U.S. jets pound ISIL in Libya
WASHINGTON — U.S. warplanes carried out airstrikes in Libya Monday, targeting Islamic State forces near their stronghold
in the coastal city of Sirte, the Pentagon announced.
Libyan’s interim government requested the attack, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said. It was approved by President Obama.
The bombing runs targeted ISIL fighters and their weapons. One of the targets was a tank, Cook said.
There were no U.S. troops on the ground in Libya directing the strikes, he said. There have been teams of U.S. special operators rotating into Libya to assess the security situation and establish communications.
The Islamic State has established a presence in war-torn Libya and in Afghanistan. They have been struck by U.S. warplanes in support of local ground forces in both countries. In February, an airstrike in Libya killed 49 fighters from the Islamic State, also known as ISIL. The first U.S. strike occurred in November.
Additional airstrikes will continue as forces aligned with the Libyan Government of National Accord continues to take ground from ISIL, Cook said. The attacks help deny ISIL territory in Libya that could be used to attack the United States and its allies, he said. There are several hundred to about 1,000 ISIL fighters in Sirte, Cook said.
Last week, Army Gen. John Nicholson, commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, told reporters that five U.S. commandos had been wounded while helping Afghan forces clear Islamic State fighters from villages in the south of that country. Airstrikes continue to pound their positions there as well.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter likens the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as the parent tumor the U.S.-led coalition is bent on destroying. The United States is also committed to hammering it when it pops up in other countries.
On Thursday, Obama has scheduled a meeting of the National Security Council at the Pentagon to receive an update on the fight against ISIL, Cook said.