This day in 2015, Egyptians and the whole world woke up to a horrible video with 21 Christian Egyptians being beheaded in Libya's Sirte, according to an ISIS mouthpiece online "Dabiq Magazine". The victims, migrant workers, had been kidnapped and killed allegedly in revenge of claims of Muslim women being kidnapped by the Egyptian Coptic Church. The men, who came from different villages in Egypt, 13 of them from Al-Our, Minya Governorate, had been kidnapped in Sirte in two separate attacks on December 27, 2014, and in January 2015. A five-minute video showed the genocide of the Egyptian Christians on a beach along the southern Mediterranean coast. A caption in the video called the captives the "people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian Church". One of the killers in camouflage spoke in North-American English. After beheading the hostages, the speaker finally declares "We will conquer Rome, by Allah's permission," pointing his knife toward the sea. As in other ISIS videos, the captives wore orange jumpsuits, intended as a reference to the attire of Guantanamo prisoners. The leader of the squad performing the killings was identified as a Libyan expatriate who calls himslef Al Qaqa'a Ben Amr. President Sisi of Egypt announced a seven-day period of national mourning and in a televised address. Sisi declared his country reserved the right for retaliation. On February 16 at dawn Egyptian military conducted airstrikes on ISIS facilities in Libya. The airstrikes targeted ISIS training locations and weapons stockpiles. All military aircraft returned safely to base. He reiterated an offer to facilitate Egyptians' evacuation from Libya and imposed a travel ban on citizens to Libya. On February 21, 2015 Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that the 21 murdered Copts would be commemorated as martyr saints. Al-Azhar, the prestigious Cairo-based seat of Islamic learning, denounced the "barbaric" killings, stressing that such barbaric action has nothing to do with any religion or human values. Worldwide condemnation came in the wake of this video. The United States described the purported mass killing as "despicable" and "cowardly." White House press secretary Josh Earnest added in a statement that the group's barbarity "knows no bounds." Pope Francis denounced the slaying in Libya, saying they were "assassinated just for being Christian. Secretary of State John Kerry strongly condemned the killings. UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Philip Hammond said: "Such barbaric acts strengthen our determination to work with our partners to counter the expanding terrorist threat to Libya and the region". Also French President Francois Hollande condemned the 'savage' killings and confirmed that France and its allies are determined to fight the militants. The UN Security Council strongly condemned the heinous and cowardly apparent murder by ISIS, stating that this crime demonstrates the brutality of ISIS. Sheikh Abdallah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister expressed his country's strong condemnation saying that "the United Arab Emirates is devoting all its resources to support the efforts of Egypt to eradicate terrorism and the violence directed against its citizens and reaffirms its total support for Egypt". Libya declared three days of mourning and ordered flags to be lowered at half-mast over official state buildings. President of the Libyan Council of Deputies, Aquila Saleh Issa underlined Libya's willingness to fully cooperate with Egypt on fighting terrorism, stating that the country would never become a haven for terrorism.
