For the third time in a little over a week, US Africa Command has reported an airstrike against southern Libya on Friday, this time declaring 17 people killed. All were declared “terrorists” in the official statement.
AFRICOM’s statement offers fewer details than those of the previous two
strikes. Those attacks were near Murzuq, but there was no official
indication where this new strike was. Locals in Sebha said they heard
explosions to the south, so it’s likely in the same general area.
AFRICOM further said that the attacks are meant to target ISIS fighters,
and dubbed the slain terrorists, saying no civilians were killed. This
differs from the past attacks, in which the statement only declared
everyone killed a “suspect.”
There is still no evidence who is actually being killed in south Libya,
and the UN has reported evidence of a lot of civilians being slain. The US seems to be eager to escalate in this region,
and due to its remoteness, even by Libyan standards, getting reliable
information out of the area is difficult, meaning some things just
aren’t going to be known for awhile.
US Strike Kills 17 as South Libya Operations Continue to Escalate
AFRICOM officials say attacks are targeting ISIS fighters
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.
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