There have been numerous attacks on Egypt's trade interests in Libya which were rampant prior to Gen. Khalifa Haftar's Operation Dignity offensive in May 2014, especially with the kidnapping of truck drivers and sometimes workers were murdered.
[16] Furthermore, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has become increasingly popular among many Libyans wishing for stability,[17] has called on the United States multiple times to intervene militarily in Libya, warning that the country was becoming a major security challenge.
[18] Following the seizure of Tripoli's international airport by Misrata-based Islamist militias, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt were accused by senior American officials in August 2014 of raiding the militants several times with warplanes stationed in Egyptian air bases.
[19][20] The New York Times also reported, quoting US officials, that a special forces team based in Egypt, likely involving Emirati personnel as well, stormed an Islamist camp in Derna, destroying it a few months prior to the August airstrikes.
[24] The beheadings came a day before Egypt signed a $5.9 billion arms deal to purchase 24 Dassault Rafale warplanes from France, making it the first foreign sale for the French jet.
[25][26][27] At 10:30 p.m. EET, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for an urgent meeting with the country's National Defence Council at the Ittihadiya Palace.
The statement, which was announced at 8 a.m., added that the targeted locations included arms and munition depots, training camps and plantations, as well as a suspected militant hotspot known as Ghabat Bomsafer.
Hossam Suweilam, an Egyptian general, told Al Arabiya that plans for the operation had already been made in the period that followed the 21 Copts' disappearance, when senior military leaders were considering such strikes as one of the possible outcomes.
[35] Local media reports from Libya, which emerged the day the airstrikes were conducted, claimed that 35 more Egyptians, mainly farm workers, have been kidnapped in areas controlled by groups such as Ansar al-Sharia and ISIL.
[48] Russia's president Vladimir Putin expressed in a letter to Sisi his country's "readiness for closest cooperation possible in the fight against all aspects of the terrorism threat".
[citation needed] The Arab League supported Egypt's bombing of Libya, expressing its "full understanding" of the Egyptian government's position.
During the Arab League meeting, a Qatari foreign ministry official expressed his government's reservations over unilateral military action by Egypt, adding that this could "give an advantage to one side in Libya's conflict".
He described the Egyptian diplomat's remarks as "a false accusation that defies the truth and ignores the sincere efforts that Qatar exerts to fight terrorism and extremism at all levels".