US launches airstrikes targeting IS in Libya

President Barrack Obama approved the strikes after the request of the Libyan government of National Accord to support forces trying to suppress ISIS in its main stronghold in Libya, the Pentagon added. Serraj, said in a televised statement that American warplanes attacked the IS bastion of Sirte.

“We need help”, said the mayor of nearby Misrata, Mohamed Eshtewi.

The head of the Presidential Council of Libya and GNA Prime Minister Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj said in a statement broadcast on Libyan government television that the strikes caused losses in the ranks of Daesh’s structure, without providing details.

“We have seen those forces work very effectively to collapse ISIL’s control down to a very small area, which really comprises the city center of Sirte”, Davis said.

Cook added that “additional USA strikes will continue to target ISIS in Sirte in order to enable [Libya’s unity government] to make a decisive, strategic advance”.

CIA Director John Brennan said the presence of ISIS in Libya is most developed and unsafe too.

In his televised statement, Mr Sarraj said the USA action was limited to Sirte and its immediate surroundings.

“This is the time for the worldwide community to live up to its promises to the Libyan people”, Serraj said.

He also noted that the strikes will not go beyond Sirte and its surroundings.

But foreign intervention is politically sensitive, and the GNA has hesitated to make formal requests for help.

Islamic State militants, also known as ISIS or ISIL, seized control of Sirte in February 2015. The US has conducted occasional airstrikes in Libya in recent months.

According to the Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook, US operated aircraft and drones were used in these first attacks and additional strikes against the ISIS group in Sirte will be launched.

The U.S. action came at the request of the UN-backed government that succeeded Moammar Khadafy’s overthrown regime. Some number of Islamic State fighters have been killed in the strikes thus far, though he declined to give a specific number.

Sarraj said his government requested the U.S. “operate only in the area of Sirte and for a limited period of time with air raids and without ground troops”, and that his government refuses any type of foreign intervention without its specific mandate or authorisation.

“The goal for the GNA is to eliminate ISIL from Sirte and from the country, and we’ll be working closely with them”.

US and Libyan officials estimate that several hundred Islamic State fighters remain in Sirte.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter likens the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as the parent tumor the USA -led coalition is bent on destroying. The Pentagon estimates fewer than 1,000 fighters remain in the city.

But, the number of IS fighters in Libya has dwindled from as many as 6,000 to now just some hundreds, weakened by an offensive launched in May by local militias, including many under the control of the United Nations -brokered government.

Monday’s strikes were the first aimed at ISIS in Libya by the US since February.

IS has taken advantage of the chaos in Libya after the 2011 ouster of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi to increase its presence in the oil-rich country. The power and security vacuum left the country a breeding ground for militias and militants, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates.