Libya rejects U.S.-led offensive against Islamic State, seeks aid

Libya rejects U.S.-led offensive against Islamic State, seeks aid

There is, however, a catch.

The Obama administration has shown little willingness to engage deeply in Libya since the 2012 terrorist attack there that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The overall posture of withdrawal has seemed only to accelerate since last year, when Libya’s chaotic election gave rise to two separate governments now vying for control of the nation.

Washington and its European allies have offered rhetorical support for Mrs. Bugaighis‘ government, which is pushing a secular message from Tobruk.

But the West also has granted a kind of unofficial legitimacy to the other government, in Tripoli, since the United Nations began engaging it recently in a peace process that aims for new elections to be held and a unity government to be formed at some point.

The process has yielded little progress. Militias loyal to the Tobruk and the Tripoli governments continued carrying out attacks against each other last week as the latest round of talks came to a close in Morocco.

Then there is the Islamic State, which is keen to exploit the situation.

U.S. officials say Islamic State-aligned groups now control the key oil port town of Derna. Officials in Mrs. Bugaighis‘ Tobruk government say the foothold is actually much wider, with ISIS fighters occupying territory in as many as six cities and towns, including parts of Tripoli, despite the capital being under the nominal control of a different Islamist group.

The Islamist-leaning parliament in Tripoli is led by a group calling itself the Libya Dawn movement. Although the movement is said to control vast territory through a network of loyal militias, debate is heated over the extent to which it has facilitated, or at least turned a blind eye to, the Islamic State’s rise in Libya.

In a February interview with The Washington Times, Aref Ali Nayed, a top adviser on security policy to the secular government in Tobruk, suggested that the two are working hand in hand.

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