5 Years Later, US Is Carrying Out More Airstrikes in Libya | News | teleSUR English
5 Years Later, US Is Carrying Out More Airstrikes in Libya
Airstrikes
in Libya were authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama as part of an
open-ended campaign against the Islamic State group.
in Libya were authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama as part of an
open-ended campaign against the Islamic State group.
The United States
have launched an open-ended airstrike campaign in Libya against the
Islamic State group in what Washington said was a positive response to
calls by the U.N.-backed government in Libya.
ANALYSIS:
5 Years on, Has the West Learned Anything from Libyan Disaster?
The latest campaign comes four years after NATO, led by the U.S.,
Britain and France, intervened in the country’s Arab Spring-inspired
uprising against longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Since then,
the country has been mired in chaos, with three different competing
governments, a situation that has been exploited by extremists.
"The first
airstrikes were carried out at specific locations in Sirte today causing
severe losses to enemy ranks," Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Seraj said
on state TV. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strikes did not have
"an end point at this particular moment in time."
Monday’s
airstrikes were the third the U.S. has carried out against the extremist
group in Libya. The last acknowledged U.S. airstrikes in Libya were in
the western city of Sabratha in February.
But U.S. officials said airstrikes are different, marking the start of a sustained air campaign .
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A
fighter of Libyan forces looks through a hole in a wall as a
self-propelled artillery gun fires at Islamic State fighters during a
battle in Sirte, Libya. | Photo: Reuters
