Islamic State will flourish if the West picks sides in Libya

Conventional wisdom suggests that Islamic State and its affiliates have mastered social media. Yet the group’s real talent lies in dominating the traditional media cycle and using sensational violence to goad its enemies into overreactions. Hours after Isis released one of its more gruesome videos showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on the shores of Sirte, Egyptian fighter jets pummelled several Isis targets in Derna. The Egyptians claim to be fighting the terrorists by propping up General Khalifa Haftar’s anti-Islamist Operation Dignity. However, if the Egyptians want a UN-resolution authorising international military intervention in Libya, this must be resisted. It will only polarise Libya’s political spectrum even further, creating a vacuum in which terrorism can flourish. Most Libyans, especially those connected to the Islamist-aligned Libya Dawn, remain loath to see foreigners interfere in their domestic affairs. But while siding with Egypt is not the way forward, Europe cannot simply ignore Isis’s presence in Libya. Similarly, the United States cannot ignore the fact that the terrorist group they have dedicated so many resources to fighting in Iraq and Syria has spread to one of the most vulnerable and porous countries in the region.