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Thursday 3 December 2015
Libya becomes latest ISIL stronghold
Libya becomes latest ISIL stronghold
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WASHINGTON
— Islamic State militants are establishing a dangerous foothold in
Libya as the terror network comes under increasing pressure from the
U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq and Syria.
The militants are
taking advantage of the chaos that grew after Libyan leader Moammar
Gadhafi was ousted and killed in a 2011 revolution as well as a
declining Western presence in the country.
U.S. plans to help
rebuild Libya after Gadhafi largely fell to the wayside amid growing
violence and the 2012 terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in
Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other
Americans.
The
Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, has taken up residence in
the coastal city of Sirte and is attempting to expand its influence in
Libya.
“The worrisome thing is if ISIS central decides to pivot and pour more resources in, it could be worse," said Frederic Wehrey, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.The militants seem to be pressing south and east of Sirte to control oil facilities in the area, he said.
“Libya
is probably right now the most significant threat to becoming a
full-blown sanctuary” for the Islamic State, said Patrick Johnston, a
counterterrorism analyst at RAND Corp.
The Islamic State's
expansion comes as U.S. efforts to build a unified government in
Libya have declined. The United States acknowledged last year that it
suspended efforts to train a Libyan force of 5,000 to 8,000 personnel,
as fighting escalated among warring factions and because the country
lacked a broad-based government, according to the Pentagon.
The United States is continuing to pursue diplomatic efforts to create a unified government there.
“Our
level of commitment to Libya was always modest,” said Daniel Serwer, a
professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a
scholar at the Middle East Institute. “We regarded Libya as a European
responsibility.”
But European countries have also done little to
stem the growing violence. And NATO currently is not providing any
military assistance to Libya.
After
Gadhafi's ouster with the help of NATO-led airstrikes, Libya did
show promise, and many in the country hoped for support from the
West. The country successfully held elections in 2012.
The attack
on Benghazi led to another turning point and further declines in the
U.S. presence there. In 2014, the United States closed its embassy in
Tripoli.
Since then the country has spiraled into further anarchy,
as rival governments were established in Tripoli and Tobruk, a city in
eastern Libya. The United States and other Western countries have turned
to diplomacy to push Libya's warring factions toward a political
settlement.
It will be difficult to mobilize forces against the
Islamic State without a unified government in Libya. "The Islamic State
has proven very adept at filling any vacuum," Serwer said.
The
U.S.-led coalition has been targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria for more than a year. In Iraq, the United States and its allies
are also supporting the country's ground forces in the fight against the
Islamic State.
The military pressure in those countries is having
an impact on the terror group, the Pentagon has said, and there have
been signs that Islamic State leaders have even advised new recruits to
stay away from Syria because of the danger there. That is drawing some
fighters to Libya.
"I am convinced we’re making no headway on the
spread of ISIS into other countries," House Armed Services Committee
Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, told USA TODAY. A foothold in
oil-rich Libya could give the Islamic State the ability to increase
revenue through the sale of oil, already a major source of funding for
the terror group.
Without a presence on the ground in Libya, the
U.S. military has been limited to occasional airstrikes and raids there.
In 2014, U.S. commandos captured a mastermind behind the Benghazi
attacks in a lightning raid in Tripoli.
And two weeks ago, U.S.
forces conducted an airstrike for the first time against an Islamic
State leader in Libya. The death of Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, an
Iraqi national in Libya, will “degrade ISIL’s ability to meet the
group’s objectives in Libya,” the Pentagon said in a statement
announcing the Nov. 13 strike. Zubaydi planned to attack the United
States and establish bases in Libya, the Pentagon said.
“We are clearly watching them,” Col. Chris Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, said of Islamic State militants in Libya.
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