Egyptian warplanes killing Libyan civilians

This video says about itself:

23 February 2015

Amnesty International said on Monday that seven civilians were killed when Egyptian jets attacked suspected Islamist militant targets in the eastern Libyan city of Derna last week. … On Sunday, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the air force had hit 13 targets selected after a careful study and reconnaissance “with precision” to avoid civilian casualties. … in Derna,witnesses claim that two missiles had struck densely populated residential areas near the city’s university.

Another video used to say about itself:

Why Civilians are Getting Killed in Egypt Airstrike on Libya

16 February 2015

Egypt airstrike continues

At least seven civilians killed in northeast Libya as Cairo vows to “punish” ISIL for beheading 21 Egyptian Christians.

At least seven civilians, including three children, have been killed in Egyptian airstrikes in northeast Libya.

The bombings came as Cairo vowed to find those responsible for the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians kidnapped by fighters pledging allegiance the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Libya’s Sirte.

Sources told Al Jazeera on Monday that at least seven people were killed in air strikes in the coastal city of Derna after Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi vowed to “punish” those responsible for the beheadings.

Egypt’s military said it carried out the raids early on Monday against ISIL camps, training sites and weapons storage areas.

In a statement aired on state television, the military said “the air strikes hit their [ISIL] targets precisely, and the falcons of our air forces returned safely to their bases”.

However, photos published on social media purportedly showed several damaged residential areas in Derna.

Omar al-Hassi, the head of Libya’s legally-installed government in Tripoli [one of rival Libyan governments], called the Egyptian raids “terrorism” and denounced them as a “sinful aggression”.

“This horrible assault and this terrorism that’s been conducted by the Egyptian military represents a violation of sovereignty in Libya and is a clear breach of international law and the UN charter,” Hassi said. …

In the wake of the video release, France and Egypt urged the UN Security Council to meet and consider fresh measures against ISIL.

French President Francois Hollande and Sisi spoke by telephone, highlighting “the importance that the Security Council meet and that the international community take new measures” against the spread of ISIL in Libya.

Egypt later confirmed it had signed a $5.8bn deal to buy French weaponry, including 24 Rafale combat jets, a multi-mission naval frigate and air-to-air missiles.

Libya has slid into chaos after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed three years ago, as interim authorities failed to confront powerful militias which fought to oust the longtime leader.

Taking advantage of the chaos, ISIL has carried out a string of deadly attacks.

George W Bush’s and Tony Blair’s Iraq war was based on two lies. On the supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

And on the supposed alliance of the secular Iraqi regime with ultra-religious al-Qaeda, making Iraq supposedly responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA. Not only was this a lie. The 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq provided the environment for al-Qaeda, not present in Iraq before 2003, to establish itself and grow in the Middle East. And to spawn its even more lethal offshoot ISIS.

Now, we see a re-start of the Iraq war. And, in 2013, plans (stopped by the peace movement) for a NATO war in Syria in which ISIS would have been NATO’s allies. The NATO member government of Turkey still behaves suspiciously like ISIS allies. There is also quite some ambiguity about the role of the Arab peninsula allies of NATO; regimes like in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar.

And now to another close ally of the Pentagon and of European ruling classes: Field Marshal Sisi, military dictator of Egypt. Already months ago, he decided to participate in the bloody war in Libya, as an ally of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and one of the rival governments of Libya, based in the provincial town Tobruk. Sisi’s armed forces fight in Libya as enemies of Qatar, Turkey, and another rival Libyan government, based in Tripoli.

As all this violence continues, one should seriously ask oneself: Is this really about ISIS? Or rather about oil? As the air forces of the USA, Britain, the kingdom of Jordan, etc. bomb ISIS occupied areas, and kill also civilians there, aren’t they basically acting as recruiting sergeants for ISIS?

And is Egyptian dictator Field Marshal Sisi also not acting as a recruiting sergeant for ISIS?

From Human Rights Watch:

Libya/Egypt: Civilian Toll in Derna Air Strikes

Seven Dead, Dozens Injured; Libya and Egypt Need to Investigate

February 24, 2015

Egypt and Libya say they are fighting extremists affiliated with ISIS, but that doesn’t give them a free hand to kill civilians. All parties to the conflicts in Libya need to do their utmost to spare civilians and should immediately investigate any civilian casualties.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director

(New York) – At least seven civilians, including three children, died in the joint Egyptian/Libyan airstrikes on the eastern city of Derna on February 16, 2015. Libya and Egypt should conduct speedy and transparent investigations into the deaths.

Indiscriminate attacks that cannot or do not distinguish between military targets and civilians or civilian infrastructure violate the laws of war. Serious violations of the laws of war, carried out with criminal intent, may be war crimes.

Egypt said on February 16 that it had carried out air strikes targeting extremist militants in Derna. This followed the mass killing of 21 Coptic Christians, including 20 Egyptians on February 15 by militants who pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS). Libya’s army chief of staff issued a statement confirming its coordination with Egypt in conducting the Derna air strikes. Forces loyal to the internationally recognized government, based out of eastern Libya, are engaged in an armed conflict with militant groups, including groups that pledged allegiance to ISIS, in the eastern region.

“Egypt and Libya say they are fighting extremists affiliated with ISIS, but that doesn’t give them a free hand to kill civilians,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. “All parties to the conflicts in Libya need to do their utmost to spare civilians and should immediately investigate any civilian casualties.”

Human Rights Watch documented seven civilian deaths that appear to be a result of the airstrikes on Derna, and interviewed families of six of the victims by phone, all killed in their homes in the eastern city’s Al-Shiha neighborhood. The dead included a mother, Rabiha al-Mansouri, and three of her four children, Afraa, Zakaria, and Huthaifa al-Karshoufi, who died when a missile hit their home. Others were Osama al-Shteiwi, a student who was watching from the roof of his home, who was hit by shrapnel; Attia Bousheiba al-Shaari, who died after the front of his house collapsed on him; and Hanan Faraj al-Drissi, who was on the roof of her home when a missile struck the street in front.

Residents told Human Rights Watch that the air strikes wounded at least 20 other civilians, some of whom were in intensive care at al-Hreish hospital.

Family members interviewed by Human Rights Watch said military plane over-flights and air strikes started at about 5 a.m., and many residents went onto their rooftops to observe them. All of the interviewees said that two missiles struck their neighborhood between 7 and 7:30 a.m. and that none of the homes that were hit were being used to store weapons or ammunition by local militiamen.

The head of Libya’s air force, which operates under the authority of Libya’s internationally recognized government based in eastern Libya, said in an interview that his forces had carried out “air strikes on houses in the city of Derna, which were the headquarters for ground launchers and weapons for the organization Daesh [ISIS],” and that the air strikes killed between 40 and 50 militants. He made no reference to civilian casualties.

Attacks targeting civilians or civilian property, and attacks that do not or cannot discriminate between civilians and fighters, are prohibited under the international laws governing the conduct of armed conflicts. Attacks that are intended to punish civilians, including family members of a commander or fighter from an opposing faction, constitute collective punishment, which is also unlawful. Attacks that cause extensive and disproportionate destruction of property when carried out unlawfully and wantonly are also prohibited, Human Rights Watch said.

All parties to the conflicts in Libya, which now includes Egypt, are required to abide by the laws of war, which require them to take all feasible steps to protect civilians. Attacking parties are required by international law to take into account the risk to civilians that an attack would pose even if opposing forces are present and have situated military targets within or near populated areas.

Certain serious violations of the laws of war, when committed with criminal intent, are war crimes. Those who commit, order, assist, or have command responsibility for war crimes are subject to prosecution by domestic courts or the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed in Libya since February 15, 2011, under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970.

ICC investigations in Libya remain limited to cases from 2011 involving officials of the former Gaddafi government. Despite ongoing serious crimes that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya, the prosecutor of the ICC has not brought any additional cases and has not announced any new investigations. The prosecutor should examine reports of serious ongoing crimes in Libya, with a view to determining whether further investigations are warranted.

The UN Human Rights Council should establish an investigative mechanism or appoint a special rapporteur on Libya to investigate all serious and widespread human rights violations in Libya, which may constitute possible war crimes and crimes against humanity, with the view to ensuring that those responsible for serious crimes are held accountable.

In 2014 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2174, which threatens those responsible for serious crimes with sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, but the Security Council has yet to implement it effectively. The resolution also reiterated that individuals and groups were bound by an existing arms embargo, as stipulated in Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011).

“Unless the Security Council acts quickly and decisively to hold those responsible for civilian deaths and injuries accountable and to reinforce the existing arms embargo, there is a risk that the situation will deteriorate further and result in many more civilian deaths,” Whitson said.

Armed Groups

Several armed groups in eastern Libya publicly pledged allegiance to ISIS in November 2014, declared that they had established “Barqa Province,” and conducted public extrajudicial executions and floggings. At least two other armed groups have claimed affiliation to ISIS in what they refer to as the Tripoli and Fezzan Provinces, respectively western Libya – including the capital, and southern Libya. These armed groups have claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the apparent mass killing of 21 Christian Copts near Sirte, and a January 27, 2015 attack on a luxury hotel in Tripoli that killed nine civilians.

On February 20, armed groups that claim to be affiliated to ISIS committed twin suicide attacks in the eastern town of al-Gubba, 40 kilometers from Derna, killing at least 44 people and injuring dozens more. A statement released by the “Barqa Province of IS” said the attacks were in retaliation for the Derna airstrikes.

The current armed conflicts, which began in May 2014 in eastern Libya and spread to the west two months later, has left the country with two rival governments: an internationally recognized government based in al-Bayda in the east, and a rival, self-proclaimed government in Tripoli that controls much of western Libya. Both claim to be the legitimate government of all of Libya, but neither has been able to exert control nationally. Meanwhile, Libya’s institutions, particularly its judiciary, are at near-collapse, with courts and prosecutors in most cities no longer functioning because of direct targeting of judges and prosecutors by militants, and general insecurity.

Evidence From Witnesses and Family Members

Al-Karshoufi Family

Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with two members of the al-Kharshoufi family on February 18 and February 20, 2015. They said a rocket struck the family home on the morning of February 16, immediately killing Rabiha al-Mansouri and three of her four children – ages 2, 6, and 7. Al-Mansouri’s husband and their 8-year-old son survived. One relative told Human Rights Watch: “The house was nearly destroyed after one of the missiles landed straight on it at around 7 a.m. It’s a big four-story family home, and the ceiling, which is very heavy, landed where the mother and her four children were staying.”

Another relative told Human Rights Watch that the bombing almost totally destroyed 16 other houses in the same neighborhood and caused some damage to another 32 homes.

Al-Shteiwi Family

A brother of Osama al-Shteiwi, who spoke to Human Rights Watch by phone on February 20, said he saw Osama killed instantly when shrapnel hit his head as he was on the roof of their home trying to film the air strikes, which had begun at about 5a.m. He said Osama had returned to Libya from Turkey, where he was an engineering student, on February 2, when his scholarship funds ran out.

“My brother and I had been up since the early morning when we first heard over-flights of military airplanes and air strikes in the distance,” the brother said. “Just seconds before the missiles landed on our house, I shouted to my brother to come back indoors, but it was too late. Shrapnel hit him on the head and severed it from his body. He died instantly.” Osama’s brother said he had not heard any anti-aircraft weapons fired from their neighborhood although “there was a lot of shooting that day, from all over the city,” including small arms fire from their neighborhood.

Human Rights Watch saw a copy of Osama’s burial certificate, which stated the cause of death and listed the injuries he had sustained.

Al-Shaari Family

The son of Attia Bousheiba al-Shaari, who was at the family home the day of the air strike, told Human Rights Watch in a call on February 20 that his father was in front of their house to warm up the car sometime between 7 and 7:30 a.m., waiting for one of his daughters, when a missile struck in front of the home.

“We had been hearing air strikes since the early morning in the city and we heard them coming closer, but our home is in a residential area, we never expected anything like this to happen,” the son said. “I cannot begin to describe what it felt like when the missile struck. I ran out immediately after and saw that the front of our home had just fallen off. I then saw that my father was lying on the ground next to his car. He had injuries on his face and I specifically remember blood running out of his ear. I brought him to the hospital, but it was too late, he’d died immediately.”

The son said that he had not heard any shooting from their street before the air strike: “Our neighborhood is neutral. I do not know of anyone who stores weapons or ammunition. I find it very strange that our street was targeted specifically.”

Human Rights Watch was unable to contact family members of the other victim, Hanan al-Drissi, but spoke by phone to three of her neighbors, who said she died instantly when a rocket hit her home. One neighbor said that al-Drissi was on the roof at the time, and that one of her sisters, also at the house, was critically injured.