Pentagon ‘Monitoring’ ISIS Training Operations in Libya

Hundreds Training in East Libya

African Command chief General David Rodriguez says that the US military is keeping a close watch on a fledgling ISIS training operation which has been set up in eastern Libya.

The operation, which seems to be related to a faction along the Egypt border pledging loyalty to them last month, is said to be training “a couple of hundred fighters” for ISIS.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about the program, and Gen. Rodriguez conceded that it was unclear what actual ties the group has with ISIS, apart from pledging loyalty to them.

Rodriguez says the trainees are Libyan militia members who are “trying to make a name or trying to make a connection” by joining up with the putative ISIS emirate in the area.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.