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Official: US willing to strike Daesh in Libya

June 23, 2016 at 2:53 pm

The United States is willing to launch airstrikes against Daesh sites in Libya in the future, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.

“We don’t make a decision to carry out a military strike lightly,” Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook told CNN‘s Barbara Starr at a news conference Tuesday,

“We’ve been willing to take strikes in the past in Libya targeting ISIL [Daesh] leadership,” Cook said.

“We are prepared to do so again in the future. But this is a situation where the government is still taking shape. It is showing progress. Military forces aligned with the government are showing progress as well, particularly in the fight against ISIL [Daesh] in Sirte,” he added.

Cook explained that the Pentagon has been monitoring the situation in Libya and conducts ongoing consultations with the Libyan unity government and regional partners to assess the situation there.

He added that it is important to strengthen and support the Libyan government in order for them to be able to deal with the security issues they face.

The US official described the Libyan government troops advancement towards areas held by the militant group on the ground as “encouraging”, stressing that the Pentagon understands the threats posed by Daesh in Libya and elsewhere.