President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi responded with swift and deadly force against IS militants in Libya after the release of a gruesome video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christian prisoners.
The Associated Press is reporting on the slaughter, which took place on a beach somewhere near Tripoli. In a video released yesterday, 21 men dressed in orange jumpsuits and each accompanied by an ISIS militant, are marched onto the beach, then laid face-down facing the water before being beheaded.
The hostages were comprised of Egyptian Coptic Christians who were laborers in the city of Sirte until they were picked up by IS militants and imprisoned in December and January.
This was the first beheading video from an IS group outside the group’s core territory in Syria and Iraq.
The Egyptian government responded by declaring a seven-day mourning period and an address by the President who promised retaliation for the heartless murders.
“These cowardly actions will not undermine our determination” el-Sisi said. “Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals.”
The Coptic Church issued a statement calling upon its followers to have “confidence that their great nation won’t rest without retribution for the evil criminals.”
That retribution came quickly when Egyptian and Libyan planes launched a dawn strike today on IS militant camps, training sites and weapons storage areas in Libya, where unconfirmed reports estimate 40-50 militants to have been killed.
More air strikes are expected to take place throughout the day and into tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Copts are criticizing the government for doing too little to free the captives, even though they were able to free Muslim Egyptians who had been abducted in Libya in recent months.
The mother of Samuel Walham, who recognized her son in the video, said her “love” had only gone to Libya to seek work, not to get involved in the politics of the region.
“Look at my love! Look at how beautiful she is!” she said through tears as she cradled a photo of her son. “He only went there to earn his living.”
The rich oil fields of Libya are a prime source of employment for Egyptians who comprise the largest single group of foreign workers in that country.
Walham was working as a plumber in the coastal city of Sirte when he was kidnapped on December 28.
Abanoub Ishaq, a 19-year-old worker from el-Aour, told the AP that he was there the night the militants burst in just before dawn, knocking on doors with a list of names. Those who answered were hauled away, he said. He only managed to escape capture by remaining silent after be forewarned by a Muslim neighbor that the militants were looking for Christians.
“We heard nothing but my friends’ screams, then they were silenced,” he told the AP.
Meanwhile, during a meeting with Rev. John P. Chalmers, Moderator of the Church of Scotland (Reformed) today, Pope Francis mourned the murder of the Christians and expressed his hope that this heinous event would help to draw all Christian communions closer to one another.
“Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one or twenty-two Coptic Christians,” the Pope said. “Their only words were: ‘Jesus, help me!’ They were killed simply because they were Christians . . .
“The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a witness that cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants,” the Pope continued. “They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ.”
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