ISIS threat growing in Libya, West, says US

High Negotiations Committee (Syrian Opposition body) spokesman Salem al-Meslet kisses a banner showing pictures of children killed during the Syrian war at the Palais des Nations outside the UN office in Geneva on Tuesday. (Photo: AFP)

Washington and its allies vowed on Tuesday to “accelerate and intensify” the fight against ISIS jihadists in Syria and Iraq but distanced themsel-ves from calls for military action to curb the group’s expansion in Libya. Meeting in Rome, ministers from the 23 countries invol-ved in the US-led coalition battling the extremist group said progress was being made in pushing ISIS back in Syria and Iraq and cutting off its sources of finance and energy. And they pledged to step up their action.

“We will intensify and accelerate the campai-gn against Daesh in Iraq and Syria, act in concert to curb its global ambitions, and take every measure to ens-ure the protection of our citizens,” they said in a statement. “We reaffirm our commitment to deliver a lasting defeat to this barbaric organisation.”

The statement expres-sed concern over “the growing influence” of ISIS in Libya but stopped short of threatening airstrikes. It said only that the allies wou-ld “continue to monitor closely developments there, and stand ready to support” a proposed national unity government that is struggling to establish itself.

Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni and US secretary of state John Kerry opened the talks by telling their allies that ISIS was adapting to the pressure on its heartland and redirecting its efforts towards Libya and into attacks like those in Paris, Ankara and San Bernadino, Califo-rnia. “We are surely not here to brag about anything,” Mr Kerry cautioned after saying ISIS fighters have lost 40 per cent of their territory in Iraq and 20 per cent in Syria. Mr Gentiloni added: “If anything we need to be ever more wary and more watchful because we know that the more Daesh is squeezed in its core territories, the more tempted it is to pursue its terrorist activities elsewhere. We are witnessing rene-wed activity in Libya and in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

Within the coalition, Italy has taken the lead in planning how to address the ISIS threat which is just a short boat ride from its southern shores, in and around the Libyan coastal city of Sirte.

But Rome’s focus is firmly on trying to rally the international community behind efforts to get a national unity government established and helping it stabilise Libya.

Direct military intervention against ISIS fighters is not on the immediate agenda, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said, rubbishing reports that Paris was pushing for strikes. Mr Gentiloni also played down the need for “hasty military intervention.”