United States forces are carrying out airstrikes on terrorist Islamic State (IS) positions in Sirte.
The United States of America (USA) government has responded positively to the request by the UN-backed government in Libya by carrying out airstrikes on positions of the terrorist group called Islamic State (IS) in the port city of Sirte, the group’s stronghold.
The US military headquarters, the Pentagon said on August 1, 2016 that the airstrikes were authorized by President Barack Obama to support government forces currently fighting the IS militants. "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," BBC quoted the Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.
He said the strikes hit "precision targets", including a tank, in response to a request from the Libyan administration in the past few days. The air strikes that started on Monday are the first such US military intervention co-ordinated with the Libyan unity government. There have been two previous US attacks on IS targets in Libya in February 2016 and in November 2015.
Reports say the US has formally started a sustained air campaign to degrade the IS group's capabilities in Sirte. The jihadists are said to have been losing ground there in recent months, but the armed groups fighting it have been witnessing an increasingly high death toll.
Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, is reported to have said in a televised address that the strikes caused "heavy losses". An advanced air campaign could speed up the removal of IS militants from Sirte, their biggest stronghold in the country.Government began an offensive against IS fighters in Sirte in May and said two weeks ago that it had made its largest gains to date.
Reports cite Western officials as saying that the number of IS militants in Libya, previously estimated at 6,000, is declining in the face of concerted government action and pressure from other militia. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, is cited as saying that fewer than 1,000, possibly several hundred, remained in Sirte, and no US forces were on the ground in connection with "this operation".
