Inside Story
Is ISIL expanding its brand?
The group has drawn outrage for apparently beheading 21 Egyptian Christian hostages in Libya.
Egypt says it has bombed targets in Libya that belong to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The air raids were launched after ISIL released a video that appears to show the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians.
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The Egyptian workers had been kidnapped from the town of Sirte in eastern Libya.
The video of their decapitation is one of the first to come from an ISIL affiliate outside the group’s base in Syria and Iraq.
Libya has been awash with weapons and overrun with rival militias since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Two competing governments are now vying for control.
There’s concern that fighters allied to ISIL are taking advantage of the instability and uncertainty.
So is ISIL expanding its brand? Has it eclipsed al-Qaeda? And how will that shape the fight against the group?
Presenter: Nick Clark
Guests:
Mohamed Eljarh – a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Hariri Centre for the Middle East.
Jason Pack – president of libya-analysis.com.
Martin Reardon – senior vice president of the Soufan Group.