UNSC must get tough with IS

The bestiality of the Islamic State (IS) has been underscored yet again with the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians who it was holding hostage since December in Libya.

A video of the gory decapitations was posted online by Libyan jihadists pledging loyalty to the IS. This is the deadliest attack by the terror group on foreigners in territory outside its current strongholds in Iraq and Syria and confirms reports of its growing westward expansion in West Asia.

The IS presence in Libya is alarming as it marks the emergence of another major armed actor in the already complex civil war in this country. Importantly, it also signals the IS control of territory extending upto the Mediterranean coast. It is at Europe’s doorstep.

An angry Egypt has responded to the beheadings by bombing IS training camps and weapons caches on Libyan territory. While the Egyptian government has ruled out sending ground troops into Libya, the aerial bombing, though likely to weaken the IS influence in Libya, is not the best way to deal with the terror group as unilateral responses only contribute to an incoherent strategy.

A US-led coalition of countries is already engaged in carrying out air strikes on IS targets in Iraq and Syria but despite months of aerial bombing it has failed to dislodge it from its strongholds there. It is unlikely, therefore, that Egypt’s unilateral bombing of Libya or Italy’s proposed dispatch of troops there to pre-empt IS entry into Europe and refugee flows is likely to meet with success.

It is in this context that bringing anti-IS military operations under the ambit of the United Nations Security Council is important. Unfortunately, the world body has been reduced to a bystander, paralysed by conflict between the US and Russia over intervention in Syria. US intentions to use military force inside Syria to unseat President Bashar al-Assad underlies this conflict.

It is time the world powers wake up to the threat that an expanding IS poses to the world. The UNSC’s recent adoption of a resolution that cracks down on trade with and payment of ransoms to the IS could strike a blow at its revenue sources.

The passage of this resolution was possible because the permanent members set aside their differences to vote together. It indicates that the international community can come together to fight the IS.

It requires the UN’s member countries to summon the political will to cooperate. The IS rapidly expanding reach emphasises that such unified action under the UN flag cannot be put off.