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Islamic State expands its territory in Libya

May 31, 2015 8:39 pm By Robert Spencer

Libya jihadisNothing to be concerned about. Our learned and wise leaders assure us that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam, and hence has no appeal among Muslims, and that it is, contrary to all appearances, on the defensive. So relax. Let’s go bowling. The good times will never end.

“Western Officials Alarmed as ISIS Expands Territory in Libya,” by Suliman Ali Zway and David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times, May 31, 2015:

TRIPOLI, Libya — The branch of the Islamic State that controls Surt has expanded its territory and pushed back the militia from the neighboring city of Misurata, militia leaders acknowledged Sunday.

In the group’s latest attack, a suicide bomber killed at least four fighters on Sunday at a checkpoint west of Misurata on the coastal road to Tripoli, according to local officials and Libyan news reports.

The continued expansion inside Libya of the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has alarmed Western officials because of its proximity to Europe, across the Mediterranean.

Four years after the removal of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the near collapse of the Libyan government has left no central authority to check the group’s advance or even partner with Western military efforts against it.

Two armed factions, each with its own paper government, are fighting for control, and each has focused more on internal quarrels than on defeating the Islamic State.

The group’s expanding turf in Libya also gives it an alternative base of operations even as it appears to be gaining ground in other regions — in Palmyra in Syria and in Ramadi in Iraq.

The gains come despite an American-led bombing campaign aimed at rolling back the group’s original territory across the border between those countries.

Suliman Ali Mousa, an officer with the brigade from Misurata, confirmed in a telephone interview on Sunday that over the past two days its forces had retreated in the face of Islamic State advances to the east, south and west of Surt. Islamic State fighters have captured the Gardabya air base, about 12 miles south of Surt; it had been all but destroyed by NATO airstrikes during the 2011 campaign against Colonel Qaddafi, but Libyans describe it as a strategic foothold.

Toward the east, Mr. Mousa’s brigade retreated from its base in a water treatment facility, leaving the Islamic State in control as far as the town of Nofilya, another extremist stronghold. And toward the West the Misuratan forces had also pulled back about 12 miles toward their home city….

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Filed Under: Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), Libya Tagged With: Surt


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Comments

  1. Angemon says

    May 31, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    Western Officials Alarmed as ISIS Expands Territory in Libya

    That’s an unorthodox way to retreat, but if the WH says they’re on the run, like al-qaeda before…

    • Huck Folder says

      Jun 4, 2015 at 1:52 am

      “So relax. Let’s go bowling”

      I think you mean golf Robert..

      But obuMBoy will be tee’d off if IS loses big anywhere.

  2. Matthieu Baudin says

    Jun 1, 2015 at 3:21 am

    …”The continued expansion inside Libya of the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has alarmed Western officials because of its proximity to Europe, across the Mediterranean.”…

    What’s the problem, ISIS is already in Europe and sending down roots.

    • Lia Wissing says

      Jun 1, 2015 at 4:52 am

      Sure you want to go bowling? Why don’t we rather go watch a game of golf?

      • John C. Barile says

        Jun 1, 2015 at 11:12 am

        We can always watch a live feed of Islamic State executions from the ancient amphitheater in Palmyra–an increasingly popular pastime in jihadist subculture. /sarc

  3. wildjew says

    Jun 1, 2015 at 7:22 am

    “Islamic State…..is, contrary to all appearances, on the defensive. So relax. Let’s go bowling. The good times will never end….”

    This sentiment accords nicely with Mr. Greenfield’s piece this morning over at Frontpagmag, “America Is Being Run Just Like Baltimore.”

  4. underbed cat says

    Jun 2, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    Who is the designer for the terrorist outfits…..you know they (nothing to do with islam)
    really know how to market (savagery) nothing to do with islam.So clean.

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