The IS has claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks in Libya.
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The air strikes are the first U.S. military moves targeting Libya since the establishment of a unity government in the disturbed African country.
Monday’s strikes hit close to the convention centre and to the “Dollar” neighbourhood, which fighters took full control of on Saturday, said Fathi Bashagha, who liaises between the GNA and the operation’s Misrata command centre.
The militants seized the Mediterranean coastal city past year, making it their most important base outside Syria and Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strikes did not have “an end point at this particular moment in time”.
“These strikes were authorized by the president following a recommendation from [Defense Secretary Ash Carter] and Chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph] Dunford”, Cook said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on its website that it has documented 41 civilian casualties, including 12 deaths and 29 injuries, during the conduct of hostilities across Libya during the month of July 2016.
USA forces have extended their campaign against Islamic State militants from Iraq and Syria into Libya, primarily to support local troops with a precision strike capability.
The United States has begun what USA officials are describing as a “sustained” bombing campaign against Islamic State, (Daesh) positions in Sirte, Libya.
On the other side, the city of Sirte witnessed very bad time since more than a year ago, when the terrorist group, the Islamic State (IS), controlled the area as a stronghold. But those battlefield successes have sparked concerns that ISIS will attempt to establish new safe havens in Afghanistan and Libya. The actual Libyan government doesn’t control all the front-line forces against the Islamic State – they come from militia groups allied with the Government of National Accord.
“The Pentagon said the support for the Libyan government could extend beyond the recent strikes”.
Obama’s authorization for action in Sirte covers strikes, intelligence and surveillance, but not ground operations, according to a White House official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the strikes and requested anonymity. Monday’s airstrikes were the first by the USA on the group’s Libya branch since February.
“Those forces have complained that assistance from the government in Tripoli and external powers was slow to materialise”. Today, the Pentagon puts that number at about 1,000 fighters in the country.
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Libyan ground forces have been countering IS since the militant organisation advanced on the country in 2015.
