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Op-Ed: Egypt bombs Derna in response to attack on Coptic Christians

The Egyptian authorities said there were six strikes which they claimed hit “terrorist bases” including the headquarters of the Mujahideen. The attacks were ordered by Egyptian president Abdel el-SIsi who said Egypt would not hesitate to attack terrorist bases anywhere inside or outside Egypt. Egypt claims that the massacre was carried out with the help of militants trained in Derna. However, the attacks are thought by some to have been carried out by the Islamic State. The Daily Star even speaks of the attacks as being training camps in Derna linked to ISIS. However, the Derna Shura Council was instrumental in driving ISIS or the Islamic State (IS) out of Derna back in April of 2016. Ageela Saleh head of the eastern-based rival to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) condemned the attack on the Christians and approved the raids by Egypt. Forces of the HoR the Libyan National Army have beseiged Derna for some time since the Shura Council is opposed to the HoR and Haftar.

These attacks occur shortly after the LNA issued a statement saying that it would life the siege of Derna during Ramadan: “The Libyan National Army (LNA) is to ease its blockade of Derna during Ramadan. Food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel will be allowed into the town which has been under siege for two years.” The siege may be lifted but that has not protected them from air attacks by Egyptian planes that the HoR approves as part of the fight against terrorism.

So far, no one has actually claimed responsibility for the attack even though the Islamic State has been suggested as responsible by some. The attack was by “unknown gunmen”. Yet el-Sisi knows that they were trained in Derna and attacked six separate bases where they were supposedly trained. Al Jazeera reporter, Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reported that residents of Derna were very angry after the six attacks: “Sources on the ground say the six locations targeted by Egyptian warplanes are civilian areas and populated districts inside the city. They say that only civilian properties like houses, farms and vehicles have been damaged.” This is not the first Egyptian strike on Derna as it bombed the city on February 2015 and March 2016. Tarek Masoud of Harvard University said: “Are the people who perpetrated the latest attack in Egypt based in Libya? I don’t know. But the fact that this happened so deep within Egypt suggests to me that the bases of operations of these kinds of attacks are not over the border in Libya, but are actually within Egypt. That of course means this is a much bigger problem, one that may not be solved by striking some terrorist bases in faraway Libya.” Earlier attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt were claimed by the Islamic State.

It is highly unlikely that the Egyptian government knows that the unknown gunmen were trained in six different alleged camps in Derna. If jihadists trained in Derna did attack in Egypt it would be against el-Sisi rather than Coptic Christians but more likely they are too busy fending off constant attacks from Haftar in Libya to launch an attack on anyone in Egypt. As he often, does el-Sisi uses terrorist attacks to his own advantage. No doubt his friend Haftar agrees with the idea of bombing Derna a city that has been a constant opponent of Haftar and the HoR. In spite of the fact that the Egyptian explanation is so laughable it could have been thought up by Donald Trump, those who believe in and support el-Sisi will swallow the explanation without choking at all. The western press with dutiful objectivity will for the most part simply reproduce the Egyptian explanation with perhaps a passing nod to the fact that it is unlikely to be true or else no comment at all.

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