An emergency U.N. Security Council meeting was called for Wednesday in response to growing chaos on the ground in Libya.
The rising clout of Islamic radical groups in Libya coupled with the recent beheadings of 21 Christian Egyptians has world leaders scrambling for a way to restore some semblance of order.
“There is no reason to jump from total indifference to hysteria,” said Italy’s Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
Italy has reason to be worried. Libya is roughly 300 miles from Sicily and the Islamic State group has publicly stated its desire to attack.
“We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah, the Exalted. If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market,” the Sunni radicals wrote in the October issue of the jihadist publication Dabiq, The Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
The Obama administration declined to elaborate on how the international community would respond to the crisis.
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“We’re going to let the discussion play out. We don’t have any specific comment,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Tuesday, the newspaper reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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