Egypt’s el-Sissi wants a UN-backed coalition on Libya

In this video image released by the Egyptian Defense Ministry, an Egyptian fighter jet lands in Egypt, Monday, Feb. 16, 2015. Egyptian warplanes struck Islamic State targets in Libya in swift retribution for the extremists' beheading of a group of Egyptian Christian hostages on a beach, shown in a grisly online video released hours earlier. (AP Photo/Egyptian Defense Ministry) In this video image released by the Egyptian Defense Ministry, an Egyptian fighter jet lands in Egypt, Monday, Feb. 16, 2015. Egyptian warplanes struck Islamic State targets in Libya in swift retribution for the extremists' beheading of a group of Egyptian Christian hostages on a beach, shown in a grisly online video released hours earlier. (AP Photo/Egyptian Defense Ministry)

By Associated Press February 17, 2015 1 min read

CAIRO (AP) – Egypt’s president says a U.N.-backed coalition to rid Libya of Islamic militants is the best option.

Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, speaking to France’s Europe 1 Radio in an interview aired Tuesday, also said that Egyptian airstrikes against Islamic State group positions in Libya were in self-defense.

“We will not allow them to cut off the heads of our children,” el-Sissi, a general-turned-politician, told the radio. “We need to do it, but together to stop the threat in Libya ….”

Asked whether he wanted to see a U.N.-backed coalition for Libya, he said: “I think there is no choice.”

Egypt’s airstrikes on Monday were in retaliation for the mass beheading on a beach of Egyptian Coptic Christians. A video of the killings was released by the Islamic State late Sunday.