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US strikes Libya for first time under Trump - CNNPolitics - CNN.com
www.cnn.com/2017/09/24/politics/us-strikes-libya-trump/index.html
US strikes Libya for first time under Trump
US bombers target ISIS camps in Libya 01:22
Story highlights
- The strikes killed 17 ISIS militants and destroyed three vehicles
- The strikes were carried out by unmanned aircraft, US military officials told CNN
(CNN)The
US military conducted airstrikes against ISIS fighters in Libya on
Friday, the first time it has struck targets in the North African
country since Donald Trump became President.
"In
coordination with Libya's Government of National Accord and aligned
forces, U.S. forces conducted six precision airstrikes in Libya against
an ISIS desert camp on Friday," US Africa Command which oversees US
troops in the region, told CNN in a statement.
The
strikes killed 17 ISIS militants and destroyed three vehicles at the
camp, located about 150 miles southeast of Sirte, the statement added.
"The
camp was used by ISIS to move fighters in and out of the country;
stockpile weapons and equipment; and to plot and conduct attacks,"
Africa Command said in a later statement, adding that ISIS operatives in
Libya have "been connected to multiple attacks across Europe."
The
strikes were carried out by unmanned aircraft, US military officials
told CNN. Trump approved the operation, signing off on it in the last
week, one of the officials said.
While
the ISIS presence in Libya has been much reduced following a nearly
five-month-long US air campaign against the terror group in the final
stretch of the Obama administration, small groups of ISIS fighters had
begun to reconstitute themselves in remote desert areas, taking
advantage of the lingering instability resulting from the Libyan Civil
War.
"The United States will track
and hunt these terrorists, degrade their capabilities and disrupt their
planning and operations by all appropriate, lawful, and proportional
means, including precision strikes," Africa Command's later statement
added.
The last US airstrike in Libya was carried
out on January 19, the day before Trump was inaugurated, part of a
mission ordered by then-President Barack Obama that targeted ISIS
operatives that were "plotting attacks in Europe," according to the
Department of Defense.
Libya
About
80 ISIS fighters were killed in that strike when unmanned aircraft and
B-2 Spirit bombers, flying from a base in Missouri, bombed two ISIS
training camps 45 kilometers southwest of Sirte.
The
terrorist group had long eyed Libya as a potential base, and ISIS
fighters were able to take advantage of the destabilizing years-long
Libyan Civil War, seizing the coastal city of Sirte in 2015.
But
local militias aligned with the internationally recognized Government
of National Accord and backed by over 500 US airstrikes were able to
recapture the city in December.
Friday's
strike comes just days after the United Nations launched a new push to
bring stability to Libya as part of a bid to help reconcile the
Government of National Accord, led by Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj and the
Libyan National Army, led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar, which controls much of
the country's east.
"They don't
want ISIS there, they agree on that," Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the head
of US Africa Command, said of the two sides while speaking to an
audience at the US Institute of Peace this month.
"We
are focused on continuing to support the Government of National
Accord," Waldhauser said. "We also are working to prevent all out civil
war in that country. We've opened up a line of communication with Gen.
Haftar, who is a leading figure of the Libyan National Army." He added:
"We are also of course keeping up the pressure on the counterterrorism
fight in that country."
But when asked in April if he envisioned a US role in helping stabilize Libya, Trump said the US would focus on fighting ISIS.
"I
do not see a role in Libya. I think the United States has right now
enough roles," Trump told reporters at a White House press conference
alongside the prime minister of Italy.
"I do see a role in getting rid of ISIS. We're being very effective in that regard," Trump added.
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