Since the airstrike that took out the first tank yesterday, GNA forces have moved into the neighborhood in their mission to drive out ISIL fighters, Davis said.
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The IS has claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks in Libya.
While the Pentagon had carried out two previous air attacks on high-value IS targets in Libya, Monday’s action marked the first USA strikes in Sirte itself, and the first salvos in what the Pentagon hopes will be a quick campaign.
The Government of National Accord (GNA) is an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the UN-brokered power-sharing Libyan Political Agreement which was signed on December 2015 to end a conflict between two rival governments and the armed groups that supported them.
President Barack Obama speak during a joint news conference with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. Cook said the pace and duration of this campaign will depend on what the Libyan government requests.
He also proposed United States participation would be “restricted in time and is not going to go beyond Sirte and its suburbs”. He said any other foreign intervention is not allowed without coordination. The U.S.is also providing airborne surveillance and intelligence.
Sarraj said the American involvement would be “limited in time and will not go beyond Sirte and its suburbs”.
It was likely to mark the start of a more intense USA involvement in Libya, opening a new and more persistent front against Isil. They have been routinely moving in and out of the country, meeting with Libyan groups.
Serraj added that the presidential council of the Government of National Accord (GNA) has made a decision to “activate” its participation in the worldwide coalition against ISIS and requested the United States to carry out targeted air strikes on ISIS. The Tripoli-based GNA launched an operation in May to retake Sirte. Davis said that thanks to GNA-aligned fighters, IS control in Libya has essentially collapsed to the city center of Sirte.
Libya is now the fourth country in which the USA military is launching airstrikes against Islamic State militants, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Earlier this year, the Libyan and U.S. officials estimated about 4,000 to 6,000 IS insurgents trying to set up cells in Libya.
“We assess that (ISIS) is trying to increase its influence in Africa and to plot attacks in the region and in Europe”, Brennan said. The last acknowledged US airstrikes in Libya were in the western city of Sabratha in February.
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“I am deeply concerned about the expansion of USA airstrikes in Libya”.
