The statement also said that the Libyan National Army/Libyan Air Force carried out airstrikes in Derna, which led to the death and injury of civilians (1 killed, 9 injured), while the Derna Mujahedin Shura Council was responsible for the death of 3 civilians.
Advertisement
“The U.S. stands with the global community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya”, he said.
Prime Minister of Libya’s UN-backed unity government Fayez al-Sarraj said that ISIS suffered “heavy losses” following USA air strikes in Sirte.
USA military officials have insisted operations to support the GNA will be conducted from the air only, with no United States boots on the ground. And they’ll be determining the pace and the success of this campaign, arguably.
U.S. strikes in Sirte “will continue”, Cook added without elaborating.
“This is a finite period of time and a very finite mission”, Davis said.
Serraj noted that the strikes will not go beyond Sirte and its surroundings.
“Russia has always advocated the need for decisive action to destroy ISIL and other extremist groups, wherever they may be, in strict compliance with worldwide law”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The campaign is expected to last weeks, according to the Pentagon, and marks the most significant USA military expansion in the country since the Islamic State group took root in Libya more than a year ago.
Meanwhile, the White House Spokesman said that the airstrikes were authorized by President Barack Obama on special request by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who has been in touch with Libyan unity government. He also said the two nations would share intelligence and surveillance. Those strikes expanded into Afghanistan in January and now against ISIS in Sirte, Libya. They have been routinely moving in and out of the country, meeting with Libyan groups.
Forces aligned with the government have been battling Isil in Sirte, on the Mediterranean in northern Libya, since May.
Libyan’s interim government requested the attack, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
Libya’s pro-government militias – mainly from the western city of Misrata – have been waging an offensive against the Islamic State in Sirte since May, but it has recently stalled.
In February, American F-15E fighter-bombers struck an Islamic State training camp in rural Libya near the Tunisian border, killing more than 40 people. The first US strike occurred in November.
Advertisement
The central government, in a state of continued turmoil, has always been at the mercy of militias that hope to integrate and build a national army against the interim government. The Islamic State has taken advantage of the situation to conquer vast swaths of land in the country, mostly in coastal regions where many criminal gangs indulge in illegal migrant trafficking. It is unclear how many ISIS fighters remain in Sirte.
