PRESS RELEASE
NATO About To Start Next Phase of Libya War
May 20, 2016 (EIRNS)—Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters en route back to Washington from Brussels, that the United States could begin combat operations against the Islamic State in Libya “in days.” During meetings with other NATO officials, Dunford confirmed that the Alliance was awaiting a formal request from the recently-installed Libyan Government of National Accord to send combat forces and weapons into the country to battle ISIS. Dunford confirmed that “there will be a long-term mission in Libya.”
The pending Libya operations by NATO was a topic of discussion at the NATO foreign ministers meeting on Thursday and Friday. That session also agreed on plans to escalate NATO naval operations in the Mediterranean to deter new refugee flows into Europe, and it ratified the formal invitation to Montenegro to join NATO. Montenegro is the first country since 2009 to be formally invited to join the Alliance, and the Russian government immediately issued a statement denouncing the action as a further provocation against Moscow.
