Obama looks to expand Daesh fight in Libya

President Barack Obama has asked key advisors to draw up options for ratcheting-up the fight against the Islamic State group, including opening a new front in Libya.

Eighteen months after a US-led coalition began airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria, multiple administration sources said Friday that the White House wants to speed and broaden the effort.

IS-linked terror attacks from Turkey to Indonesia have sharpened concerns about the group’s reach and potency, even as it suffers losses in Mesopotamia.

Efforts will continue to retake Raqa in Syria, Mosul in Iraq and to check the jihadists’ growth in Afghanistan, but there is an increasing focus on Libya.

“Action in Libya is needed before Libya becomes a sanctuary for ISIL, before they become extremely hard to dislodge” said one US defense official.

“We don’t want a situation like in Iraq or Syria.”

Potential options are said to range from intensified air strikes to participation in a UN-backed ground force that would help take on the country’s estimated 3,000 Islamic State fighters.

Since rebels and Western airpower toppled Moamer Kadhafi’s regime in 2011, the country has effectively been without a government.

In the chaos a disparate group of foreign fighters, former rebels, tribes and remnants of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group have coalesced around the IS banner and gained a foothold in the country.

Jihadists have taken control of Kadhafi’s home town of Sirte whose nearby oilfields could provide a lucrative source of income.

– Next steps –

So far US involvement in Libya has been limited to isolated airstrikes and the deployment of US special forces who are building ties with local armed groups and providing intelligence.

Last November, a US F-16 struck the eastern town of Derna, killing Abu Nabil — also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi — the local leader for IS.

Officials caution that Obama has not yet been presented with plans and the diplomatic situation remains fluid. They have also long stressed the game plan against the jihadists is “constantly being refined.”

On Thursday, the president convened his National Security Council to discuss current operations and the next steps.

“The President emphasized that the United States will continue to counter ISIL terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary,” the White House said following the meeting.

“The President directed his national security team to continue efforts to strengthen governance and support ongoing counterterrorism efforts in Libya and other countries where ISIL has sought to establish a presence.”

The next steps are likely to depend, in part, on Libyans’ ability to coalesce around a Government of National Accord, which the UN is still trying to broker.

“There needs to be a political solution to get a military solution,” said another defense official.

“We hope that there is the beginning of a political solution so that there is a legitimate government that can invite us to go after ISIL.”

Washington is also looking to European nations — who face a more acute threat from the collapse of a country a short distance across the Mediterranean — to play a leading role, including former Libyan colonial power Italy.

Obama will host Italian head of state, President Sergio Mattarella, at the White House on February 8.

“The idea is to have a coalition of nations” said one defense official.
Source :AFP