Egypt’s 2015 Airstrike in Libya: Reflections on the Right to Self-Defense and the Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Terrorists
Posted: 3 Sep 2018
Date Written: January 12, 2018
Abstract
On 16 February 2015, the so called Islamic State (IS) massacred 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya. The Egyptian Air Force retaliated within hours by bombarding IS camps mainly located in the city of Derna in eastern Libya. 64 IS terrorists and 7 civilians were killed.
Egypt’s extraterritorial intervention in Libya was accepted internationally, yet the lawfulness of this incident remains insufficiently examined by legal scholars. Although the extraterritorial use of force by states in self-defense against non-state terrorists has been a widely discussed topic in international law since the 1980s, this paper constitutes the first in-depth analysis of the legality of this specific case at hand.
Keywords: Use of Force, International Law, Self-Defense, Un Charter, Non-State Actors, Egypt Libya, Security, Terrorism
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation