The U.N. Security Council is holding an emergency session on Libya today amidst Egyptian airstrikes targeting the Islamic State. Egyptian warplanes bombed northeastern Libyan areas after Cairo vowed to avenge the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, shown in an ISIS video. On Tuesday, Egypt called for a global military campaign in Libya to remove the Islamic State.
ISIS is one of several militant groups that have emerged inside Libya since the U.S.-backed ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Also Tuesday, the Islamist-backed rival government in Tripoli, one of two claiming power in Libya, sent fighters to confront the Islamic State in the city of Sirte.
