IS targeting of oil facilities threatens to tip Libya over the edge

The escalation of Islamic State (IS) attacks inside Libya comes at an especially vulnerable moment for the country whose economic and social fabric is already perilously close to collapse. The bomb attack on the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, the murder of Mabrouk Oil Operations employees at a Sirte Basin field plus other attacks on oil infrastructure, the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts by a group claiming allegiance to IS, and the further wave of suicide bombings in response to Egyptian air force strikes, have established the group as the most dangerous entity in the country.