By Abdelkader Assad
Who is who in the fight against ISIS
Libya is on an EU-UN honeymoon vacation nowadays after the arrival of the UN-backed government of accord. Why? Because to the west and the international community, this newly formed government will finish the honeymoon vacation after it has successfully paired with all Libyan parties across the country giving birth to the foreign intervention against “terrorism” in Libya. Whose baby would this call for quick intervention against terrorism in Libya be? The answer is yet unknown.
ISIS, which represents the intervention prompt for the west, has been deeply rooted in Libya and has expanded in both number and area across the country. The terrorist group has now a full control of Sirte, the hometown of former Libyan dictator, Muamar Gaddafi. They keep strong grip on the coastal city, they impose their rules, which they call Islamic rules, yet by and large, those rules are nowhere near Islam at least by proof of all Muslim scholars in the Arab world, including Libya’s Fatwa House.
ISIS militants also have a foothold in some parts of Benghazi and Sabratha, where reports say they have completely vanished after they had received a deathblow by both the city’s revolutionaries and the out-of-the-blue American raid.
Now as never before, reports by many prominent media outlets and newspapers have admitted to the west’s fault of dealing with Libya after the fall of Gaddafi, letting it slip easily into the chasm of the terror-stricken countries by ignoring to assume its responsibility in securing the country’s path toward building a free and democratic state in Libya. The US admitted, and so did the UK and other EU countries.
This negligence, whether intentional or otherwise, led to the existence of more than 5000 ISIS militants on the Libyan soil, according to press reports. These ISIS militants control a whole city, Sirte, that lies alongshore the Mediterranean, which irked Libya’s neighbor, Italy and made it push the whole EU to carry out any sort of intervention in Libya to stop the gush of illegal migrants upon the possibility that among them, there might be some ISIS “Jihadists”.
On April 20, the number of ISIS militants lurking in the mountainous district of Al-Fatayeh in Derna were defeated, killed, and whoever remained was pushed out of the city once and for all. The ISIS militants were defeated by Derna revolutionaries, they are now treading on the deserted highway back to Sirte, or maybe back to Benghazi. However, the question is, where is the western intervention against ISIS? Why wouldn’t the west carry out an airstrike, like the American one on Sabratha a couple of months ago, to kill the rest of ISIS militants who ran away from Derna after defeat? The west is free to ponder on this question, while ISIS militants make their way back to the terror group’s stronghold in Sirte.
So, who is fighting ISIS? Is it the western coalition that is striking ISIS back and forth in Iraq and Syria and is eying to continue its epic battle against the terror group in Libya, but only upon the request of the newly formed government, which is busy conceiving all of the hometown burdens? Or is it the Libyan revolutionaries across the country. I believe the west knows that the revolutionaries’ case of defeating ISIS in Derna is going to be such a living proof that is so undeniable.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Libya Observer