President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said the Egyptian army is not an aggressor and does not invade foreign territory but only responds to attacks against it – in reference to recent airstrikes it carried out against Islamic State group targets in Libya.
“How could I go to the Coptic Cathedral to extend my condolences when the Egyptian army hasn’t avenged the attacks?” he asked in a recorded speech aired on Sunday,
The Islamic State group last week uploaded online a video showing the beheading of 20 kidnapped Egyptian Copts in Libya, which it claimed responsibility for.
Watch the full speech here: