February 16, 2015

A relative of a man seized by the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) covers her face as she weeps at their home in the village of el-Aour, Egypt. Thirteen of the men kidnapped hail from this village. Her relative, Samuel Walham, was one of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians seized by ISIS militants in the central city of Sirte, Libya, over December and January. The day after this photo was taken, video of militants murdering the Egyptian hostages was released.  (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

In response to a video that was released yesterday, showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian workers in Libya by the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS), the government of Egypt bombed Libyan territory today. The bombing was targeted at ISIS camps, training areas, and weapons depots, and was ordered by Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in retaliation for the murder of Egyptian citizens.

The Egyptian workers killed in Libya were all Coptic Christians, or Copts, an ancient sect dating to the early Christian church in Egypt. Today, around 10 million Copts live in Egypt. Poorer Coptic Christian men sometimes leave Egypt to work in Libya at such jobs as construction. The 21 men who were abducted were taken from the coastal town of Sirte, in eastern Libya, which is under the control of Islamist groups.

Libya is currently under control of two groups—the government, led by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni; and rival militias, who took over the Libyan capital of Tripoli in 2014. The 2014 take-over of Tripoli by the militias forced the government of Libya to flee to the northeastern city of Tobruk, where they allied themselves with anti-Islamist rebels. Much like Syria and Iraq, both riven by civil strife, Libya’s weak government allows such jihadist groups as ISIS to thrive.

ISIS will sometimes try to justify its actions based on religious ideas. In messages concerning the hostages, ISIS referred to Coptic men as “crusaders,” referring to soldiers that fought in a series of wars proclaimed by Roman Catholic popes. The Crusades occurred from the late 1000′s to the 1500′s, however, and the men killed in Libya were not trying to conquer territory but were poor men trying to make enough money for their families to live.

September 27, 2012

United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced yesterday that U.S. intelligence officials have uncovered an explicit link between al-Qa`ida terrorist groups in North Africa and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012. That attack resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the ambassador, Chris Stevens.

Secretary Clinton’s announcement was made at a special United Nations meeting on the current crisis in northern Mali, which has been overrun by Islamic extremists. According to the secretary, the extremists are allowing al-Qa’ida cells to operate out of Mali. “Now, with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions,” she informed world leaders attending the meeting. “And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.” Intelligence officials have reported that al-Qa’ida cells are also operating in Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and possibly Pakistan.

Hillary Rodham Clinton became secretary of state of the United States in 2009. Prior to taking the post, Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, had represented New York in the United States Senate. (U.S. Department of State)

Sept. 11, 2012, was the 11th anniversary of the al-Qa’ida terrorist attacks on the United States that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. At that time,  al-Qa`ida was an Afghanistan-based terrorist organization headed by Osama bin Laden. After hijacking four commercial airliners, the terrorists flew two jets into the World Trade Center twin towers, which subsequently collapsed. Terrorists crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon, the U.S. armed services headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The attackers in the fourth airliner were overtaken by passengers, preventing them from crashing the plane into another Washington, D.C., landmark, possibly the White House or Capitol. The jet went down in an open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all aboard. The September 11 terrorist attacks prompted the administration of President George W. Bush to send forces into Afghanistan in October 2001 to clean out terrorist camps. That war continues in 2012.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan War
• Arab Spring
• National September 11 Memorial and Museum
• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• New York City 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Washington, D.C. 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Terrorism: America’s New Enemy (a special report)
• Passport to Reform: The INS and Homeland Security (a special report)

September 13, 2012

Anti-Amercian protests have spread across the Middle East and North Africa, in the wake of the violent anti-U.S. demonstrations in Egypt and Libya on September 11. Today in Yemen, demonstrators stormed the grounds of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, the capital, and burned the American flag before being driven back by security forces. In Egypt, protests erupted for a third day outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo, where at least 70 people were injured in scuffles with police. In Iran’s capital, Tehran, crowds chanting anti-American and anti-Israel slogans demonstrated outside the Swiss embassy, which handles U.S. interests in the absence of formal diplomatic relations with Washington. (The United States has not maintained diplomatic relations with the Iranian government since revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held a group of Americans, primarily embassy employees, as hostages.) Protesters also staged demonstrations in Iraq, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia. In Afghanistan, officials have reportedly suppressed Internet access to prevent users from viewing the offending video online to forestall public unrest.

The Middle East and North Africa (World Book map)

The United States ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed on September 11 in an attack on the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens and the other victims died as rioters attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire. In Cairo on September 11,  an angry mob scaled the wall of the U.S. embassy and pulled down and burned the American flag. The violence in both Libya and Egypt was initially linked to a highly inflammatory, anti-Islamic film.

The film, Innocence of Muslims, was reportedly written and produced by an anti-Muslin filmmaker, possibly of foreign extraction, living in California. A 14-minute trailer for the film was posted on the video-sharing website YouTube. However, U.S. officials are investigating whether the attack in Libya was triggered by the inflammatory film or whether it was pre-planned by some terrorist organization to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Additional World Book articles:

• Diplomatic corp
• Foreign Service
• Iran 1979 (a Back in Time article)
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)

Libya’s former leader Mu’ammar Qadhafi has been killed. The dictator who held power for 42 years in Libya died on October 20 during an assault on Surt, his hometown. Surt, the last holdout to Libya’s new interim government, subsequently fell to the forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC). “Our forces control the last neighborhood in Surt,” announced NTC member Hassan Draoua, speaking to the Associated Press in Tripoli. “The city has been liberated.”

Mu'ammar Muhammad al-Qadhafi. Copyright Rosy Rouleau, Sygma

Qadhafi’s downfall is part of the so-called Arab Spring movement, popular uprising in several Arab countries that have toppled governments in Tunisia, Egypt, as well as Libya.

Additional World Book article:

Back in Time (Libya 1986)

A raging battle between Libyan rebels and troops loyal to Libyan leader  Mu’ammar Qadhafi ended with the fall to rebel forces of the Qadhafi’s compound in Tripoli, the capital. Pockets of resistance remained, however. Fierce fighting was still going on in isolated areas of Tripoli and in the border city of Zuwarah, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) to the west. NATO spokesperson Roland Lavoie, speaking at a news conference in Naples, Italy,  noted, “Our mission is not over yet. . . . The situation in Tripoli is still very serious and very dangerous.” He added that neither NATO nor Libyan rebel forces knew Qadhafi’s whereabouts.

Libyan rebels launched their assault on Tripoli in the night on August 21 and advanced into the heart of the city with little opposition. They quickly took command of Green Square, the symbol of Libyan leader Mu’ammar Qadhafi’s power, and renamed it Martyr’s Square. Jubilant rebel supporters tore down Qadhafi’s all green flags and defaced and trampled his portraits, heralding an end to his nearly 42-year rule. On August 22,  rebel commanders claimed to have taken control of about 80 percent of the capital. However, they remained engaged in a raging battle outside Qadhafi’s compound, fighting against a tank corp defending the walled enclave (an area existing apart from a larger surrounding area).

On the diplomatic front, President Barack Obama of the United States issued a statement on August 21 noting that Qadhafi “needs to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya.” British Prime Minister David Cameron stated that Qadhafi has “committed appalling crimes against the people of Libya and he must go now to avoid any further suffering for his own people.” In Cairo, the government of Egypt recognized the rebels as the legitimate government of Libya on August 22. At the United Nations in New York City, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon announced that he was organizing a meeting with members of the African Union and the Arab League to help smooth the transition to a new government.