ISIS, al-Qaida ‘Regrouping’ in Libya, What’s US Strategy? Congress Asks by Todd South – Military Times
ISIS and al-Qaida are regrouping in war-torn Libya as reports indicate Russians are pushing a military presence into the years-long civil war and some members of Congress want to know what the United States is doing about it.
Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on the status of Libya last week, on the same day that militants detonated a car bomb on the convoy of the chief of staff to the general who heads one of the two major armies vying for control of the country.
“Militias, criminals and terrorists” are operating with “impunity” in some areas of Libya, said Chris Blanchard, a specialist in middle eastern affairs in the Congressional Research Office’s Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division…
The militias are smuggling drugs, guns and people within and beyond the nation’s borders. Migrants flowing through Libya to Europe face sexual abuse, torture and enslavement, said committee Chair Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida.
Those problems and the activities of ISIS and al-Qaida are spilling into North Africa neighbors Mali, Chad, Sudan and into Egypt via arms trafficking…