U.S. Starts Air Campaign Targeting Islamic State in Libya
U.S. Starts Air Campaign Targeting Islamic State in Libya
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. military began its first campaign of airstrikes against Islamic State in Libya, citing a request from the nascent but internationally recognized government that is pushing to retake Sirte, the coastal city the terrorist group has occupied for about year.
President Barack Obama has “authorized these strikes moving forward,” Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook told reporters Monday at the Pentagon.
While the initial strikes on Monday were modest -- aiming at a tank and two Islamic State vehicles, according to Cook -- it was a milestone in expanding U.S. air power against the group beyond its initial strongholds in Syria and Iraq. The U.S. previously conducted individual strikes in Libya that were aimed solely at taking out Islamic State leaders, known as “high-value targets.”
“The biggest difference is that a specific request” came from Libya’s Government of National Accord, Cook said, and further strikes will involve “careful collaboration” with that government. He said the Libyan government is making “great progress” and has reduced Islamic State’s presence in and around Sirte to as few as 1,000 fighters.
U.S.-backed forces have recaptured about half of the territory that Islamic State held in Iraq, White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Monday.
Victory in Sirte would cement recent territorial gains against Islamic State and deprive the jihadist group of its only base outside the Middle East. It would also boost Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj’s efforts to unite the country under a United Nations-backed administration -- seen by international allies as the best chance to stem the violence that has plagued Libya in the five years since the ouster of Muammar Qaddafi.
--With assistance from Ghaith Shennib and Angela Greiling Keane To contact the reporter on this story: Larry Liebert in Washington at lliebert@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman