sisi, then defense minister, began cracking down on Islamists following the July 2013 ouster of his Islamist predecessor.
“As a fast response to calm down public opinion, the airstrikes might be a fast tool,” Hassan Nafaa, political science professor at Cairo University, said by phone. The core issue is to preserve Libya’s unity and end the disputes there, he added.

‘Very Dangerous’

“Any dragging of the Egyptian army into Libya will be very dangerous and won’t be to the benefit of Egypt and its security on the long term,” he said.
The violence in Libya has battered oil production in the country that sits atop Africa’s largest proven reserves. Libya pumped 350,000 barrels per day in January compared to its 1.6 million barrels per day before the 2011 rebellion that toppled Qaddafi. A fire at a key pipeline recently had pushed production to below 200,000 barrels per day.
In its statement, the military assured Egyptians that they “have a shield that protects and preserves the security of the nation and a sword that would sever the roots of terrorism and extremism.”

Same Fate

In the video released by Islamic State, titled “A Message in Signed With Blood To the Nation of the Cross,” a series of militants dressed in black march the Egyptians along a shoreline in single-file. One of the militants, dressed in camouflage, speaks in English and says their blood will be spilled into the sea in the same way that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s body was buried in the ocean.
El-Sisi convened a meeting of the national security council late Sunday after the video was released. Earlier, the foreign ministry had said a crisis group was meeting around the clock, amid reports that another group of about 20 Egyptian fishermen had been kidnapped in Libya.
The Christians shown in Islamic State video were working in Libya when they were abducted in December and January in city of Sirte. A parliament set up by dissident politicians has asked an alliance of Islamist militias, Libya Dawn, to retake state installations seized by militants in the city. The decision, reported yesterday by the state-run Libya News Agency, reflected an attempt by the rival legislature to distance itself from the militants.
The elected government and parliament, which is operating out of Tobruk in the east, has blamed the rival legislature in Tripoli for the proliferation of militant groups in Libya, accusing them of having created an incubator for “terrorism.”