On Monday, the United States launched a series of airstrikes in Libya, unleashing a salvo of bombs over ISIS-held locations in the port city of Sirte. US warplanes haven’t been this active over the skies of North African country since 2011 when NATO intervened in the Libyan Civil War and forced dictator Moammar Gadhafi out of power. For several months now, the US has been targeting ISIS command centers and colonized territories in Iraq and Syria, leaving militants to flee to safe zones in the coastal regions of Libya. But following a request from a desperate, semi-operational Libyan transitional government, overwhelmed by rogue Islamist paramilitary forces and anti-government splinter groups, the US felt compelled to accelerate its aerial operations in Libya. President Obama directly authorized the latest round of airstrikes after consulting with Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford.
“Today, at the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), the United States military conducted precision airstrikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya,” stated Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook.
Monday’s airstrikes were highly-precise and limited in scope, targeting an ISIS tank and two vehicles in ISIS-held areas of Sirte.
The Pentagon made sure to emphasize the fact that the US was not willing to commit ground troops to this “specific operation,” leaving the door open to the deployment of ground troops in the future. “With regard to this particular operation in Sirte, we do not expect U.S. [ground] forces to be part of this specific operation. I’m not going to speak to other us forces with regard to Libya overall,” stressed Cook. “We have indicated in the past that we have had forces on the ground getting a picture there, and that has been helpful and successful. But that is separate and apart from this operation.”
Cook’s calculated language is telling. According to the Military Times, “For months U.S. forces have conducted discreet ground operations, as small teams of special operations troops have moved in and out of Libya, making contact with rebel factions and gathering intelligence about the political and military situations there. Those personnel may continue to operate in Libya, but they are not involved in the current operation.”
With the help of US intelligence services, GNA forces have managed to take back control over key parts of Sirte, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Libya. “We are employing a variety of platforms to provide key information to the GNA-aligned forces,” AFRICOM spokesman Col. Mark Cheadle told the Military Times. “As well, we have the ability to conduct manned and unmanned airstrikes against [ISIS] targets in Sirte to help enable the GNA-aligned forces to make a decisive and strategic advance.”
However, ISIS militants still control scattered enclaves of the city and continue to put up an aggressive fight to defend their captured territories. “For the past eight weeks [Sirte] has been the site of fierce urban fighting between forces loyal to the unity government and entrenched Isis fighters,” reports The Guardian.
The Pentagon hopes that “additional airstrikes” will allow US allies on the ground, namely the GNA, to ultimately fully retake Sirte, further reversing ISIS territorial gains in the region.
But recapturing the city may be the easy part. The real question is: Can the GNA maintain and stabilize cities like Sirte after ousting Islamist forces? By most measures, Libya is a failed state. A significant number of Libyans don’t even recognize the GNA as legitimate representatives of a Libyan state. As a result, a menagerie of warlords and former Gaddafi loyalists have established rival governments throughout Libya, dividing the country into dysfunctional autonomous feudalistic states.
As The Daily Wire reported, “Without Gaddafi, the state of Libya has devolved into a no-man’s land, drawing in foreign fighters and gun smugglers quickly, with many establishing a base of operations in the country. Public employees haven’t been paid for months, basic civic duties have been neglected, and assurance of security have become all but pipe dreams.”
Authorizing airstrikes at the tail-end of his time in office, President Obama’s last-minute push to stabilize Libya appears to be a corrective to his devastating inaction in Syria that has left nearly 400,000 people dead. Never able to strike the right balance between force and retreat, Obama has erred on the side of caution, minimizing the US presence in the Middle East. Although GNA forces may make some more minor gains in its fight against ISIS over the next couple of months, the bloody battle for the future of Libya may continue indefinitely, forcing the next US Commander-in-Chief to inherit the mess and conduct many more open-ended operations.