CAIRO, Mar 28 (Aswat Masriya) - The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed on Friday a resolution calling for fighting the threats of terrorism in Libya in coordination with its government, yet without lifting the arms embargo on the conflict-torn country.

Egypt and Libya had called for lifting an arms embargo on the sales of weapons enforced on the Libyan government since 2011 during an emergency Security Council meeting on February 18.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Badr Abdelatty nevertheless commended the resolution, describing it as the "Arab resolution." In a Foreign Ministry statement, Abdelatty said the resolution "gives international legal legitimacy to the measures Egypt adopted against Islamic State fighters in Libya."

Egypt's air force conducted in February air strikes which it says hit militant targets, after the beheading of 20 Coptic Egyptians inside Libya at the hands of militants believed to belong to the Libyan division of the Islamic State fighters.

Abdelatty said the resolution is the first to address the danger of terrorism in Libya, considering it a "threat to international and regional peace and security." It is also the first Security Council resolution to refer to Islamic State fighters in Libya.

The transfer of arms to the Libyan government is authorised on a case-by-case basis and upon requests made by the government to the committee overseeing the arms transfer. The resolution calls upon the said committee to "expeditiously" consider the government's requests for arms.

The calls to lift the embargo came at a time of unprecedented violence in Libya, in which conflicting parties are attempting to control the country.

Libyan capital Tripoli has fallen under the control of the Fajr Libya or Libya Dawn Islamist militia in August 2014.

Meanwhile, Egypt and the international community only recognise authorities based in the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk.  

Libya is on the agenda of the 26th Arab League summit, due to begin shortly in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Late Thursday, AL Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi announced that Arab foreign ministers have drafted a resolution to form a unified Arab force, due to be voted on during the summit.