United Nations experts say the Daesh terror group has “significantly” strengthened its foothold in Libya, which is still grappling with the consequences of a NATO military intervention in 2011.
In a report to the Security Council, a panel of six UN experts said Daesh is taking advantage of the “political and security vacuum,” which was created in Libya after the NATO-backed ouster of former dictator, Muammad Gaddafir, in 2011.
The report notes that Daesh has successfully recruited young men from local tribes and also enlisted military officers from the former regime of Gaddafi in recent years.
The experts further said Libya has become an attractive destination for foreign militants who mainly transit through Sudan, Tunisia and Turkey, adding that significant numbers of foreign terrorists have arrived in the Daesh-held coastal city of Sirte.
The panel also voiced alarm over Daesh attacks against Libyan oil installations as well as massacre of people. Read full in Press
It’s A ‘Sh*t Show’ Obama Says, As He Blames UK, Europe
Speaking to The Atlantic, Obama acknowledged the problems faced by Libya since the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, referring to the situation as a “mess” – and in private as a “s**t show.”
“…We actually executed this plan as well as I could have expected: We got a UN mandate, we built a coalition, it cost us $1 billion — which, when it comes to military operations, is very cheap. We averted large-scale civilian casualties, we prevented what almost surely would have been a prolonged and bloody civil conflict. And despite all that, Libya is a mess,”he said.
He went on to state that the ‘mess’ was largely due to the inaction of British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was “distracted by a range of other things” at the time.
He also criticized France’s then-President Nicolas Sarkozy for being too eager to take credit for the intervention to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.
“Sarkozy wanted to trumpet the flights he was taking in the air campaign,” Obama said, “despite the fact that [the US] had wiped out all the air defenses and essentially set up the entire infrastructure.” Read full on RT