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Egypt seeks revenge; to urge US-led coalition to extend anti-ISIS strikes to Libya?

By FnF Desk | PUBLISHED: 17, Feb 2015, 12:56 pm IST | UPDATED: 17, Feb 2015, 12:56 pm IST

Egypt seeks revenge; to urge US-led coalition to extend anti-ISIS strikes to Libya?

Cairo: Launching swift retaliatory strikes, the Egyptian Army on Monday bombarded the Islamic State targets in Libya to 'seek retribution from the killers', just hours after an ISIS video showed gruesome mass beheading of 21 Coptic Christians at a Libya beach, turning sea shore waves red.

Also, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has rushed Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to New York to be at the United Nations Security Council, where he is expected to demand international support, political and material, for international coordinated air strikes in Libya.

According to a CNN report, Egypt may ask the US-led anti-ISIS coalition (which carries out strikes in Iraq and Syria) to also target ISIS facilities in Libya.

The mass beheading of Christians sent the nation into a week's mourning however, the Egyptian Army quickly sprang into action, focussing its warplanes on ISIS weapons' cache and training camps in Libya.

Speaking to the state radio, an Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman said that they bombed the ISIS "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers."

"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," Egyptian Army stated reportedly.

The first round of strikes were made in the eastern city of Derna, Libya.

Libya, has been in a state of turmoil since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with different Islamist militias battling for control. Such a chaos and anarchy in Libya makes it vulnerable to being the breeding ground for Islamic State extremism.

Sirte (where the Christians were abducted last year) and Derna have come under control of fighters who have sided with Islamic State.

Egypt has so far, refrained from publicly participating in the US-led anti IS coalition which has carried thousands of strikes on ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.

However, the recent air strikes by Egypt on ISIS targets in Libya has seen the nation, makes it a natural ally of anti-IS coalition nations, experts say reportedly.

Reacting to the strikes, a local umbrella group of Islamist militias in Derna threatened that Egyptian government would be dealt a "harsh and painful" response, alleging that Egyptian military jets had civilians in residential areas in the city.

Issuing a statement, they accused Egyptian warplanes to have killed women and children, the CNN reported.

However, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the CNN that the strikes carried out by Egypt were "surgical strikes based on very accurate intelligence and related to degrading the capabilities of ISIS within the city of Derna."

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