By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 11 April 2015:
A senior Egyptian foreign ministry official has called for the crushing of IS extremists in . . .[restrict]Libya as well as in Iraq and Syria.
Abdel-Rahman Salah, an aide to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri has demanded the international coalition against the Islamic State intervene in Libya to drive out the extremists who have been taking root in since the fighting began between Libya Dawn and the Libyan National Army (LNA) last year,
The coalition’s actions in Iraq and Syria must their base of operations to Libya and continue to grow.
Since last summer, said Salah, the coalition has launched airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria. But it had shied away from Libya, reluctant to get involved in an already complicated situation. It has also been slow to be convinced that IS has become a significant threat in Libya.
Though groups purporting to represent IS had taken responsibility for different terrorist acts, including the attack on Tripoli’s luxurious Corinthia Hotel, since late 2014, IS did not emerge as a real threat until mid-February, when it released a video of the beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians on a beach in Sirte.
Despite reservations by the rest of the international community, Egypt had retaliated with airstrikes on IS targets in Derna in cooperation with the LNA.
Egypt had also pushed, along with the internationally-recognised Libyan government, for the end of the 2011 United Nations Security Council arms embargo. This would allow the Libyan government to equip itself so that it could fight IS militants on its own. [/restrict]
