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| Africa North | |
| Italy Says IS has 5,000 Fighters in Libya | |
| 2016-03-10 | |
| [AnNahar] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... (IS) group has around 5,000 fighters in Libya with the capacity to carry out deadly raids into neighboring countries, Italia's foreign minister told parliament on Wednesday. The figure is at the top end of recent Western estimates of the number of IS fighters in Libya.
Italia last week dispatched a reported 50 members of its special forces to join US, British and French agents already on reconnaissance and intelligence operation services in Libya. Rome has also recently authorised the United States to launch drone strikes into its former colony from an airbase in Sicily in what has been seen as a sign of Western powers moving towards more active involvement in the country. Gentiloni told the Senate there were no plans for action beyond the possible deployment of an Italian-led peacekeeping force if and when Libya forges a unified national government with the authority to request outside security support. "The government will not be dragged into a pointless adventure that would be potentially dangerous for our national security," the minister said. "Military interventions are not the solution," Gentiloni added, recalling that "Libya is six times the size of Italia and has 200,000 gunnies between the militias and the army." | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |