The US military conducted air strikes in Libya on Monday following a government request to target the Islamic State group’s Libyan stronghold of Sirte, the Pentagon announced.
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The United States on Monday launched fresh airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group in Libya to support the UN-backed regime for as long as it requested, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook confirmed at a press briefing.
“The presidency council, as the general army commander, has made a request for direct USA support to carry out specific airstrikes”, Serraj said.
US manned and unmanned aircraft conducted five airstrikes in Libya on Monday and followed with at least two more on Tuesday, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the Pentagon.
On Tuesday, two USA airstrikes targeted an ISIS rocket launcher and an excavator vehicle. The U.S.is also providing airborne surveillance and intelligence.
ISIS has been on the retreat in Iraq and Syria but has claimed credit for a surge in global attacks this year, majority in France and Germany.
While the ongoing operation is only authorized for the GNA’s Sirte campaign, Davis said the United States does “absolutely have a long-term commitment” to Libya’s internationally recognized government.
US President Barack Obama defended the two-day-old air campaign, saying defeating the extremists there was in America’s national interest. “We repeat from here our rejection of interference by any nation or attempts to violate Libya’s sovereignty”, he said. Sirte is ISIS’s most notable stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria.
Sirte has been under a continuous state of siege by an array of militia forces aligned to the GNA since May of this year.
U.S., French, British and Italian special operations forces and military experts have been assisting Libyan troops fighting Islamic State militants in eastern and western Libya.
Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, one in Tobruk and another in Tripoli, each of which boasts its own military capacity and legislative assembly.
“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”.
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The Pentagon estimates that there are 1,000 ISIS fighters in Sirte, and the taking back of the city would be an important loss for ISIS, which is already being heavily bombed in Syria and Iraq.
