Nancy A. Youssef, Daily Beast: U.S. Won’t Back Egypt’s Attacks on ISIS

Two longtime allies are attacking ISIS—and growing frustrated with one another. That’s good news for the so-called Islamic State.

The Obama administration was given multiple chances Wednesday to endorse a longtime ally’s airstrikes on America’s biggest enemy at the moment, the so-called Islamic State. Over and over again, Obama’s aides declined to back Egypt’s military operation against ISIS. It’s another sign of the growing strain between the United States and Egypt, once one of its closest friends in the Middle East.

This shouldn’t be a complete surprise; Cairo, after all, didn’t tell Washington about its strikes on the ISIS hotbed of Derna, Libya. Still, Wednesday's disconnect was jarring. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest passed on a reporter’s question about an endorsement of Egypt’s growing campaign against ISIS. So did State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

“We are neither condemning nor condoning” the Egyptian strikes, is all one U.S. official would tell The Daily Beast.

WNU Editor: If one had any doubts that the U.S. and Egypt were not on the same page in combating the Islamic State, this Pentagon admission sums it up .... U.S. had no warning on strikes in Libya by Egypt, a counterterrorism ally (Washington Post).