NYT: ISIS’ Grip on Libyan City Gives It a Fallback Option
MISURATA, Libya — Iraqi commanders have been arriving from Syria, and the first public beheadings have started. The local radio stations no longer play music but instead extol the greatness of the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
When the Libyan arm of the Islamic State first raised the group’s black flag over the coastal city of Surt almost one year ago, it was just a bunch of local militants trying to look tough.
Today Surt is an actively managed colony of the central Islamic State, crowded with foreign fighters from around the region, according to residents, local militia leaders and hostages recently released from the city’s main prison.
“The entire Islamic State government there is from abroad — they are the ones who are calling the shots,” said Nuri al-Mangoush, the head of a trucking company based here in Misurata, about 65 miles west of the Islamic State’s territory around Surt. Many of its employees live in Surt, and five were jailed there recently.
As the Islamic State has come under growing military and economic pressure in Syria and Iraq, its leaders have looked outward.
Update #1: Islamic State Entrenches in Sirte, Libya (WSJ)
Update #2: How ISIS Halted a Revolt After Cleric’s Death (WSJ)
WNU Editor: The Libyan government and military are too fragmented to drive out the Islamic State from this part of the country. What will be needed will be a joint Libyan-Egyptian-NATO-U.S. military intervention. Unfortunately .... Egypt is focused on their insurgency in the Sinai, Europe is militarily weak and unwilling to intervene into Libya again, and 2016 is a U.S. election year with Hillary Clinton being the Democrat Presidential nominee .... revisiting her policy and support for the overthrow of Libya dictator Ghadaffi that has helped bring about this mess is something that I suspect she will not want to be brought up. My prediction .... this will be a problem for the next U.S. President to solve (or contain) whoever he or she may be.
Libya was done right by a courageous and erudite president using "smart" power unlike that cowboy Bush.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely insane! Qaddafi would have never let these animals thrive in his Country, and the piece of shit resident, had no authority, or congressional approval to take out the leadership. it was on purpose so that his relatives and muslim friends could startva war and a caliphate.. He's muslim brotherhood and a criminal who should be hung as traitors are supposed to be...
DeleteHi Scott,
DeleteIf I may.
Aizino, as is his MO when it comes to his O'ness, was merely exhibiting trademark contrariness tastefully dressed in sarcasm.
While I cannot vouch for anyone's sanity on here (most especially my own), you can rest assured that Aizino has about as much use for Obama as a fish for a bicycle.
This is a sad shame for Qaddafi's birthplace; a city that once was a destination and meeting place for those who were working on African unity. It is no coincidence at all to me that Sirte, with its convention centre, hotels and infrastructure, was targeted and destroyed. The destruction of Sirte was a crime against not only Libya and Africa, but against humanity.
ReplyDeleteFish caught on bicycle
ReplyDeletehttp://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/images/mo/MOSTLbikefish_dk1270_320x480.jpg