Egyptian war planes have hit jihadi targets in Libya in swift revenge for the murder of 21 Christian workers by masked militants affiliated to the Islamic State (Isis), widening the north African country’s already grave crisis.
Air strikes on weapons caches and training camps were announced on Monday by the armed forces general command in Cairo – the first time Egypt has acknowledged any kind of military intervention in its increasingly chaotic and violent western neighbour.
The attacks were “to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers”, a spokesman said. “Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield that protects them.” They followed Sunday’s release of a graphic propaganda video showing the first mass execution outside Isis’s familiar heartland in Syria and Iraq.
Egyptian air strikes killed 64 Isis fighters, including three of the leadership, in the coastal cities of Derna and Sirte, the Libyan army said. Reports reaching Tunis said at least 35 more Egyptians had been rounded up by Isis in retaliation for the morning air raids – but there was no confirmation of this from the Egyptian presidential spokesman.
Libya’s air force, under the command of the internationally-recognised government in the eastern city of Tobruk, announced that it had also launched strikes in Derna.
The upsurge in violence coincided with the fourth anniversary of the 2011 Benghazi uprising, which led to Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow a few months later. It brought immediate demands for a more coherent international response to the crisis. François Hollande, the French president, and Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, his Egyptian counterpart, called for the UN security council to meet over Libya.
Jonathan Powell, the British government’s Libya envoy, told the Guardian that the oil-rich country risked becoming a failed state or a “Somalia on the Mediterranean” and urged greater efforts to reach agreement on a ceasefire and a national unity government.
On Monday night Nasser Kamel, Egypt’s ambassador to the UK, criticised Britain and other countries that intervened militarily in Libya in 2011 for not doing enough to help the country transition from Gaddafi’s dictatorship to a legitimate state.
He also called for the lifting of the UN arms embargo on the Libyan government to help it fight terrorism. Kamel told BBC Two’s Newsnight: “I think after toppling Gaddafi, that no one is questioning that he was a dictator, we as an international community, especially those that intervened militarily, did not put enough resources [in] for developing a modern, democratic, Libyan state … I think we should have done more, the UN should have been more involved.”
Italian officials said that Rome would consider participating in any military intervention to stop Isis advancing should UN-led diplomatic efforts fail.
In Cairo, Sisi called an urgent meeting of the country’s national defence council and declared a seven-day mourning period. The Coptic church called on its followers to have “confidence that their great nation won’t rest without retribution for the evil criminals”.
Militants have frequently attacked Egyptian citizens and installations in Libya over recent months of deepening turmoil. Egypt is a key supporter of Libya’s internationally-recognised government. Egyptian Coptic Christians have also been singled out for attacks.
The gruesome beheading video was released the day after Isis took control of Sirte, birthplace of Gaddafi, with gunmen capturing government buildings and radio stations. It is the third town in Libya it now holds.
Sirte had previously been held by Libya Dawn, the Islamist-led militia alliance that rebelled against the elected government last summer and has been fighting a bitter war against pro-government forces ever since.
Isis has emerged in recent weeks as a third side in a complex and debilitating civil war, fuelling western fears that it will launch terrorist attacks against targets in Europe. Fears of an attack by Isis prompted Italy to evacuate its Tripoli embassy on Sunday, the last major power to do so.
“Libya is in a downward spiral that we need to reverse and turn into an upward one,” said Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff and Northern Ireland peace negotiator. “There is a good deal of immediacy about this. But these things don’t happen overnight. You’ve got to rebuild trust that has been badly broken.”
Thousands of mourners gathered on Monday at the Coptic church in al-Our village south of Cairo, home to 13 of 21 Egyptians beheaded by Isis.
According to Reuters one man was in denial at the death of his son. “Oh Kerollos, this is your wedding party ... I’m very sorry my son, because I did not have enough money to keep you from going to this place,” he said.
Black banners hung on the walls of the Church of the Virgin Mary, proclaiming “Egypt rise up, the blood of your martyrs is calling for you to take revenge”.
Pictures of the victims were laid out beside images of Jesus. There were no coffins because the bodies of the victims, who were dressed in orange jumpsuits, forced to kneel on a beach and then beheaded, were not returned home.
Sheikhs from al-Azhar, Egypt’s main centre of Islamic learning which condemned the beheadings, joined the mourning.
Facing grim economic prospects at home, many desperate young Egyptians seek jobs in Libya despite the perilous security situation in the country.
