Arab League urges lifting arms ban on Libya for ISIL fight

The Arab League has called for the removal of a UN ban on arms sales to Libya citing a fight against the ISIL Takfiris in the country.

The 22-nation Arab body held an emergency meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Wednesday following the decapitation of 21 Coptic Christians by the terrorists in Libya.

“The Arab League also states that the crisis in Libya needs to be solved by political means and the ban on arms sales to the Libyan armed forces should be lifted,” read a statement released after the meeting.

The United Nations and the European Union imposed sanctions on the regime of the country’s former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, back in February 2011.

The ISIL has recently made an advance in Libya propagandized by a video released last week showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians and an earlier announcement of the terror act in an issue of their magazine, Dabiq.

In their statement, the Arab envoys voiced support for the airstrikes launched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Libya in an effort to contain ISIL following the beheadings.

Arabs expanding initiative

The Arab states were set to discuss the lifting of the arms embargo with the UN Security Council and submit a draft resolution on the matter later in the day.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry said such a move would allow "the legitimate government” of Libya to fight against terrorism.

"There is no call for foreign military intervention," it noted, adding that in the emergency meeting, held in attendance of Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian envoy stressed "the need for the international community... to assume its responsibilities towards the deteriorating situation in Libya, as it represents a clear threat to international peace and security." 

Arabs' move echoing West’s

The Arab move followed a Tuesday statement by the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain that pledged for efforts to bring an end to the conflict in the North African country, which descended into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled Gaddafi leaving a power vacuum with warring sides not strong enough to hold authority.

The statement said a UN-sponsored attempt to get the country's warring sides to the negotiating table with the aim of forming a government of national unity was the "best hope" for peace in the country.

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told the parliament in a special Wednesday address that the Takfiris in Libya could possibly join other groups similar to what happened in their current hub, Iraq and Syria.

"There is an evident risk of an alliance being forged between local groups and Daesh, and it is a situation that has to be monitored with maximum attention," Gentiloni stated, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

"The deterioration of the situation on the ground forces the international community to move more quickly before it's too late," added the Italian foreign minister, whose country’s southern islands are only around 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Libyan coast. 

NT/AS/MHB

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