Egypt unleashes air strikes on ISIS after 21 Christians beheaded

CAIRO — The Egyptian military said yesterday it had carried out air strikes in Libya in retaliation for the beheading of more than a dozen Egyptian Christians by a branch of the Islamic State extremist group there.

A video released on Sunday night by the Islamic State appeared to show the mass beheading of the Egyptian Christians by fighters in a recently formed Libyan arm of the militant group. The video sparked horror in Egypt and beyond because it was filmed with the theatrical brutality that has become a trademark of the Islamic State.

Egypt said the dawn strike, in which the Libyan air force also participated, hit Islamic State camps, training sites and weapons storage areas in Libya, where civil conflict has plunged the country into near anarchy and created havens for militia.

A Libyan air force commander said between 40 and 50 militants were killed in the attack. “There are casualties among individuals, ammunition and the (Islamic State) communication centres,” Brigadier Saqer Joroushi told Egyptian state television. “More air strikes will be carried out today and tomorrow in coordination with Egypt,” he said.

Sunday’s video was the first the Islamic State has released depicting a killing outside of its core territory in Syria and Iraq. The beheadings appear to have taken place on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, on a rocky beach said to be in western Libya, far closer to Europe than sites previously depicted.

It appeared to show much closer communication and collaboration between the Islamic State and its far-flung satellite groups than Western officials previously believed.

As United States President Barack Obama seeks Congressional approval to use military force in an open-ended war against the Islamic State, the new video may reinforce the concerns among some American lawmakers that the legislation could authorise operations in unexpected territories such as Libya, where local militants are planting the Islamic State flag as “provinces” of the group.

Yesterday’s air strikes marked a dramatic escalation of Egypt’s role in the continuing battle between armed factions in Libya for control of the country.

With the backing of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt has worked covertly to support a Libyan general who is fighting to take back the capital and much of the coast from a rival coalition of militia groups, some of them made up of Islamist extremists.

Concern is already growing in Libya and the West that the Islamic State might capitalise on the chaos that has engulfed the country to establish and expand a base of operations there.

At least three groups of Libyan fighters have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State, one in each of the country’s three regions: Barqa in the east, Fezzan in the south and Tripolitania in the west.

In a televised address late on Sunday night, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt vowed that his country would take action to avenge the killings. “Egypt preserves the right to respond, with the appropriate manner and timing, in order to carry out retribution on those killers and criminals who are stripped of the most basic of human values,” he said.

On Monday morning, Egyptian state television announced the attacks with a short video montage showing jets taking off but also images of soldiers, tanks and warships, all set against a soaring musical score.

“Honour, nation,” the narrator intones. “This is the slogan of men who ask for death as a sacrifice for the nation. They are men who do not know the meaning of impossible. They penetrate rocks and mountains, and they challenge difficulties. They race each other for martyrdom, on land, sea and air. Their life is a heroic epic, and their martyrdom a sacrifice for dignity and a pride for Egypt.” AGENCIES