Libya to UN: Lift arms embargo for ISIL fight

Libya's Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Dairi  has asked the U.N. Security Council to lift an arms embargo so his country can fight the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as it establishes a presence in North Africa and moves closer to Europe.

He spoke on Wednesday to an emergency session of the council amid regional alarm after ISIL posted over the weekend a video purporting to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.

Dairi stressed that Libya is not asking for international intervention. But he said the international community has a "legal and moral responsibility to lend urgent support" and that the region, including the Mediterranean, is in danger.

"If we fail to have arms provided to us, this can only play into the hands of extremists," he said.

"Libya needs a decisive stance from the international community to help us build our national army's capacity, and this would come through a lifting of the embargo on weapons so our army can receive materiel and weapons so as to deal with this rampant terrorism," Dairi told the council.

He told reporters he wanted to see the same attention paid the danger in Libya as has been paid to Iraq and Syria, where a U.S.-led coalition is battling ISIL.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called for a naval blockade on arms heading to areas of Libya outside the control of "legitimate authorities." He did not rule out troops on the ground in Libya and said his country was seeking international support "by all means."

Jordan was circulating a draft resolution on the issue to fellow council members after Libya's appeal. Aside from the call to lift the arms embargo, the draft resolution calls on militias to withdraw from Tripoli to allow the return of the "legitimate government," and it condemns any attempt to supply arms to nonstate actors.

Egypt responded strongly to the beheadings, carrying out airstrikes against ISIL in Libya and saying it was in self-defense. Shoukry has said those airstrikes could continue.

Energy-rich Libya is racked by the worst fighting since long-ruling dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011. Two rival governments and parliaments — each backed by different militias — rule in the country's eastern and western regions. After militias took over the capital, Tripoli, the elected parliament has been forced to function in the eastern city of Tobruk.

On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi called on the United Nations to approve a new coalition for airstrikes in Libya, where ISIL appears to have set up its first major affiliate outside Iraq and Syria.

But U.N. diplomats said Egypt's initial demands eased during talks later Tuesday.

The U.N. imposed an arms embargo on Libya in 2011 when it was under Gaddafi's control. However, the Libyan government is already allowed to import weapons and related materiel with the approval of a Security Council committee overseeing the embargo. 

The U.N.'s special envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon, said ISIL can be defeated only with a united Libyan government in place that has strong international support. The U.N. is mediating between the rival factions to get them to forge a unity government and end hostilities.

Countries in the region have been stepping up to offer support since the video of the beheadings emerged. During the council meeting, Italy and Algeria expressed their willingness to participate in international efforts.

Italy is especially concerned. The country's islands on the Mediterranean are only a few hundred miles from Libya, and Italian officials worry that ISIL fighters will mingle with the waves of migrants being smuggled across from Libya and arrive in Italy by sea.

France, a leading player in the campaign to oust Gaddafi in 2011, has campaigned for months for some kind of international action in Libya.

Al Jazeera with wire services