Key Highlights
- Islamic State militant group has managed to gain full control of the Libyan key city of Sirte.
- The Militant intention is to turn the city as it capital the way they did in Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.
- Islamic State militant (IS) group which is an offshoot of al Qaeda is known for committing brutal killing and atrocities. Recently the militant group crushed an attempted uprising by local leaders killing 57 – some through beheading and crucifixion.
- Islamic State situation is severe prompting the Arab League to meet on 18th august 2015 to discuss military intervention against group.
- Libyan city of Sirte places the militant group strategically in a powerful position to expend their campaigns west towards Tripoli and east towards Benghazi.
Analysis
Islamic State effectively establishing a capital on the Mediterranean Sea in the Libyan city of Sirte offers the militant group with a powerful position to expand west and east though there are might encounter resistance from formidable militias and groups opposed to their presence.
According to a report by Soufan Group, an organization that provides strategic security intelligence service, the Sirte situation has worsened in the recent weeks.
The militants have exhibited its trademark of brutality against local leaders who tried to oppose the group’s rule.
Last week Libya government sought the intervention of the Arab League in countering ‘Daesh’ (IS) positions in Sirte Libya. Arab League comprises of 22-member political body drawn from Arab countries in North Africa, Arabia and Horn of Africa. The league main goal unite their relations between member States safeguard their independence and sovereignty.
Libya is faced by looming Islamic State crisis prompted the Arab League to convene an emergency meeting in Cairo Egypt on 18th August 2015 to deliberate the issues that have accelerated Islamic State militants activities in Libya.
Another report on IH Janes— www.janes.com , Libya efforts to expel Islamic State from Sirte unlikely to succeed without coordinated national approach.
Forecast
Islamic State camping tents in Sirte Libya comes at a time the Arab League has engagement with Takfiris in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
The League however agreed to allow military intervention to fight the Daesh in Libya but have to be armed directly by the League States. Egypt previously has carried military airstrikes against the Islamic State in Libya after videotaped beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts on the shores of the Mediterranean in February.
Egypt has called for support in re-arming the Libyan government, while Algeria, which shares a border with Libya, labeled the situation in Sirte a possible threat to the entire region.
Islamic State militant group has demonstrated a highly successful pattern of seizing, consolidating fighters while expanding its territories. In the coming days this pattern of expansion and brutality is expected to continue unless countered by an effective Libyan government aided by sustained international assistance.
