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Islamic State expanding in Libya and across wide area of Africa

Feb 24, 2016 10:46 am By Robert Spencer

“The rising threat from Libya comes as President Obama is being asked by many of his top military and intelligence advisers to approve the broader use of American military force in Libya to open another front against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.” He created this opportunity for the Islamic State with his ill-considered backing of jihadis against Gaddafi. Now he is reaping the consequences.

ISIS-Sirte-Libya

“U.S. Scrambles to Contain Growing ISIS Threat in Libya,” by Eric Schmitt, New York Times, February 21, 2016:

THIES, Senegal — The Islamic State’s branch in Libya is deepening its reach across a wide area of Africa, attracting new recruits from countries like Senegal that had been largely immune to the jihadist propaganda — and forcing the African authorities and their Western allies to increase efforts to combat the fast-moving threat.

The American airstrikes in northwestern Libya on Friday, which demolished an Islamic State training camp and were aimed at a top Tunisian operative, underscore the problem, Western officials said. The more than three dozen suspected Islamic State fighters killed in the bombing were recruited from Tunisia and other African countries, officials said, and were believed to be rehearsing an attack against Western targets.

Even as American intelligence agencies say the number of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria has dropped to about 25,000 from a high of about 31,500, partly because of the United States-led air campaign there, the group’s ranks in Libya have roughly doubled in the same period, to about 6,500 fighters. More than a dozen American and allied officials spoke of their growing concern about the militant organization’s expanding reach from Libya and across Africa on rules of anonymity because the discussions involved intelligence and military planning.

Islamic State leaders in Syria are telling recruits traveling north from West African nations like Senegal and Chad, as well as others streaming up through Sudan in eastern Africa, not to press on to the Middle East. Instead, they are being told to stay put in Libya. American intelligence officials, who described the recent orders from Islamic State leaders, say the organization’s immediate goal is to carve out a new caliphate in Libya, and there are signs the affiliate is trying to establish statelike institutions there.

“Libya has become a magnet for individuals not only inside of Libya, but from the African continent as well as from outside,” John O. Brennan, the director of the C.I.A., told a Senate panel this month.

The rising threat from Libya comes as President Obama is being asked by many of his top military and intelligence advisers to approve the broader use of American military force in Libya to open another front against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL….

“ISIS is spreading even to here,” said Col. Guirane Ndiaye, a Senegalese zone commander. “If we do not have a multinational effort, ISIS will spread even more.”

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


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Comments

  1. Jay Boo says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 11:10 am

    Not President Obama’s fault for Libya and1400 years of bloodshed..
    It is that filmmaker who mocked Allah’s messenger.
    Just ask hilarious Head-bump Hillary.

    • Michael Copeland says

      Feb 24, 2016 at 12:28 pm

      No mockery. The low-budget film depicted exactly what the texts say.

      • Jay Boo says

        Feb 24, 2016 at 12:40 pm

        Yes, Truth is inherently a mockery of Islam.

    • Stephen says

      Feb 24, 2016 at 10:43 pm

      Saudi is orchestrating the whole ISIS movements.

      Obama was told to slow down his army to be stationed there till his term end.

    • Shane says

      Feb 25, 2016 at 10:43 am

      Obama and Hillary aided ISIS by destroying Kadaffy; there is now no government in Libya which has led to chaos and increased the flow of Muslims to Europe and eventually to North America. It certainly looks like Obama is purposely aiding the jihad against the West.

  2. Angemon says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 11:32 am

    The rising threat from Libya comes as President Obama is being asked by many of his top military and intelligence advisers to approve the broader use of American military force in Libya to open another front against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL….

    I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.

    – Barack Hussein Obama:

    • mortimer says

      Feb 24, 2016 at 12:33 pm

      How can Obama create policy regarding Salafism when he is unlearned about Salafism? Without having reading the source texts of Islam and studied them along with the canonical commentaries and modern jihadist writings base on them, how can Obama consider himself an expert on jihad and how to combat it?

      • Beagle says

        Feb 24, 2016 at 7:48 pm

        How can Obama consider himself an expert on anything? He rolls out of bed with a grandiose sense of his own knowledge and abilities. His many failed assessments and actions, from “Al Qaeda is on the run” and “JV team” to his Iraq and Libya policies have not even dented his overinflated ego.

        Those of us who knew Obama was wrong then, and said so repeatedly, are simply demonized and Obama puts strawman arguments in our mouths to bolster his shaky, at best, record.

      • gravenimage says

        Feb 24, 2016 at 10:25 pm

        Mortimer, I would not assume Obama is ignorant about Islam as are so many Western politicians.

        He attended Qur’an class as s child, and has had links with large number of Muslims ever since.

        I think it is rather that the does not disagree with most of their aims.

        • Mark Swan says

          Feb 25, 2016 at 2:53 am

          I am sure some of their aims will be to target Him and his family…after the drones…
          death of Osama bin Laden…and many other events He is held responsible for…
          with nut cases combined with all the terrorist threat…He’ll be looking over his
          shoulder always…He knows this…and probably thinks on it often.

          No amount of being reasonable with Islam will help Him if the Jihads get their chance.

        • DFD says

          Feb 25, 2016 at 1:18 pm

          gravenimage says: “….He attended Qur’an class as s child, and has had links with large number of Muslims ever since….I think it is rather that the does not disagree with most of their aims.”

          Graven, interesting post, as usual.

          I think though he agrees fully with their ultimate aim, Islamization. However, he may well disagree with their methods, or most of their methods. He has to.

          I believe that he, like they themselves, fears the ‘backlash’. He knows they would be defeated disastrously, it may even put Islam itself into a long term, unrecoverable position.

          Consider this, when the brushfire resistance goes full whack (over 200 asylum centers destroyed this year, in less than 2 months, in Germany), they have no chance. Zero supply lines, no logistics whatsoever. It would result in an inferno for them that makes the 30 years war in Germany look banal. The female part of their population is, due to their “culture” (!), next to useless. Aggregating into armies is impossible for them, they are way behind enemy lines and could not build up a coherent command structure. And an army depends on logistics.

          Obama knows and understands that. And he could not protect them, neither could the ‘media’.

          Well, my thoughts…

  3. Dave says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 11:34 am

    ill-considered ? How about “illegal”…Libya posed no threat to the US nor its alleys , NATO and the UN had not mandated nor approved of bombing… yet Hillary and Obama decided to attack. This is the type of illegal war the left is always blaming the US for, yet its never mentioned. WMDs not there either. If Hillary makes it to the next round she should be hounded on this.

    • Mark Swan says

      Feb 25, 2016 at 2:56 am

      She probably will…things will heat up as the election gets closer

  4. mortimer says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 12:30 pm

    Saudi Arabia was so successful in exporting Salafism to the rest of the world that the whole Muslim world is literally catching fire.

    Salafism is the religion of ISIS and of Al Qaeda. They only disagree with KSA on one matter: who should lead the Salafi movement? Their answer is that House of Saud are apostates who should all be executed…just as the House of Saud slaughtered those who initially opposed them in Arabia.

    Fighting Salafism militarily will not be successful unless Salafists are deprogrammed right out of Islam.

    • Jay Boo says

      Feb 24, 2016 at 12:58 pm

      Only when Muslims are forced to recite the janazah prayer every minute of the hour of the day will they will become deprogrammed.

      • Jenny H says

        Feb 25, 2016 at 7:15 am

        What is the janazah prayer?

    • gravenimage says

      Feb 24, 2016 at 10:27 pm

      How do you “deprogram” any Muslims–let alone pious Salafists?

      • Mark Swan says

        Feb 25, 2016 at 2:59 am

        There seems to be only one way

        • DFD says

          Feb 25, 2016 at 1:25 pm

          Mark Swan says: “There seems to be only one way”

          I think you’re mistaken, there are several, shells, missiles and bombs – to name but three.

          Further, you asked what means “Anglo German”. I gather you are not a European, so, before the fun, a basic answer:

          Anglo-German means half English half German. In common language. Actually in reality it would mean German – German, because the the Angle region is part of northern Germany, just below the Danish border.

          Now, let’s have a LAUGH:

          Problem’s human language. Let me put it this way: Anglo-Saxon *should* mean German-German, for as I said, Angle or Anglo is in northern Germany. Saxony, there are several of them in Germany, the Capital of Saxony proper (that is the Sachsen/Saxons) is Dresden. Now, the/we English are often referred to as Anglo-Saxon, but that is wrong, because as English we are half French. So, should we be referred to as Franco-Saxons or Franco-Germans? Don’t say that to an Englishman – unless you’ve got insurance or back-up. Apart from that, it would be ultimately be wrong as well, since we/the English are Norman/Sachsen/Angles – with a bit of Celtic & Pict leftover. The Normans of course were Vikings gone native, like the Frisians in Germany. So, should we/the English properly called Norma-Saxons, or perhaps Anglo-Norma-Saxons?

          But that could be offensive to those with strong Galic/Celtic roots and relations, like the northern Irish English. It most certainly would drive our Scottish (Scot is Latin, in English it means: Raider) cousins up the… yep: Hadrians Wall!

          If you think this is it, Hah! We Europeans have a lot more like this 🙂

          Well, I hope I answered the basics in an enjoyable form, any question thereto, let me know.

  5. Jay Boo says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 12:37 pm

    Deprogram ISIS?

    DEPROGRAM the Muslims in ISIS with carpet bombing their camps and spraying Mecca with pig fat,

  6. guide inside says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    Go to http://www.jimbakkershow.com and see todays featured program with Michael Snyder of the “Economiccollapseblog” talking about the dynamics of what is happening in Syria that is NOT being reported in the news. Mainly about the 250,000 thousand troops and huge amounts of equipment, under the guise of war games, on the Syrian border about to invade. Many sites talking now talking about WWW lll.

  7. Dan Jones says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    What does the ac’s buddy obama think about this??? Never mind, he will get with us after his round is over

  8. 11B40 says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 4:34 pm

    Greetings:

    Earlier today, I watched France24’s English-language segment called “The Debate”.
    They had former General Dominque Trinquand on and he talked about Libya and an article in the French newspaper “Le Monde” which revealed that France and the USofA had special forces on the ground. With friends like “Le Monde” who needs enemies.

  9. wildjew says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 5:31 pm

    Hillary Clinton on Gaddafi: We came, we saw, he died

  10. RonaldB says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 10:41 pm

    We know the US is completely responsible for the spread of the Islamic State.

    Iraq provided the initial territory for ISIS. The US destroyed the government and security organizations of Iraq, leaving the Sunni-Shi’ite rivalries to determine who got what territory. The Islamic State got the lion’s share.

    Syria is a major outpost of the Islamic State. The US, for entirely murky reasons, provided financial, training, logistic and tactical support for jihadist groups trying to overthrow the Syrian government. The Syrian government subsequently lost control of a great deal of its territory, allowing the Islamic State and its atrocities to expand.

    And the US sponsored the coup which deposed Gaddafi, even though Gaddafi had publicly destroyed his chemical and nuclear facilities, renounced terrorism, and opened Libya up to inspection. The subsequent anarchy is a major stronghold for the Islamic State.

    One is tempted to think the best contribution the US could make, given its track record, is just stay out of the regional affairs, and leave the countries alone. Of course, this puts the Middle East firmly in the Russian sphere of influence, which is not advantageous for the US…but, that ship has long since passed.

    Worse, if the US becomes allied with any faction in the region, we will sooner or later find ourselves pressured to allow the members of that faction to immigrate to the US, after they are defeated and face beheading or worse.

  11. Stephen says

    Feb 24, 2016 at 10:45 pm

    Obama was told to slow down his army to be stationed there n was paid by Saudi.

  12. Charli Main says

    Feb 25, 2016 at 2:38 am

    “Islamic State leaders in Syria are telling recruits traveling north from West African nations like Senegal and Chad, as well as others streaming up through Sudan in eastern Africa, not to press on to the Middle East. Instead, they are being told to stay put in Libya.”

    And come the spring, jump on to rubber landing craft and push out into the Med, where they will be picked up by the eagerly awaiting, Royal Navy, French and Italian navies and rushed into Europe as ” poor, desperate refugees”.
    Doesn’t´t our humanitarianism just warm the cockles of your heart !!!!

  13. Kepha says

    Feb 25, 2016 at 5:17 am

    Before we invest in another risky military adventure, has anyone considered how much of the Islamic world itself Da’esh and its ilk are alienating and have alienated? Yes, they’re the ones with the fire in the belly and likely to spread some more; but there has already been pushback in a number of places.

    Claiming the Caliphate is a big deal, and I doubt that the wider Islamic establishment and populace will invariably fall into line with it. We should also never forget that the Caliphs in the early Islamic centuries did not die natural deaths. Islam is a revolutionary movement, and as one, it is subject to faction, infighting, dissension, and predilections for violence-begetting violence. Further, as with everyone else, Abubakr al-Baghdadi is mortal; and probably not in a position that ensures his indefinite safety.

    The biggest foreign policy concern I have is that Erdogan’s and Sa’udi adventurism might suck us into a war in which we have few stakes, and could well end up furthering the interests of people and movements who hate us.

  14. Jeremiah says

    Feb 25, 2016 at 7:01 am

    What a target for an OV-10!

  15. Ken Greer says

    Feb 26, 2016 at 12:26 am

    Why haven’t we destroyed that ISIS convoy? 100s of armed vehicles rolling along in
    one traffic lane. What’s the hold up? Get rid of them in one easy swoop.
    But, no we’ll sit by and watch them simply roll into another state, and another, and another….

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