Egypt is calling on the international community to intervene in Libya after its air force bombed targets in the eastern Libyan city of Darna on
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Egypt is calling on the international community to intervene in Libya after its air force bombed targets in the eastern Libyan city of Darna on Monday. The action was in response to a video released on Sunday showing Islamic State extremists beheading of a group of Egyptian Coptic Christians.
The rising tensions with the Trpoli-based government have prompted Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, to call for a UN resolution to send an international force to Libya to restore calm.
He referred to the events of 2011 when an international coalition helped to depose former leader Muammar Gaddafi:
“What is going on in Libya could change this country into a breeding ground that will threaten the whole region, and not just Egypt. Egypt, the Mediterranean basin and Europe have to deal with this problem because the mission was left unfinished by our European friends. We abandoned the Libyan people and left them as prisoners to extremist militias.”
The release of the propaganda video by ISIL showing the execution of Egyptian Coptic Christians on a Libyan beach shocked the world and raised fears that Islamic State militants could use Libya as a doorstep to Europe.