By Goran Tomasevic and Yeganeh Torbati
SIRTE, Libya/WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. planes bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, responding to the U.N.-backed government's request to help push the militants from their former stronghold of Sirte in what U.S. officials described as the start of a sustained campaign against the extremist group in the city.
"The first air strikes were carried out at specific locations in Sirte today causing severe losses to enemy ranks," Prime Minster 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".
Forces allied with Seraj have been battling Islamic State in Sirte - the home town of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi - since May.
The militants seized the Mediterranean coastal city last year, making it their most important base outside Syria and Iraq. But they are now besieged in a few square kilometres of the centre, where they hold strategic sites, including the Ouagadougou conference hall, the central hospital and the university.
Seraj said the Presidential Council of his Government of National Accord, or GNA, had decided to "activate" its participation in the international coalition against Islamic State and "request the United States to carry out targeted air strikes on Daesh (Islamic State)."
The air strikes on Monday - which were authorised by U.S. President Barack Obama - hit an Islamic State tank and two vehicles that posed a threat to forces aligned with Libya's GNA, Cook said.
In the future, each individual strike will be coordinated with the GNA and needs the approval of the commander of U.S. forces in Africa, Cook added.
This was the third U.S. air strike against Islamic State militants in Libya. But U.S. officials said this one marked the start of a sustained air campaign rather than another isolated strike.
The last acknowledged U.S. air strikes in Libya were on an Islamic State training camp in the western city of Sabratha in February.
Although it does not include the use of ground troops beyond small special forces squads rotating in and out of Libya and drones collecting intelligence, the air campaign opens a new front in the war against IS and what American officials consider its most dangerous component outside Syria and Iraq.
Obama authorised the strikes after a recommendation by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Washington took part in air strikes in 2011 to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya which helped topple Gaddafi. The country has struggled since then and Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine in April that the intervention "didn't work".
OPERATIONS IN SIRTE AND SUBURBS
"I want to assure you that these operations are limited to a specific timetable and do not exceed Sirte and its suburbs," Seraj said, adding that international support on the ground would be limited to technical and logistical help.
"GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL (Islamic State) thus far around Sirte, and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance," said Cook, the Pentagon spokesman.
The White House said U.S. assistance to Libya would be limited to air strikes and information sharing.
"There are unique capabilities that our military can provide to support forces on the ground and that's what the president wanted to do," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Air Force One on Monday.
But that coordination will be a challenge, experts said.
Local forces in Libya fighting Islamic State are diffuse and fragmented, with no single centre of command, said Frederic Wehrey, a Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington who recently spent three days with fighters in Sirte.
"U.S. and Western diplomatic strategy has been to try to boost this GNA, but I think there are certain limits," Wehrey said. "It's not the sort of conventional military operation we would think of where there's a central point of contact."
U.S. and Libyan officials estimate that several hundred Islamic State fighters remain in Sirte.
Brigades mainly composed of militia from the western city of Misrata advanced on Sirte in May, but their progress was slowed by snipers, mines and booby-traps.
Those forces have complained that assistance from the government in Tripoli and external powers was slow to materialise. At least 350 of their fighters have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in the campaign.
Libyan fighter jets have frequently bombed Sirte, but they lack the weapons and technology to make precision strikes.
Islamic State took advantage of political chaos and a security vacuum to start expanding into Libya in 2014. It gained control over about 250 km (155 miles) of sparsely populated coastline either side of Sirte, though it has struggled to win support or retain territory elsewhere in the country.
The GNA was the result of a U.N.-mediated deal signed in December to end a conflict between two rival governments and the armed groups that supported them. But it is having difficulty imposing its authority and winning backing from factions in the east.
Western powers have offered to support the GNA in its efforts to tackle Islamic State, stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean and revive Libya's oil production.
But foreign intervention is politically sensitive, and the GNA has hesitated to make formal requests for help.
U.S. officials were developing military options in Libya earlier this year. But enormous hurdles, including struggles in the formation of a unified Libyan government strong enough to call for and accommodate foreign military assistance, stood in the way.
Small teams of Western countries' special forces have been on the ground in eastern and western Libya for months. Last month France said three of its soldiers had been killed south of the eastern city of Benghazi, where they had been conducting intelligence operations. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Dan Grebler)
SIRTE, Libya/WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. planes bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, responding to the U.N.-backed government's request to help push the militants from their former stronghold of Sirte in what U.S. officials described as the start of a sustained campaign against the extremist group in the city.
"The first air strikes were carried out at specific locations in Sirte today causing severe losses to enemy ranks," Prime Minster 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".
Forces allied with Seraj have been battling Islamic State in Sirte - the home town of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi - since May.
The militants seized the Mediterranean coastal city last year, making it their most important base outside Syria and Iraq. But they are now besieged in a few square kilometres of the centre, where they hold strategic sites, including the Ouagadougou conference hall, the central hospital and the university.
Seraj said the Presidential Council of his Government of National Accord, or GNA, had decided to "activate" its participation in the international coalition against Islamic State and "request the United States to carry out targeted air strikes on Daesh (Islamic State)."
The air strikes on Monday - which were authorised by U.S. President Barack Obama - hit an Islamic State tank and two vehicles that posed a threat to forces aligned with Libya's GNA, Cook said.
In the future, each individual strike will be coordinated with the GNA and needs the approval of the commander of U.S. forces in Africa, Cook added.
This was the third U.S. air strike against Islamic State militants in Libya. But U.S. officials said this one marked the start of a sustained air campaign rather than another isolated strike.
The last acknowledged U.S. air strikes in Libya were on an Islamic State training camp in the western city of Sabratha in February.
Although it does not include the use of ground troops beyond small special forces squads rotating in and out of Libya and drones collecting intelligence, the air campaign opens a new front in the war against IS and what American officials consider its most dangerous component outside Syria and Iraq.
Obama authorised the strikes after a recommendation by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Washington took part in air strikes in 2011 to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya which helped topple Gaddafi. The country has struggled since then and Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine in April that the intervention "didn't work".
OPERATIONS IN SIRTE AND SUBURBS
"I want to assure you that these operations are limited to a specific timetable and do not exceed Sirte and its suburbs," Seraj said, adding that international support on the ground would be limited to technical and logistical help.
"GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL (Islamic State) thus far around Sirte, and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance," said Cook, the Pentagon spokesman.
The White House said U.S. assistance to Libya would be limited to air strikes and information sharing.
"There are unique capabilities that our military can provide to support forces on the ground and that's what the president wanted to do," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Air Force One on Monday.
But that coordination will be a challenge, experts said.
Local forces in Libya fighting Islamic State are diffuse and fragmented, with no single centre of command, said Frederic Wehrey, a Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington who recently spent three days with fighters in Sirte.
"U.S. and Western diplomatic strategy has been to try to boost this GNA, but I think there are certain limits," Wehrey said. "It's not the sort of conventional military operation we would think of where there's a central point of contact."
U.S. and Libyan officials estimate that several hundred Islamic State fighters remain in Sirte.
Brigades mainly composed of militia from the western city of Misrata advanced on Sirte in May, but their progress was slowed by snipers, mines and booby-traps.
Those forces have complained that assistance from the government in Tripoli and external powers was slow to materialise. At least 350 of their fighters have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in the campaign.
Libyan fighter jets have frequently bombed Sirte, but they lack the weapons and technology to make precision strikes.
Islamic State took advantage of political chaos and a security vacuum to start expanding into Libya in 2014. It gained control over about 250 km (155 miles) of sparsely populated coastline either side of Sirte, though it has struggled to win support or retain territory elsewhere in the country.
The GNA was the result of a U.N.-mediated deal signed in December to end a conflict between two rival governments and the armed groups that supported them. But it is having difficulty imposing its authority and winning backing from factions in the east.
Western powers have offered to support the GNA in its efforts to tackle Islamic State, stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean and revive Libya's oil production.
But foreign intervention is politically sensitive, and the GNA has hesitated to make formal requests for help.
U.S. officials were developing military options in Libya earlier this year. But enormous hurdles, including struggles in the formation of a unified Libyan government strong enough to call for and accommodate foreign military assistance, stood in the way.
Small teams of Western countries' special forces have been on the ground in eastern and western Libya for months. Last month France said three of its soldiers had been killed south of the eastern city of Benghazi, where they had been conducting intelligence operations. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Dan Grebler)
[h=1]U.S. Conducts Airstrikes Against ISIL in Sirte, Libya[/h][FONT="]By Terri Moon CronlDoD News, Defense Media Activity[/FONT]
[FONT="]WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2016 —
At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the U.S. military conducted precision airstrikes today against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets in Sirte, Libya, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters in a news briefing.
The airstrikes were in support of GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya, Cook said.
President Barack Obama authorized the strikes following a recommendation from Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he said.
The strikes, Cook said, “are consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces.”
“GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL thus far around Sirte,” he added, “and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance.”
The United States has a variety of assets and capabilities in the region that officials believe are adequate for the task, said the press secretary added.
Forces Agreed on Strike Threats
The U.S. military and the GNA agreed that precision strikes on an ISIL tank and two ISIL vehicles in Sirte were necessary to avert risk to the GNA and the civilian population, Cook said. GNA forces believed it would make a difference in their strategic advance to eliminate the tank, which was in a strategic position within Sirte, Cook said, adding that the vehicles apparently also posed a similar threat to GNA forces on the ground who are trying to recapture a particular Sirte neighborhood.
“The ability to strike [these targets] precisely without exposing civilians to risk was the reason that strike was conducted,” he said.
The United States stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya,” the press secretary told reporters. “These actions and those we have taken previously will help deny ISIL a safe haven in Libya from which it could attack the United States and our allies,” he added.
Libyans Successful So Far
Cook emphasized that Libyan local forces have been successful so far as they take on ISIL, and the GNA has not asked for U.S. assistance until now. “They see where ISIL has dug in and [how] our operations can assist them,” he said. Such U.S. operations in Libya could continue when requested, as the two nations carefully coordinate and vet such operations, he added.
Similar to the assistance provided in Iraq and Syria in the counter-ISIL campaign, the press secretary said, “we're acting in support of the internationally recognized government of Libya, helping their effort to target an enemy that poses a threat as well to the United States.”
The airstrikes exemplify U.S. military support for a partner on the ground trying to reclaim its country and provide security and stability for its people, Cook said, while “targeting a group that has a hateful ideology that aims to do ill to the people of Libya and to the people of the United States.
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[FONT="]WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2016 —
At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the U.S. military conducted precision airstrikes today against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets in Sirte, Libya, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters in a news briefing.
The airstrikes were in support of GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya, Cook said.
President Barack Obama authorized the strikes following a recommendation from Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he said.
The strikes, Cook said, “are consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces.”
“GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL thus far around Sirte,” he added, “and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance.”
The United States has a variety of assets and capabilities in the region that officials believe are adequate for the task, said the press secretary added.
Forces Agreed on Strike Threats
The U.S. military and the GNA agreed that precision strikes on an ISIL tank and two ISIL vehicles in Sirte were necessary to avert risk to the GNA and the civilian population, Cook said. GNA forces believed it would make a difference in their strategic advance to eliminate the tank, which was in a strategic position within Sirte, Cook said, adding that the vehicles apparently also posed a similar threat to GNA forces on the ground who are trying to recapture a particular Sirte neighborhood.
“The ability to strike [these targets] precisely without exposing civilians to risk was the reason that strike was conducted,” he said.
The United States stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya,” the press secretary told reporters. “These actions and those we have taken previously will help deny ISIL a safe haven in Libya from which it could attack the United States and our allies,” he added.
Libyans Successful So Far
Cook emphasized that Libyan local forces have been successful so far as they take on ISIL, and the GNA has not asked for U.S. assistance until now. “They see where ISIL has dug in and [how] our operations can assist them,” he said. Such U.S. operations in Libya could continue when requested, as the two nations carefully coordinate and vet such operations, he added.
Similar to the assistance provided in Iraq and Syria in the counter-ISIL campaign, the press secretary said, “we're acting in support of the internationally recognized government of Libya, helping their effort to target an enemy that poses a threat as well to the United States.”
The airstrikes exemplify U.S. military support for a partner on the ground trying to reclaim its country and provide security and stability for its people, Cook said, while “targeting a group that has a hateful ideology that aims to do ill to the people of Libya and to the people of the United States.
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[h=1]U.S. Strikes Accelerate Gains Against ISIL in Libya[/h][FONT="]By Terri Moon CronkDoD News, Defense Media Activity[/FONT]
[FONT="]WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2016 — U.S. precision airstrikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets in Sirte, Libya, that began yesterday at the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord have allowed GNA-affiliated forces to accelerate the fight to expel ISIL from the Libyan city, a Pentagon spokesman said today.
U.S. Marine M1A1 Abrams tanks and Bulgarian T-72 tanks conduct bounding overwatch maneuver training during Exercise Platinum Lion 16-2 at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria, Jan. 8, 2016. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters are using T-72 tanks in the battle over Sirte, Libya, against Libyan Government of National Accord-affiliated forces. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Justin T. Updegraff
Five U.S. precision strikes yesterday took out one of ISIL’s T-72 tanks, two military vehicles, an insurgent fighting position, a second T-72 tank and two construction vehicles, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said, adding that so far today, the United States has made two more airstrikes on ISIL targets there, eliminating an ISIL rocket launcher and a heavy-equipment excavator.
Strike Removed Menacing Problem
Yesterday’s airstrike on the first tank in the southwestern Sirte neighborhood of al-Dular removed what was a menacing problem for GNA forces, Davis said. The ISIL tank was hidden in a group of trees and close to buildings where civilians could have been, he noted, “ISIL had used it repeatedly to beat back GNA forces, against civilians,” he said, “and it represented a challenge and a problem for [GNA fighters] to be able to get into the city.”
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.
Coordinated Strikes
The U.S. airstrikes in Sirte are being done “in conjunction and coordination with, and in support of, the GNA,” the U.S.-recognized Libyan government, Davis told reporters. “The objective is to help the GNA retake Sirte,” he added. “Over the past few months, the [GNA-affiliated forces] have worked to defeat ISIL, and they have been spectacularly successful.”
The GNA forces collapsed an area of the ISIL stronghold of Sirte where the enemy controlled much of the coastline along the Gulf of Sidra, stretching from near Tripoli up to Benghazi, he said. And ISIL fighters’ numbers are shrinking in Sirte, he noted.
“We have seen those forces work very effectively to collapse ISIL’s control down to a very small area, which really comprises the city center of Sirte,” Davis said. “As they’ve gotten that far, they needed help getting across the finish line. This is a chance for us to help them.”
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[FONT="]WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2016 — U.S. precision airstrikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets in Sirte, Libya, that began yesterday at the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord have allowed GNA-affiliated forces to accelerate the fight to expel ISIL from the Libyan city, a Pentagon spokesman said today.
U.S. Marine M1A1 Abrams tanks and Bulgarian T-72 tanks conduct bounding overwatch maneuver training during Exercise Platinum Lion 16-2 at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria, Jan. 8, 2016. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters are using T-72 tanks in the battle over Sirte, Libya, against Libyan Government of National Accord-affiliated forces. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Justin T. Updegraff
Five U.S. precision strikes yesterday took out one of ISIL’s T-72 tanks, two military vehicles, an insurgent fighting position, a second T-72 tank and two construction vehicles, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said, adding that so far today, the United States has made two more airstrikes on ISIL targets there, eliminating an ISIL rocket launcher and a heavy-equipment excavator.
Strike Removed Menacing Problem
Yesterday’s airstrike on the first tank in the southwestern Sirte neighborhood of al-Dular removed what was a menacing problem for GNA forces, Davis said. The ISIL tank was hidden in a group of trees and close to buildings where civilians could have been, he noted, “ISIL had used it repeatedly to beat back GNA forces, against civilians,” he said, “and it represented a challenge and a problem for [GNA fighters] to be able to get into the city.”
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.
Coordinated Strikes
The U.S. airstrikes in Sirte are being done “in conjunction and coordination with, and in support of, the GNA,” the U.S.-recognized Libyan government, Davis told reporters. “The objective is to help the GNA retake Sirte,” he added. “Over the past few months, the [GNA-affiliated forces] have worked to defeat ISIL, and they have been spectacularly successful.”
The GNA forces collapsed an area of the ISIL stronghold of Sirte where the enemy controlled much of the coastline along the Gulf of Sidra, stretching from near Tripoli up to Benghazi, he said. And ISIL fighters’ numbers are shrinking in Sirte, he noted.
“We have seen those forces work very effectively to collapse ISIL’s control down to a very small area, which really comprises the city center of Sirte,” Davis said. “As they’ve gotten that far, they needed help getting across the finish line. This is a chance for us to help them.”
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ISIS Launches Wave of Suicide Attacks on Libya Forces (AFP)
Islamic State jihadists in Libya carried out nine suicide bombings in one day in a failed bid to hold a central district of Sirte, pro-government forces said Wednesday.
In the attacks on Tuesday, five of the bombers used cars, one used a motorbike and three were on foot. The attacks left nine pro-government fighters dead and 82 wounded.
Islamic State jihadists in Libya carried out nine suicide bombings in one day in a failed bid to hold a central district of Sirte, pro-government forces said Wednesday.
In the attacks on Tuesday, five of the bombers used cars, one used a motorbike and three were on foot. The attacks left nine pro-government fighters dead and 82 wounded.
