U.S. fears Islamic State is making serious inroads in Libya

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. fears Islamic State is making serious inroads in Libya

BY MARK HOSENBALL
WASHINGTON Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:04pm EDT

(Reuters) - The United States is increasingly concerned about the growing presence and influence of the Syria-based Islamic State movement in Libya, according to U.S. officials and a State Department report.

The officials said what they called "senior" Islamic State leaders had traveled to the country, which is whacked by civil war, to help recruit and organize militants, particularly in the cities of Derna and Sirte.

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The State Department document said estimates of the number of Islamic State fighters operating in Libya ranged from 1000 to 3000.

Around 800 fighters were based in the Derna area alone, the report said, including up to 300 who previously fought in Syria or Iraq.

U.S. officials said that because of its strategic position, Libya had become a springboard for would-be fighters from across North Africa wanting to link up with the Islamic State. They could travel from there to Syria for frontline experience.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/20/us-libya-security-idUSKBN0MG2G520150320

[delrem]

1. That rag-tag army of freedom fighting rebels,

blazing their way across Libya in a wave of Toyota pickups,
defended from the skies by NATO warplanes,
liberating Libya from Gaddafi aka Satan,
how could it be possible to go from there to IS?

That was a Friends of Libya operation.
Exactly like Friends of Syria.
'Moderate' is the key word. "Moderate rebels".
The freedom and democracy loving good guys who are beyond reproach.
NOT military contractors.
NOT mercenaries.
NOT akin in any way to Reagan's proxy "contras".

These events have nothing to do with PNAC.
They have nothing to do with an overall pattern that started way long ago when Osama bin Laden was a CIA asset in the fight of freedom and democracy lovers everywhere, against the evil Soviet Empire.
There is no pattern.
There are no connections.

Victoria Nuland has evolved.

Now go back to sleep, it's all the rethugs fault anyhow.