Region

CAIRO — Cairo carried out air strikes against Daesh targets in Libya on Monday after the militants posted a video showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians.

Egypt said a "tough intervention" was needed and as France called on the UN Security Council to "take new measures" against the militants in neighbouring Libya.

With the air strikes, Egypt opened a new front against the militants. Cairo is already battling militants in the Sinai Peninsula, where scores of troops have been killed since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the former army chief who overthrew Morsi and has been criticised for a deadly crackdown on dissent, has presented Egypt as a key partner in international efforts against the jihadists.

Monday's early morning air strikes hit Daesh camps and stores of weapons, the military said, hours after jihadists released gruesome footage of the beheadings that provoked outrage in Egypt.

Witnesses told AFP there were at least seven air strikes in Derna in the east, a hotbed of militancy since Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi was overthrown in 2011.

"[The] armed forces on Monday carried out focused air strikes in Libya against Daesh camps, places of gathering and training, and weapons depots," the military said in a statement.

Libyan air force chief Saqr Al Jaroushi told a private Egyptian broadcaster that at least 50 people were killed, a toll which could not be confirmed, and that Libyan warplanes also targeted the jihadists.

It was the first time Egypt announced military action against Islamist targets in Libya. Last year Cairo reportedly allowed the United Arab Emirates to use its bases to bomb militants there.

Mourning families

State television showed footage of Egyptian jet fighters it said were taking off to conduct the strikes.

“Avenging Egyptian blood and retaliating against criminals and killers is a duty we must carry out,” the military said.

The air strikes came hours after Sisi threatened a “suitable response” to the killings of the Coptic Christians.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was headed to Washington to take part in an “anti-terrorism” summit, the ministry said, calling for strong international action.

“Leaving matters as they are in Libya without tough intervention to curb these terrorist organisations represents a clear threat to international security and peace,” it said.

The brutal deaths of the Christians, who like thousands of poor Egyptians had travelled abroad to seek work, shocked their compatriots.

“Revenge is on the way”, read the banner on the front page of the official Al Akhbar newspaper and both the Coptic Church and the prestigious Islamic Al Azhar institution condemned the attack.

In the village of Al Our in Upper Egypt, where 14 of the victims were from, devastated family members gathered in the small local church.

“My son travelled to Libya 40 days ago, he wanted to make money for his marriage,” said Boshra, whose 22-year-old son Kirollos was among the dead.

Expressing his “profound sadness” over the killings, Pope Francis said the Copts “were executed for nothing more than the fact that they were Christians”.

Egyptian television repeatedly played the video without the beheadings, showing black-clad militants leading their captives in orange jumpsuits along a beach before forcing them to kneel down.

Analysts said attacking the militants underscores Sisi’s message that Egypt is a bulwark against a shared jihadist enemy with Western countries that have been critical of his human rights record.

“These strikes elevate Egypt to a new level in confronting extremist organisations,” said Mathieu Guidere, an Islamic studies and politics professor at the University of Toulouse.

International condemnation 

The White House led condemnation of the beheadings, saying the killers were “despicable”.

French President Francois Hollande agreed with Sisi that “the Security Council meet and that the international community take new measures to face up to this danger,” a statement from Hollande’s office said.

France on Monday signed its first export contract for Rafale jet fighters with Egypt.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon denounced the killings and the Security Council said the murder of the Egyptian Christians was a “heinous and cowardly” act.

Libya’s embattled parliament, which is locked in a conflict with Islamist militias, expressed its condolences in a statement and called on the world to “show solidarity with Libya” against militants.

But a rival legislature, the General National Congress under the leadership of the Islamist Fajr Libya militia in control of Tripoli, called the strikes “aggression” and said they “violated Libyan sovereignty”.

Daesh militants have been hammered by US-led air strikes in Iraq and Syria after taking over swathes of the two countries and the group has active affiliates in Egypt and Libya.

The group, which has declared an Islamic “caliphate” in areas under its control, has become notorious for releasing videos of its brutal executions, including of British, American and Japanese hostages as well as a Jordanian pilot it captured in December.

BEIRUT — A Syrian insurgent group on Monday criticised as “biased” a United Nations envoy seeking a ceasefire between government forces and armed groups in Aleppo and said it would not meet him.

The Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) statement followed comments on Friday by Staffan de Mistura in which the UN mediator called President Bashar Assad “part of the solution for the reduction of the violence” and said he would continue discussions with him, after talks in Damascus last week.

“The Council with all its factions has decided to reject meeting the UN mediator due to his dishonest position towards the revolution of the Syrian people,” the RCC statement said.

Since October de Mistura has been working on a plan to broker “local freezes” in Syria, where civil war has killed more than 200,000 people in four years. Rebel groups in the north have expressed misgivings about the plan, saying it could benefit Assad’s forces.

De Mistura’s spokeswoman told Reuters there was “concern” over the RCC’s announcement.

“We are aware of the referred-to statement and continue to follow with interest and concern the reactions coming out from the different groups and entities,” she said.

Diplomats said earlier this month that talks on the plan were deadlocked, with Damascus feeling it does not need to make concessions to disparate armed groups.

ANKARA — Iran has denied a Wall Street Journal report that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently responded to a letter sent in October by US President Barack Obama suggesting cooperation with Iran in fighting Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

“There has been no new letter from Iran’s side,” foreign ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, said, according to a report carried late on Sunday by the official IRNA news agency. “The claim made by the Wall Street Journal is an unprofessional media game.”

The Journal cited an unnamed Iranian diplomat as saying Khamenei’s letter had been “respectful” but noncommittal.

Although enemies for decades, the United States and Iran share a strategic interest in pushing back Daesh advance that has threatened the survival of the Iraqi state.

In Syria, Shiite Muslim Iran is the main ally of President Bashar Assad, while Washington says he has lost legitimacy — but neither wants to see a triumph by Daesh’s radical Sunni militia, which has come to dominate the anti-Assad rebellion.

Iranian officials in November acknowledged that Tehran had replied to previous letters from Obama, though it was not clear who specifically had responded.

CAIRO — France signed an agreement with Egypt on Monday for the first foreign sale of its Rafale fighter jet, in a deal that will boost Cairo's military as it tackles jihadists.

Paris hopes the 5.2-billion-euro ($5.9 billion) deal for 24 Rafale fighters to be delivered later this year — which comes as Cairo launched air strikes against Daesh militants in Libya — will prompt others to snap up its premier combat jet.

For Egypt, the agreement is a show of support for President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who overthrew his Islamist predecessor in 2013 and wants to break a US monopoly over Egypt's arms supplies.

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Sisi oversaw the signing of the deal at a presidential palace in Cairo.

"Our two countries are pursuing a common struggle against terrorism," Le Drian said during the signing ceremony.

"Egypt's stability is an important element in the stability of the countries overlooking the Mediterranean sea, especially your country that has witnessed recent terrorist events," Egyptian Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi told Le Drian.

Before heading to Cairo, Le Drian had said the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya, which prompted the air strikes earlier Monday, was an "additional reason for security" for Cairo.

The sale comes as welcome news to cash-strapped France, which is even diverting three jets away from its own air force for the delivery.

"This contract puts Rafale at the top of the pyramid of combat aircraft," Le Drian said later on Monday.

French President Francois Hollande said the agreement — clinched in only three months of negotiations — provided Cairo with "a quality aircraft" and was important for Egypt "taking into account the threats existing around the country".

Catalyst for Rafale sales 

With Libya wracked by instability to the west and the threat from militants linked to Daesh to the east, Egypt plays a key role in providing stability in a troubled region, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday.

France is hoping the deal will act as a catalyst to unblock hoped for sales to other countries.

Trappier has said he is "very confident" that three years of exclusive talks with India on the sale of 126 Rafale jets worth 12 billion euros would soon result in a deal.

He said talks were slow as Delhi wanted some of the jets manufactured at home in a bid to boost manufacturing.

Paris is also eyeing possible deals with Qatar and Malaysia.

"There is a psychological barrier that has been broken down," Trappier said in an interview with French business daily Les Echos.

"In terms of our image, it will help us get over the line in other countries," he said.

Attempts to sell the jet to countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Morocco, Switzerland and Brazil have seen the Rafale lose out to its foreign competitors.

Despite the cheering in Paris, the agreed sale has sparked fury from some groups over perceived human rights abuses in Egypt.

Amnesty International attacked the decision to sell the 24 jets and a frigate to a nation it accused of "alarming" abuses.

Others have accused Paris of double standards for freezing its delivery of two Mistral-class warships to Russia over the Ukraine crisis but going ahead with the Egypt deal.

Sisi was elected in May 2014 with 96.91 per cent of the vote a year after toppling the country's first freely elected Islamist leader, Mohamed Morsi.

A subsequent crackdown on Morsi's supporters left at least 1,400 dead and thousands more in jail.

"Just because we are selling these Rafales to Egypt doesn't mean we agree with every point in their domestic policy," Fabius said in a radio interview on Sunday.

"When there are excesses that are committed, we tell the Egyptian authorities — from our point of view — and we are hoping to move step by step towards more democracy.""But the stability of Egypt is a very important point."

Beirut — Syrian refugees make up the majority of children living and working on the streets of Lebanon, with many of them illiterate and surviving by begging, a study released Monday said.

The survey of 18 areas in Lebanon identified more than 1,500 children living and working on the street, although its authors said the real number nationwide could be three times higher.

The study comes as Syrian refugees in Lebanon struggle to make ends meet, nearly four years into the bloody conflict in their home country.

Lebanon has also been stretched by the influx of Syrians, who are competing with its 4 million citizens for limited resources.

Of the 1,510 children identified by the study, 73 per cent were from Syria, including Palestinians who had been living in the war-torn country, the study found.

It is the first comprehensive study of children working in the street in Lebanon, though it did not cover child labour more broadly, which has also increased with the influx of Syrian refugees, more than half of whom are children.

The research, commissioned by Save the Children, UNICEF, the International Labour Organisation and the Lebanese labour ministry, found 42 per cent of street children were illiterate.

A majority had never been to school and although 40 per cent expressed a desire to learn, just 3 per cent were attending classes and working on the streets.

Nearly 45 per cent of the children were involved in begging, with another 37 per cent sell items such as chewing gum, flowers and tissues.

Working an average of more than eight hours daily, the children reported earning just over $11 a day.

Most of those surveyed, 54 per cent, were between 10 and 14 years old, but more than 25 per cent were under the age of nine.

The report was released with videos featuring the testimony of street children voiced over animated drawings of their experiences.

"A lot of people mocked me, insulted me and beat me," recalled 11-year-old Mustafa in one of the videos, describing his life selling flowers to raise money for his family back home.

"Once a drunk man came out of a pub and stabbed me in the arm with a knife," he said.

"My favourite day was when I would go to the money transfer office to send money to my family in Syria."

ROME — Italy on Monday ruled out military intervention in Libya in the short term, despite mounting concern in Rome over the country's exposure to the fallout from the chaos engulfing its former colony.

The country's defence and foreign ministers have, in recent days, aired the possibility of Italy leading a UN-backed force on a mission to stabilise Libya and address the potential threat posed by Islamist militants establishing a base within easy reach of Europe.

Pressure for international intervention has grown further following the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians by Daesh terror group at the weekend — an atrocity which prompted Cairo to send warplanes to bomb targets in Libya on Monday in retaliation.

But Prime Minister Matteo Renzi struck a cautious note after telephone talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in the wake of the air strikes.

Sisi had agreed with Renzi that the next steps should be political and diplomatic efforts through the UN, the Italian premier's office said.

"On Libya, wisdom, prudence and a sense of the situation is required," Renzi said in an interview with TG5 television.

"What is happening is very complicated. We are following events closely and with concern but there is no need to jump from total indifference to hysteria and an unreasonable reaction."

Renzi's caution is understandable, according to Ettore Greco, of the Institute for International Affairs, in Rome, who said Rome could not risk attempting peace making, as opposed to peace keeping.

"At the moment the reality is that there is no peace to keep," Greco told AFP.

"It may be possible to work with Egypt but you have to be sure everyone is a greed on a common strategy. Cairo has its own interests," he argued.

'Ready to fight' 

Italy has been pushing its allies to be more proactive on Libya, regularly complaining that the volatile situation there gets nothing like the attention it deserves in comparison to the conflict in Ukraine or Greece's debt crisis.

Most pressingly, Italy has had to cope with the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants from Africa and the Middle East who are able to transit through Libya unhindered because of the virtual breakdown of authority in the country.

Growing evidence that Daesh is gaining a hold in the country, has added to concerns.

Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Friday that Italy was "ready to fight" as part of an international mission to combat the terrorist threat in Libya.

Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti talked of Italy providing more than 5,000 men for a multinational intervention force which Rome would lead.

Renzi made it clear such action was not on the immediate agenda.

"The situation in Libya has been out of control for three years, we have been saying this in every forum and will continue to do so," Renzi said.

"If it wants to, the international community has the means to intervene. The proposal is to await the UN Security Council. The strength of the UN is clearly greater than that of the radical militias."

Italy's official position is that it would only join a peacekeeping force in Libya if the warring parties can be persuaded to cease fighting by UN special envoy Bernardino Leon.

Gentiloni appeared to go beyond that formula on Friday, saying: "We cannot accept the idea that there's an active terrorist threat only a few hours from Italy by boat."

Egypt and France on Monday called for an early meeting of the UN Security Council and the adoption of new measures against IS in response to the murder of the Egyptians in Libya.

BENGHAZI, Libya — The chaos in Libya since Muammar Qadhafi's downfall has proven fertile ground for Daesh terror group, prompting increasing calls for foreign intervention to uproot the jihadists.

In a video released Sunday, Daesh said it beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians on a Libyan beach, in a likely bid to strike fear and show the Sunni extremists' reach now stretches beyond its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds.

It comes three weeks after Daesh opened a new front on Western targets in Libya when it claimed an attack on the luxurious Corinthia Hotel in central Tripoli that killed nine people, including five foreigners.

Islamist militants have thrived in Libya since Qadhafi was toppled and killed in the NATO-backed 2011 uprising, with authorities struggling to contain dozens of militant groups with diverse motivations and ideologies.

Amid the unprecedented uncertainty in the oil-rich North African nation, two main armed groups are vying for power.

The first is led by Khalifa Haftar, a former general who is backed by Libya's internationally recognised government and whose forces are fighting to drive Islamist fighters out of the country's east.

The other is Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), an Islamist-led coalition that emerged from the western city of Misrata last summer to seize control of the capital and install its own government and parliament.

While it has regularly denounced "terrorism", Fajr Libya maintains links with the radical Ansar Al Sharia but does not recognise the Daesh’s presence in Libya.

'Sleeper cells' 

Its parliament, the General National Congress, has so far declined to confirm that the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians claimed by Daesh took place in Libya.

But a spokesman for Haftar's forces has said that "the Libyan army has engaged in fierce battles against [Daesh]".

"There are sleeper cells in every town who liaise directly with [Daesh leader Abu Bakr] Al Baghdadi," Colonel Ahmed Al Mesmari told AFP.

"And there will be other terrorist operations against Libyans and foreigners who live in Libya," he said, appealing for support from the international community.

Romain Caillet, an expert on jihadists, said that Daesh killed the 21 Egyptians to show that "its Libyan branch has now expanded and is the strongest outside of Iraqi and Syrian territory".

The rise of Daesh in Libya has heightened concerns in the region, including Egypt and Tunisia to its east and west, and Niger and Chad, southern neighbours who insist on the need for international intervention.

Complex situation 

Across the Mediterranean, Italy is struggling to cope with an influx of migrants who set off for its shores from Libya, less than 300 kilometres  away.

Rome on Monday ruled out military intervention in Libya in the short term, despite its defence minister talking of providing more than 5,000 men for a multinational intervention force which it would lead.

"Italy, whose coastline is very close to Libya, is most concerned by this threat," said analyst Ahmed Mohamed Nouh, explaining the talk of intervention.

"Europe understands that for it the problem hasn't come from Syria or Iraq, but from Libya which is very close to its shores."

An Arab diplomat formerly based in Tripoli said any military intervention in Libya would be difficult because of the complex situation on the ground.

"This would be rejected by Fajr Libya which has shady links with moderate Islamist groups and also radicals," said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"This will greatly reduce the chances of success of any coalition, even if it is mandated by the United Nations."

But another analyst, Mohamed Al Jareh, said the problem was no longer one for Libyans alone.

"At this stage, Libyans can no longer decide who can intervene in Libya, and how. Libya is no longer a Libyan problem," he said.

BEIRUT — Kurdish forces backed by Syrian insurgent groups took control of a hill inside the provincial stronghold of Daesh terror group on Sunday after deadly clashes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Kurdish forces, supported by US-led air strikes, drove Daesh fighters from the town of Kobani last month near the Turkish border and have pushed them back from surrounding villages in northern Syria. Daesh still holds tracts of land across northern and eastern Syria and into Iraq.

Now the Kurds and other local fighters who oppose Daesh have taken a hill south of Kobani which lies within Raqqa province — the stronghold of Al Qaeda offshoot in Syria, said the Observatory, which tracks the conflict through sources on the ground.

"It is the first time they get into Raqqa," the Observatory's founder Rami Abdulrahman said. He added that at least 35 Daesh fighters and four members of the Kurdish forces had been killed on Sunday in battles near Kobani, which were the heaviest since the Kurds took back the town.

The fight for Kobani, known as Ayn Al Arab in Arabic, become the focus of international efforts to combat Daesh and was the first time that a US-led aerial campaign had worked with local ground forces to oust the militants in Syria.

The Observatory said on Saturday that the Kurds had regained control of at least 163 villages around Kobani in the three weeks since they pushed Daesh fighters out of the town.

In recent weeks the Kurds were joined by several hundred rebel fighters in the battles for areas surrounding the town, according to the Observatory. These included the Shams Al Shamal brigade and the Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigade, which both oppose the jihadists.

FORT CARSON, Colorado — More than 4,000 US soldiers based at Fort Carson, Colorado, are heading to Kuwait, where they will take over as one of America's largest ground forces in the region after President Barack Obama asked Congress to authorise military action against Daesh terror group.

Obama ruled out large-scale US ground combat operations similar to those in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he asked for the option to use military force against Daesh fighters for three years. The fight could be extended to any "closely related successor entity" to Daesh group that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria, imposed an extreme form of Sharia law and killed hostages it has taken, including several Americans.

The US Army has kept a brigade in Kuwait since the end of the Iraq war in 2011. Those soldiers, including two units from Fort Carson, have worked to train local troops from throughout the Middle East. 

In its most recent deployment to Kuwait, a combat team from Fort Carson conducted training missions with allies including Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, which have joined the coalition against Daesh.

The unit headed to Kuwait is Fort Carson's heaviest force, armed with tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Many of its soldiers are veterans of one or more of the brigade's previous combat tours in Iraq.

"We're no strangers to deployment," said the brigade's commander, Col. Greg Sierra.

The brigade has trained more than a year for the Kuwait mission. The soldiers practiced combat skills last used in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

The brigade's training regimen readied soldiers for a range of missions from humanitarian relief to nonstop combat, Sierra said.

Sierra told soldiers and their families that if his brigade tangles with Daesh fighters, the outcome won't be in doubt. "In the end, if we do get into fights, we win decisively," he said.

CAIRO — Daesh terror group released a video on Sunday purportedly showing the beheading of Egyptian Coptic Christians the jihadists say they captured in Libya.

The footage released online shows handcuffed hostages wearing orange jumpsuits being beheaded by their black-suited captors on a seashore in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

In the latest issue of the Daesh online magazine Dabiq, the group said 21 Egyptian hostages were being held, and pictures showed a similar background.

The video, titled "A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross", has a scrolling caption in the first few seconds saying it is directed at "People of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church".

Sunday's video comes just days after the terror group released a video showing the gruesome burning alive of a Jordanian pilot Muath Kassasbeh it captured after his F-16 came down in Syria in December.

The video triggered global outrage.

In January, the Daesh branch in Libya claimed it had abducted 21 Christians.

A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry confirmed to AFP in Cairo that 20 Egyptians had been kidnapped in two separate incidents in neighbouring Libya.

Badr Abdelatty did not say when they were seized or specify their religious affiliation, but said seven Egyptians and 13 others abducted separately in Libya "are still being detained" by their captors.