Manned and unmanned aircraft conducted multiple strikes on Sirte, a senior US defense official told The Washington Post, where IS insurgents have established well-defended positions.
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“I don’t think there is any doubt that the Islamic State in Libya is weaker than it was some months ago”, said Dunford, adding, that “They’ve suffered significant casualties in and around the Benghazi area”. Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are also embarked on the Wasp, which is now in the Mediterranean Sea.
In May, forces loyal to the unity government launched an offensive aimed at recapturing Sirte from ISIL, which overran the city in 2015. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strikes on Monday did not have “an end point at this particular moment in time”.
When asked on RAI state television whether the USA would be allowed to use the air base during the air campaign, foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni said: “Should there be requests, we will consider them”.
That will likely take “weeks not months”, Davis said.
A Pentagon spokesman said an Isil tank and other vehicles were targeted with “precision strikes” and there would be more to come.
The U.S. initiated airstrikes Monday after the GNA put in a request for additional assistance to remove the group from Sirte.
Military officials estimate there are fewer than 1,000 ISIS fighters in Sirte, down from several thousand earlier this year.
The United States has begun what U.S. officials are describing as a “sustained” bombing campaign against Islamic State, (Daesh) positions in Sirte, Libya. “As they’ve gotten that far, they needed help getting across the finish line”.
“We feel tricked because they said the global community was behind us but our colleagues are dying and we don’t know when it will end”. “The U.S. military continues to become more engaged in the Middle East despite the lack of a congressional debate or specific authorization”, said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). He declined to say what type of aircraft or which overseas bases are involved.
Libya has been locked in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a bloody uprising ended with the ouster and death of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
“This has allowed our forces on the ground to take control of strategic positions”, he said, adding that the American involvement would be “limited in time and will not go beyond Sirte and its suburbs”.
234-w-35-(Mark Smith, AP White House correspondent, with President Barack Obama)-President Obama is defending the decision to launch a new round of air strikes on Islamic State targets in Libya.
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Italy has insisted Libya must request any anti-IS airstrikes, which Libya’s United Nations -brokered unity government did in the case of Sirte. We have indicated in the past, we have had forces on the ground getting a picture there.
