The United States Department of State stressed late Tuesday that it respects countries’ desire to defend themselves, commenting on airstrikes carried out by the Egyptian air force targeting militants in Libya. The Egyptian military said in a statement the Monday strikes targeted training sites and weapons and ammunition storage sites belonging to Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, located inside Libya. The strikes came in reaction to a video released late Sunday showing a militant group believed to belong to the Libyan division of the Islamic State fighters beheading 20 abducted Coptic Egyptians. “We certainly respect the right of countries to make their own decisions about their own self-defence and defence of their own country,” said U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki in a press briefing on Tuesday. The internationally-recongnised Libyan government called on Egypt to “continue its military airstrikes against extremist and terrorist hotbeds in Libya after coordinating with the Libyan leadership” in a statement issued late Tuesday. “We value the role of neighbouring Egypt in coordinating with the Libyan leadership in joint operations with the Libyan air force,” the statement read. The United Nations Security Council is convening…
U.S. ‘Respects Egypt’s Right To Self-Defence’ After Libya Airstrikes
February 18, 2015
