Egypt faces grave danger, confrontation requires much

Yesterday, I went to offer my condolences to Pope Tawadros II, Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, for the martyrdom of a number of Egyptian citizens in Libya.

The Egyptian Copts were kidnapped in Libya in early January 2015 and the video of their beheading was posted on various jihadist websites the following February 15.

Just a week after the news of the massacre, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II decided to inscribe their names in the Synaxarium, the book of martyrs of the Coptic Church.

Pope Tawadros II welcomed me. He seemed tolerant towards the event, and he did not show any signs of anger.

An enlightened soul that believes in God’s decree, and a tranquility based on a firm belief that his children are in the kingdom of heaven, and that is better for them.

I spoke with the Pope about the need to use the soft power of the Orthodox Church in the Western world, to convince them of the necessity of establishing a strategic alliance with Egypt in the face of terrorism in Libya.

I told him that without that alliance, the Egyptian army would be pushed into an unaccounted-for wilderness confrontation on a foreign land, in which the international intelligence services would play a dangerous game in order to divide Libya, and to threaten Egypt from the western side.

The Patriarch did not hide his concern and told me that he is ready to go to the end of the world for the sake of Egypt, and the bishops of the Church abroad, especially in London, are now clarifying this issue.

It did not seem to me that anyone spoke with the man on this subject or developed a plan involving the church to demonstrate Egypt's right to establish a European-Egyptian alliance in the face of ISIS in Libya, which threatens the West before Egypt.

Egypt on the other hand retaliated fast, with a quick air strike, we absorbed the anger of the citizens and silenced our enemies, as we accomplished part of our campaign to terrorize ISIS, and we proved to them, and those behind them that we will not cease to avenge our children.

The president also did well when he himself went for the second time, to offer his condolences to the Pope inside the cathedral, all of which pleased millions of Egyptians, especially those who spent their night in great anger.

It remains to contemplate on how we will preserve the lives of our sons in Libya, especially when they are now an easy hunt for ISIS and its allies. How can we be present on the ground, through Egypt’s friends in Libya.

There are many political forces and armed tribes counted among the friends of the Egyptian state, and they only lack logistical support in confronting ISIS and its allies.

There are also ways to smuggle and supply ISIS with money and weapons, how can we control them and dry up those sources to stifle these groups and terrorize them inside their lands.

A Libyan friend told me that air strikes, while temporary, are not useful in this kind of confrontation with these groups in the long run.

My friend reminded me of the American air strikes on al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, which lasted for a whole ten years and ended in a fiasco on the ground, and sometimes even caused a great deal of public sympathy with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, while one operation carried out by an intelligence group backed by logistically from Afghans, was able to Ends the myth of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The summary of the man’s advice is that confrontation on the ground in Libya with these groups is the solution, but on condition that it be in the hands of Libyan patriot.

Based on the man’s advice, it becomes imperative to think about opening channels of communication with these national forces, and studying the reality on the ground with them.

Dragging the Egyptian army to a ground war in Libya while initiating a confrontation with the terrorists supported by Hamas in Sinai, and announcing the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, is a plan that was prepared a long time ago, and we should not fall into this trap, even if we like the applause of some, the fate of nations is not measured by shouts of admiration or applause.