Egypt strikes IS group in Libya after video of mass killing

[webfact]

Egypt strikes IS group in Libya after video of mass killing
By MAGGIE MICHAEL

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt said Monday it has launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Libya after the extremist group released a grisly video showing the beheading of several Egyptian Coptic Christians it had held hostage for weeks.

A spokesman for the Armed Forces General Command announced the strikes on state radio Monday, marking the first time Cairo has publicly acknowledged taking military action in neighboring Libya, where extremist groups seen as a threat to both countries have taken root in recent years.

The statement said the warplanes targeted weapons caches and training camps before returning safely. It said the strikes were "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers."

"Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield that protects them," it said.

Libya's air force meanwhile announced it had launched strikes in the eastern city of Darna, which was taken over by an Islamic State affiliate last year. The announcement, on the Facebook page of the Air Force Chief of Staff, did not provide further details.

The video purporting to show the mass beheading of Coptic Christian hostages was released late Sunday by militants in Libya affiliated with the Islamic State group.

The killings raise the possibility that the extremist group — which controls about a third of Syria and Iraq in a self-declared caliphate — has established a direct affiliate less than 500 miles (800 kilometers) from the southern tip of Italy. One of the militants in the video makes direct reference to that possibility, saying the group now plans to "conquer Rome."

The militants had been holding 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian laborers rounded up from the city of Sirte in December and January. It was not clear from the video whether all 21 hostages were killed.

It was one of the first such beheading videos from an Islamic State group affiliate to come from outside the group's core territory in Syria and Iraq.

Libya in recent months has seen the worst unrest since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, which will complicate any efforts to combat the country's many Islamic extremist groups.

The internationally recognized government has been confined to the country's far east since Islamist-allied militias seized the capital Tripoli last year, and Islamist politicians have reconstituted a previous government and parliament.

Egypt has strongly backed the internationally recognized government, and U.S. officials have said both Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have taken part in a series of mysterious airstrikes targeting Islamist-allied forces.

The Egyptian government declared a seven-day mourning period after the release of the video and President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi addressed the nation late Sunday night, pledging resilience in a fight against terrorism.

"These cowardly actions will not undermine our determination" said el-Sissi, who also banned all travel to Libya by Egyptian citizens. "Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals."

The U.N. Security Council meanwhile "strongly condemned the heinous and cowardly apparent murder in Libya of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant."


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-02-16

[aothai]

And why go such actions always only go on after when innocent people are killed. IS terrorists are not just known since yesterday and it also seems that the governments or Army know where Training camps and weapons are hidden.Don't understand the strategy. May Karma punish this murders,sad for those lost there lives.RIP

[uptheos]

Amazes me how these countries know where ISIS are but do nothing to help until they're affected.

Jordan was the same, did nothing then all of a sudden knew where to bomb the hell out of them.

[chrisinth]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

And why go such actions always only go on after when innocent people are killed. IS terrorists are not just known since yesterday and it also seems that the governments or Army know where Training camps and weapons are hidden.Don't understand the strategy. May Karma punish this murders,sad for those lost there lives.RIP

Good luck to Karma handing out the punishment.

IMHO, there are times when there actually is a use for carpet bombing.

[MrWorldwide]

Amazes me how these countries know where ISIS are but do nothing to help until they're affected.

Jordan was the same, did nothing then all of a sudden knew where to bomb the hell out of them.

Because they know that anything beyond these one-off attacks will bring more of the madness in Iraq to their own backyards. No shortage of Arabs - including other terrorist groups - who want to see ISIL gone but I'd like to see the Iranians cross the border and give them a flogging : just not sure how that would be greeted by the US and certain Arab nations. Their current strategy appears to lie with the militias already active in Iraq - if memory serves me correctly, the US didnt have much luck trying to deal with the warlords. Interesting times ahead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant#Countries_and_groups_at_war_with_ISIL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_intervention_in_Iraq_(2014–present)

The Quds Force, along with Iran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, are equipping, training, advising, and directing the Iraqi Shia militia (such asKata'ib Hezbollah, Badr Organization, and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq) against ISIL. The militia became increasingly powerful after the 2014 advance of ISIL and comparable to the Iraqi security forces.

[razer]

The King went public stating ISIS did not represent Islam. Wonder when the King of Saudi Arabia to do the same.

[Ulysses G.]

The only problem is that ISIS DOES represent Islam and literally.

[uptheos]

The only problem is that ISIS DOES represent Islam and literally.

Probably represents Islam the way it was designed to be represented.

[Chicog]

The King went public stating ISIS did not represent Islam. Wonder when the King of Saudi Arabia to do the same.

Might be a problem for Saudi Arabia to say it is against Beheading.....

[MrWorldwide]

The only problem is that ISIS DOES represent Islam and literally.

And yet there is a suggestion of democratic choice in the Sunni version of the Caliph's elevation to absolute power - clearly ISIL will be having none of that. Time to put the would-be Caliph back in his box.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate

The Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a Caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives.^[3] Followers of Shia Islam, however, believe a Caliph should be an Imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt (the "Family of the House", Muhammad's direct descendants). In 2014, the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant declared itself a Caliphate;^[4] nonetheless, its authority remains unrecognised by any country.

[ChrisY1]

Amazes me how these countries know where ISIS are but do nothing to help until they're affected.

Jordan was the same, did nothing then all of a sudden knew where to bomb the hell out of them.

Maybe because they're all tarred with the same brush......but when it's their own people, that seems to make the difference!

[chooka]

Take the gloves off and and wipe this muslim trash off the planet.

[Morch]

And why go such actions always only go on after when innocent people are killed. IS terrorists are not just known since yesterday and it also seems that the governments or Army know where Training camps and weapons are hidden.Don't understand the strategy. May Karma punish this murders,sad for those lost there lives.RIP

Egypt is fighting Islamic terrorist organizations within its own borders, quite a handful as it is.

Carrying an attack across the border without sufficient cause, cooperation and approval of its neighbor could have made things messy.

[Morch]

Take the gloves off and and wipe this muslim trash off the planet.

The ones carrying out the air raids are Muslim as well.

[Morch]

Amazes me how these countries know where ISIS are but do nothing to help until they're affected.

Jordan was the same, did nothing then all of a sudden knew where to bomb the hell out of them.

Not the same case as Jordan.

Jordan is part of the coalition, and most of the relevant intelligence regarding targets comes from USA sources. Jordan simply upped its share of allocated sorties (the Jordanians were escorted by the USAF).

The Egyptians might have had the information, but as there aren't open hostilities between them and Libya, initiating such a strike could have been problematic. Besides, not as if Egypt is not already busy combating Islamic terrorism within its own borders.

[Rancid]

If you read msm the boogies are coming from every corner to destroy the West, long live the profitable war on terror.

Seems some folks need do a little more research than accept what the western media proclaims, they are the masters of lies & propaganda.

It will probably come as quite a shock but we are actually the bad guys.

No I don't like phycho jihadists either, but they didn't just appear, they were created.

[arjunadawn]

Amazes me how these countries know where ISIS are but do nothing to help until they're affected.

Jordan was the same, did nothing then all of a sudden knew where to bomb the hell out of them.

A few posts here about how insane it is that these countries do nothing until... really underscore the fantasy of the "moderate muslim"- there is generally a very large muslim population who sees islamic jihad as both required and valid throughout the islamic world. In many of these countries the leadership exists at their own peril, insofar as having any moderate affairs with non muslims. Increasingly the world will see the notion of a moderate islam as a fantasy (However, it is true that there are many non orthodox muslims who mean no harm to anyone. A minority, though, IMO. But don't be deceived, they are not interpreting islam correctly; they are practicing islam conveniently).

Egypt is a perfect example: knowing the threat the Muslim Brotherhood posed first to the local leadership, then the regional, then the world, the MB was outlawed. Under pressure from the MB proxies Obama et al, Egypt was forced to capitulate and within no time an Obama-Election-Like machine launched the MB to power. Immediately they slid from the secular to caliphate-like and turned any notion of moderation on its head. The fears were valid and for the most part Egypt then rejected the MB, and all their attendant subordinates- IS, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Libya Fighting Group, etc. Remember, the Muslim Brotherhood actually is the mother-ship of so many subordinate terrorist groups. It should not be surprising to recall their intimate relations with Adolf Hitler.

I suspect it is in these instances (Jordan and Egypt, for example) where the West will see the first shots fired within the ummah of Islam pitting the modern with the orthodox barbarism of the 7th century. While the West pussyfoots around with absurdities like "moderate muslims" these countries realize that the issue must be faced; it just cannot be managed any longer. Jordan and Egypt cannot put this djinnie back in the bottle.

[arjunadawn]

Amazes me how these countries know where ISIS are but do nothing to help until they're affected.

Jordan was the same, did nothing then all of a sudden knew where to bomb the hell out of them.

Because they know that anything beyond these one-off attacks will bring more of the madness in Iraq to their own backyards. No shortage of Arabs - including other terrorist groups - who want to see ISIL gone but I'd like to see the Iranians cross the border and give them a flogging : just not sure how that would be greeted by the US and certain Arab nations. Their current strategy appears to lie with the militias already active in Iraq - if memory serves me correctly, the US didnt have much luck trying to deal with the warlords. Interesting times ahead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant#Countries_and_groups_at_war_with_ISIL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_intervention_in_Iraq_(2014–present)

The Quds Force, along with Iran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, are equipping, training, advising, and directing the Iraqi Shia militia (such asKata'ib Hezbollah, Badr Organization, and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq) against ISIL. The militia became increasingly powerful after the 2014 advance of ISIL and comparable to the Iraqi security forces.

Great, smart post. I agree mostly. However, I think Obama actually does see utility in IS expanding; at least East. I believe, now, Obama wants to see a regional Iran take on responsibility and force it into this fantasy mature partner for managing the region. I did not think so previously, but now I realize this is precisely my thinking. However, as you note, this is far more complex than Obama can manage, IMO.

[arjunadawn]

The King went public stating ISIS did not represent Islam. Wonder when the King of Saudi Arabia to do the same.

Might be a problem for Saudi Arabia to say it is against Beheading.....

When SA states that IS does not represent Islam this is for consumption in the West as a plain fact, but amongst the Ummah of Islam and those in the know, it is self preservation repudiation of IS for a very different reason. The House of Saud, in a tribal marriage with Wahhabi Islam going back centuries (not unlike the House of Judah and Levites- sorry for the analogy), divide the State into leadership and spiritual leadership; one clerics, the other not. It is basically a marriage, not unlike other ancient Semites.

The House of Saud is The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Servant of The Two Noble Sanctuaries, and Protector of The Two Holy Cities. They must abuse the notion of IS having any legitimacy of representing Islam for this reason alone; their very survival depends on it and quite frankly, it would take little for the SA "priestly class" of clerics to see in IS a more valid representation of a caliph. What a caliph actually should be is not vague; the duties incumbent upon caliph and the ummah's obligation to serve and follow are voluminously documented over 1,400 years- the House of Saud is not caliph material. However disagreeable, al Baghdadi is!

[Steely Dan]

The only problem is that ISIS DOES represent Islam and literally.

The Religion of peace and moderate Islam are brand names, a bit like Camel light or Silk Cut. Radical Islam, or Islamist are akin to the first health warnings you got on cigarette packets, easy to shrug and think it won't apply to you. ISIS is the full Thai style health warning with the pictures of gammy teeth and open heart surgery. It's a bit trickier to sell your Camel as 'light' after seeing them. Edited February 16, 2015 by Steely Dan

[Steely Dan]

Amazes me how these countries know where ISIS are but do nothing to help until they're affected.

Jordan was the same, did nothing then all of a sudden knew where to bomb the hell out of them.

Maybe because they're all tarred with the same brush......but when it's their own people, that seems to make the difference!

Give the current Egyptian regime at least a little credit seeing as they are at least giving the appearance of avenging Coptic Christians, the previous Morsi regime did nothing whilst their Coptic minority were murdered and would not have lifted a finger if they were still in charge.

[ggt]

If there was a strong world leader somewhere...who could take the might of western armies and combine them with the Arab countries who are trying desperately to hold on against the IS threat...then a concerted world effort could wipe these animals from the face to the earth...

If we had a leader somewhere...

[arjunadawn]

If there was a strong world leader somewhere...who could take the might of western armies and combine them with the Arab countries who are trying desperately to hold on against the IS threat...then a concerted world effort could wipe these animals from the face to the earth...

If we had a leader somewhere...

I agree. I forget who/where but it has been said that events make or shape the man when history calls, or fails (The Great Man Theory). I also think someone smarter than me warned that in situations like this where the people scream for a hero to lead them great threats may arise in the guise of a hero/protector. This is among the reasons Obama concerns me greatly. He has, after all, willfully constructed the very threats he now opposes and seeks broad support to address. "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." B. Franklin

Curiously, I have far more respect for al-Sisi than I do for the leader of my own country, or really any western power for that matter. With al Sisi's comments regarding the need to address islamic jihad he identified himself as a leader among men; arab or not; muslim or not- this is an example of bold courage. It is, for all practical purposes, a lose lose speech for him. This is leadership! It is most clearly defined by the contrast of its absence in the West.

http://www.thestate.com/2015/01/08/3914969/egypts-leader-calls-for-reform.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEhNarfrlec

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/4752.htm

[daveAustin]

^^ UK and France have both been running missions. Pay attention. Though bearing in mind IS is the US's baby, just as Al Qaeda is.

[daveAustin]

Take the gloves off and and wipe this muslim trash off the planet.

The ones carrying out the air raids are Muslim as well.

I think chooka is referring to the trash that is routinely lopping the heads off of all 'n sundry as opposed to the good Muslim folk. While I am up for nuking the Mid-East to be sure ( also tongue-in-cheek), there are a 1.5B Muslims and it probably wouldn't do to offend them and potentially have them on-board with IS. Best way out of this mess is for the Arabs to obliterate them, or for someone to reveal that Mohammed was just some random, confused dude in the desert.

[webfact]

Egypt strikes IS in Libya, pushes for international action
By HAMZA HENDAWI and MAGGIE MICHAEL

CAIRO (AP) — 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.

"We will not fight there on the ground on behalf of anyone, but we will not allow the danger to come any closer to us," said one Egyptian security official, who claimed that intelligence recently gathered in Libya suggests advanced preparations by Islamic State militants to cross the border into Egypt. He did not elaborate.

For now, any foreign intervention should be limited to air strikes, with political and material support from the U.S.-led coalition staging airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, the Egyptian official said. Egypt already has been amassing intelligence on extremists in Libya in a joint effort with the Libyan armed forces and West European nations, including France.

Insurgents in Egypt's strategic Sinai Peninsula who recently declared their allegiance to the Islamic State rely heavily on arms smuggled from Libya, which has slid into chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled Gadhafi's 41-year rule.

France, a lead player in the campaign to oust Gadhafi, has campaigned for months for some kind of international action in Libya, and announced a deal Monday to sell fighter jets to Egypt. French troops are already in place near Libya's southern border in Niger as part of a counterterrorism force.

French President Francois Hollande's office said he and al-Sissi both "stressed the importance that the Security Council meets and that the international community takes new measures to confront this danger."

Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti, meanwhile, said in an interview published Sunday in the Il Messaggero daily that her country is ready "for geographic, economic and historic reasons" to lead a coalition of European and North African countries to stop the militants' advance in a country less than 500 miles (800 kilometers) from Italy's southern tip.

"If in Afghanistan we sent 5,000 men, in a country like Libya which is much closer to home, and where the risk of deterioration is much more worrisome for Italy, our mission and commitment could be significant, even numerically," she was quoted as saying.

A NATO official who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with NATO practice said "there is no discussion within NATO on taking military action in Libya."

However, Allies consult regularly on security developments in North Africa and the Middle East and we follow events in the region closely," the official said. "We also stand ready to support Libya with advice on defense and security institutions-building."
__

Michael reported from el-Aour, Egypt. Associated Press writers Nicole Winfield in Rome, Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-02-17

[Steely Dan]

It appears the 'tiny minority' are having no difficulty finding recruits. They have thousands in Iraq and Syria plus unknown thousands more in Libya and Nigeria. Surely it wouldn't be asking too much of the 99.9% to put up a force three times larger than the tiny minority and eradicate them, street by street if necessary.

P.S I like El Sisi, he seems to be one of the few political leaders with a spine. Too bad the West gets all sniffy about him deposing the democratically elected Islamo-fascist called Morsi.

[Morch]

Amazes me how these countries know where ISIS are but do nothing to help until they're affected.

Jordan was the same, did nothing then all of a sudden knew where to bomb the hell out of them.

A few posts here about how insane it is that these countries do nothing until... really underscore the fantasy of the "moderate muslim"- there is generally a very large muslim population who sees islamic jihad as both required and valid throughout the islamic world. In many of these countries the leadership exists at their own peril, insofar as having any moderate affairs with non muslims. Increasingly the world will see the notion of a moderate islam as a fantasy (However, it is true that there are many non orthodox muslims who mean no harm to anyone. A minority, though, IMO. But don't be deceived, they are not interpreting islam correctly; they are practicing islam conveniently).

Egypt is a perfect example: knowing the threat the Muslim Brotherhood posed first to the local leadership, then the regional, then the world, the MB was outlawed. Under pressure from the MB proxies Obama et al, Egypt was forced to capitulate and within no time an Obama-Election-Like machine launched the MB to power. Immediately they slid from the secular to caliphate-like and turned any notion of moderation on its head. The fears were valid and for the most part Egypt then rejected the MB, and all their attendant subordinates- IS, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Libya Fighting Group, etc. Remember, the Muslim Brotherhood actually is the mother-ship of so many subordinate terrorist groups. It should not be surprising to recall their intimate relations with Adolf Hitler.

I suspect it is in these instances (Jordan and Egypt, for example) where the West will see the first shots fired within the ummah of Islam pitting the modern with the orthodox barbarism of the 7th century. While the West pussyfoots around with absurdities like "moderate muslims" these countries realize that the issue must be faced; it just cannot be managed any longer. Jordan and Egypt cannot put this djinnie back in the bottle.

Not sure that Jordan can take the same domestic measures applied in Egypt. Demographics are way trickier.

[Morch]

Take the gloves off and and wipe this muslim trash off the planet.

The ones carrying out the air raids are Muslim as well.

Every time a snake comes into my yard I take its head off, no matter what kind of snake it is.

Then I feed its body to the ants.

And this little story bears relevance to the topic at hand....how?

[Morch]

If there was a strong world leader somewhere...who could take the might of western armies and combine them with the Arab countries who are trying desperately to hold on against the IS threat...then a concerted world effort could wipe these animals from the face to the earth...

If we had a leader somewhere...

Oh yeah, a strong leader to save us all, what a great idea.

Why does this great leader need to be Western? How come there's no expectation for a great Muslim leader to stand up to these thugs? Not as if they lack the funds, gear and manpower.