U.S. Steps Up Strikes on Islamic State Militants in Libya

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. has stepped up airstrikes on Islamic State militants in southern Libya, where a breakdown in security has allowed the extremists who once controlled parts of the North African country to regroup.

An American strike that killed seven suspected Islamic State members on Sept. 29 was the fourth in a month, with a total of 43 militants dead, according to a tally of casualties from statements released by the U.S. military’s Africa Command.

The forces of eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar swept through the oil-rich southwest at the start of 2019, saying they wanted to restore security and fight terrorism. But the intervention set off a deadly ethnic war between the Tebu people and Arab tribes allied with Haftar’s Libyan National Army. The country has seen almost constant conflict since a 2011 NATO-backed revolt ousted Muammar Qaddafi, allowing extremists and traffickers to thrive.

“The sheer number of casualties suggests that Islamic State had definitely benefited from the contemporary situation to significantly recruit and build alliances. So this is a preemptive measure,” said Emad Badi, a Libya expert and non-resident fellow with the Middle East Institute. Africom said it conducted the strikes in coordination with the Tripoli-based government.

It has not released the identity of those killed and it’s unclear whether the group’s leadership in the country, which includes an Iraqi militant known as Abu Muath al-Iraqi and veteran Libyan commanders, were targeted or killed.

Chaos in the south

The Islamic State’s affiliate in the OPEC state is believed to number in the hundreds of members since a coalition of US-backed militias drove it out of the coastal city of Sirte in late 2016. It has regrouped in desert and mountain hideouts, launching several spectacular attacks, including a 2018 assault a the National Oil Corporation’s headquarters in Tripoli.

There had been concerns in Libya that an offensive by Haftar to capture the capital in April, which has turned into a prolonged war drawing in foreign intervention on both sides, would allow the Islamic State room to expand. “The fact that both warring sides in Tripoli have attempted to co-opt local groups is also another factor that may have created more grievances and marginalization locally, to Islamic State’s benefit,” Badi said.

The conflict between the groups in the south who are allied with Haftar or his rivals in the UN-backed Tripoli government has killed more than 100 people and displaced thousands from the southern town of Murzuq, where an airstrike blamed on Haftar’s forces in August killed more than 40 people.

But the extremists have been unable to leverage the conflict to take over any urban centers or impose their influence in populated areas.

To contact the reporter on this story: Samer Khalil Al-Atrush in Cairo at skhalilalatr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams

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