When asked if Egypt would provide military support to the United States-led coalition to “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State in Jeddah, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry defended his country’s lack of willingness. “It is not at all logical for us to mobilize our resources together to defeat [Islamic State] while these resources are obscured from Egypt as it fights its own battles against this common enemy on its own lands,” said the Egyptian Foreign Minister. In other words, Egypt would not be lending aerial nor ground military support in Syria or Iraq against the Islamic State anytime soon. Instead, Shoukry signalled that Egypt would be diverting its military might and attention to the Islamist militants in the Sinai. Even Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil told Agence-France Presse that in the meeting in Jeddah, a senior Egyptian foreign ministry official affirmed Cairo’s support of “all international efforts to fight terrorism” and would “support U.S. efforts politically.” However, any type of Egyptian military support would have to be supported “under a U.N. mandate and in the framework of a Security Council resolution.” Egypt’s refusal to commit forces against a threat that…
