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Beheading of Coptic Christians in Libya Shows ISIS Branching Out

3 minute read

The Egyptian government said Sunday that a video apparently showing the execution of Coptic Egyptian hostages in Libya by militants allied to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) was genuine, underscoring the group’s global reach and the unity of message among its adherents.

The five-minute clip, published online on Sunday, depicts the hostages — believed to be 21 Christian Coptic laborers from Egypt, kidnapped from the city of Sirt — being marched onto a beach where they are forced onto the sand and then killed by knife-wielding executioners.

One of the killers, dressed in camouflage, speaks in English. “We will conquer Rome,” he declares, pointing his knife toward the sea.

The video has similar qualities to the filmed executions of ISIS hostages in Iraq and Syria. The hostages wear the same orange jumpsuits as the Western hostages, intended as a reference to the uniforms worn by prisoners in the U.S. detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

In a televised address, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said his country reserved the right to retaliate for the killings. He also reiterated an offer to facilitate Egyptians’ evacuation from Libya and imposed a ban on citizens traveling to Libya. The President also convened a meeting of senior security officials to discuss a response to the crisis.

The mass killings by a group that identified itself in the video as the “Tripoli Province” of ISIS gives a stark illustration of the group’s influence in Libya, a country consumed by upheaval since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in an uprising backed by NATO in 2011. Two rival governments and a variety of militia groups are currently locked in a multipolar fight for control of the country.

“I think it’s possible that there are currently more Daesh adherents in Libya than in any other country in the world except for Iraq and Syria,” says Christopher Chivvis, a senior analyst at the Santa Monica–based Rand Corp.

“It’s possible that Libya is now emerging as a sort of second front in [ISIS’s] effort to expand from a regional into a global organization,” he says. “I don’t think there’s a direct command-and-control kind of relationship where core ISIS is able to, with any degree of confidence, order specific operations in Libya. I think there’s moral and probably also financial and potentially other forms of support.”

A militia group in eastern Libya declared its affiliation with ISIS last year. Since then, fighters allied to the group have claimed responsibility for attacks across the country, including an assault on a luxury hotel in Tripoli in January.

“The problem is that overlaid on this ISIS threat is a deeply divided country, a civil war. And ISIS is exploiting the fissures of that civil war,” said Frederic Wehrey, a senior associate in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Analysts say ISIS is seeking to attract the support of existing militia groups in Libya in hopes of gaining an upper hand over rival organizations like al-Qaeda or local insurgent groups like Salafist militia group Ansar al-Sharia. The Institutions of the Libyan state have eroded, leaving control of specific cities in the hands of a range of separate armed groups.

“[ISIS] is benefiting from the decline of jihadist groups in the east, like Ansar al-Sharia,” said Wehrey. “It’s co-opting or luring many members of the jihadist movement in the east into its ranks. It’s trying to carve out new turf.”

See Egyptian Coptic Christians Mourn Brothers Slain by ISIS

A relative of one of the Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly killed by ISIS militants in Libya reacts after hearing the news on Feb. 16, 2015 in the village of Al-Awar in Egypt's southern province of Minya.
A relative of one of the Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly killed by ISIS militants in Libya reacts after hearing the news on Feb. 16, 2015 in the village of Al-Our in Egypt's southern province of Minya. Mohamed El-Shahed——AFP/Getty Images
EGYPT-LIBYA-UNREST-CHRISTIANS-IS
Relatives of Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly murdered by ISIS militants in Libya sit inside a house after hearing the news on Feb. 16, 2015 in the village of Al-Our in Egypt's southern province of Minya. Mohamed El-Shahed—AFP/Getty Images
Men mourn over the Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by militants affiliated with the Islamic State group, at the Virgin Mary church in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 135 miles south of Cairo, Feb. 16, 2015.
Men mourn over the Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by militants affiliated with ISIS, at the Virgin Mary church in the village of Al-Our, near Minya, 135 miles south of Cairo, Feb. 16, 2015. Hassan Ammar—AP
Egyptian Coptic men mourn for 21 Coptic Egyptian men seized by Islamic State militants in the central city of Sirte, Libya, more than a month ago at the Virgin Mary Church in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 135 miles south of Cairo, Feb. 16, 2015.
Egyptian Coptic men mourn for 21 Coptic Egyptian men seized by ISIS militants in the central city of Sirte, Libya, more than a month ago at the Virgin Mary Church in the village of Al-Our near Minya, 135 miles south of Cairo, Feb. 16, 2015. Hassan Ammar—AP
Men mourn over Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by militants affiliated with the Islamic State group, inside of the Virgin Mary Church in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 135 miles south of Cairo, Feb. 16, 2015.
Men mourn over Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by militants affiliated with ISIS, inside of the Virgin Mary Church in the village of Al-Our, near Minya, 135 miles south of Cairo, Feb. 16, 2015.Hassan Ammar—AP
A Coptic man kisses a prayer banner, which is hung on a cross, as neighbors and friends of the relatives of Egyptian Coptic men who were killed in Libya stand at the courtyard of a church before attending a mass in El-Our village, in Minya governorate, south of Cairo, Feb. 16, 2015.
A Coptic man kisses a prayer banner, which is hung on a cross, as neighbors and friends of the relatives of Egyptian Coptic men who were killed in Libya stand at the courtyard of a church before attending a mass in Al-Our village, in Minya governorate, south of Cairo, Feb. 16, 2015. Asmaa Waguih—Reuters
Egyptian Coptic Christians attend a memorial ceremony for relatives purportedly murdered by ISIS militants in Libya, on Feb. 16, 2015, in the village of al-Awar in Egypt's southern province of Minya.
Egyptian Coptic Christians attend a memorial ceremony for relatives purportedly killed by ISIS militants in Libya, on Feb. 16, 2015, in the village of Al-Our in Egypt's southern province of Minya. Mohamed El-Shahed—AFP/Getty Images
Men mourn over Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by militants affiliated with ISIS, inside the Virgin Mary Church in the village of Al-Aour, Egypt, Feb. 16, 2015.
Village residents inside the Virgin Mary Church in al-Our, Egypt, on Feb. 16, 2015, mourn Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by ISIS militants Hassan Ammar—AP
A Coptic clergyman shows a picture of a man whom he says is one of the Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly murdered by ISIS group militants in Libya, on Feb. 16, 2015, during a memorial ceremony in the village of al-Awar in Egypt's southern province of Minya.
A Coptic clergyman shows a picture of a man whom he says is one of the Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly killed by ISIS militants in Libya, on Feb. 16, 2015, during a memorial ceremony in the village of Al-Our in Egypt's southern province of Minya. Mohamed El-Shahed—AFP/Getty Images

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