US Air Force B-2 bombers attacked a pair of IS military camps in Libya, killing more than 80 fighters in an unusual mission that may have marked the final demonstration of military force of President Barack Obama’s global counter terrorism campaign.
The militants targeted in the air strikes included IS members “actively planning operations against our allies in Europe”, Defence Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday. He would not say more about the nature of the threat.
“These were critically important strikes for our campaign and a clear example of our enduring commitment to destroy ISIL’s cancer not only in Iraq and Syria but everywhere it emerges,” Carter said on his last full day as secretary of defence.
Among the questions facing the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump is how to counter IS in places like Libya, where extremists have vast swathes of ungoverned territory to hide, train and prepare attacks.
Carter defended the administration’s efforts to extinguish the IS threat, while acknowledging that it has spread from Iraq and Syria to North Africa, Afghanistan, Europe and parts of Asia. He said extremists will remain a concern in Libya as long as that country is embroiled in a civil war.
IS, he said, “has little nests, sometimes of people who rebranded themselves, who were there already and received inspiration and sometimes support”.
The B-2 bombers flew more than 30 hours roundtrip from Missouri and dropped about 100 munitions of a type known as a Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, which is equipped with GPS guidance control to help it find its target with precision. Each B-2 is capable of carrying up to 80 JDAMs.
But it is unusual for the US to send the bomber on a counterterrorism mission, particularly against such a modest number of targets like the camps in Libya.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said it was the first time the B-2s were used in combat since the 2011 air campaign that forced Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from power and led to his killing.
The camps were located about 45 kilometres southwest of the central coastal city of Sirte, Cook said. He and Carter said the mission was undertaken in cooperation with Libya’s government of national accord, which has been unable to assert control over the whole country.
Cook said some of the militants had fled to the desert camps from the former IS stronghold of Sirte to “reorganise.” “They posed a security threat to Libya, the region, and US national interests,” he told reporters.
The initial assessment is the strikes were successful, he said, adding that Washington was prepared to further support Libyan efforts to defeat IS.
Wednesday's massive strike saw the B-2s and Reaper drones unleash about 100 bombs on the IS training camps -- equating to more than one bomb per jihadi that was killed.
The camps were located about 45 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the coastal city of Sirte, Kadhafi's former home town that IS for a time turned into a stronghold as it attempted to expand its presence in Libya.
Speaking on his last day in office, Carter said the targets "certainly are people who were actively plotting operations in Europe, and may also have been connected with some attacks that have already occurred in Europe."
The air assault came a month after the United States had officially wrapped up its military operations in and around Sirte.
The Pentagon launched that mission, Operation Odyssey Lightning, on August 1 and it comprised about 500 strikes.
When operations concluded last month, following Sirte's "liberation," the Pentagon left open the possibility of conducting additional anti-IS attacks if Libya's Government of National Accord asked for help in doing so.
Wednesday's strike was conducted in full coordination with the GNA, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said, noting the operation had been authorized by outgoing President Barack Obama.
He displayed brief footage taken ahead of the strike showing a group of men standing by two camouflaged pick-up trucks and unloading what appeared to be bombs or rockets.
Officials said no civilians were thought to have been killed and no women or children were present during the massive strike.
- 15 air tankers -
Cook would not discuss why the Air Force chose to use the B-2s, or whether it was a show of force as Obama leaves the White House ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday.
"The use of the B-2 demonstrates the capability of the United States to deliver decisive precision force to the Air Force's Global Strike Command over a great distance," Cook said.
The United States has 20 B-2 bombers and the Air Force needed to fly 15 air tankers to ensure refueling over the course of the lengthy mission, Air Force spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder said.
The fall of Sirte, located 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of Tripoli, was a major setback for IS, which has also faced military defeats across Syria and Iraq.
Libya descended into lawlessness after the NATO-backed ousting of longtime dictator Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations emerging and well-armed militias vying for control of its vast oil wealth.
"These strikes will degrade ISIL's ability to stage attacks against Libyan forces and civilians working to stabilize Sirte, and demonstrate our resolve in countering the threat posed by ISIL to Libya, the United States and our allies," Cook said, using an alternate IS acronym.
Trump's position on Libya is unclear and his public statements have reflected shifting views.
In 2011, he urged foreign military intervention to topple Kadhafi.
"We should do on a humanitarian basis, immediately go into Libya, knock this guy out very quickly, very surgically, very effectively, and save the lives," he said.
Then in 2015, he said the world would be "100 percent" better off if Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Kadhafi in Libya were still in power, adding that human rights abuses are "worse than they ever were" in the two countries.
