Libya: Arab League aware of “difficult circumstances” against IS

After Tobruk-based government’s last week call for the intervention of Arab states to help it fight the militants of the Islamic State (IS) in Libya, the Arab League held an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday and acknowledged that “the situation has become more pressing in the difficult circumstances to speed up putting together an Arab strategy” to combat IS although the Tripoli-based government stated that any foreign intervention in Libya would jeopardize U.N peace talks.

The League agreed to draft a military support strategy and decided to meet again on August 27 at its headquarters in Cairo to further discuss the matter since there “is an urgent need” to confront Daesh’s terrorism. Egypt strongly supports the intervention in Libya.

European countries might join the Arab League after United Kingdom’s ambassador to Libya Peter Millett told French media that his country could participate in airstrikes against IS in the North African country because it would be part of a “global plan” to defeat the extremist group.

European countries have been working on a military plan to intervene in Libya in order to curb the arrival of illegal migrants departing from the country’s coast.

The Tobruk government said it only has two aircrafts.

However, the General National Congress stated that the intervention of the Arab League without its approval will be interference in the country’s domestic affairs and that could hamper the progress of the U.N talks that are said to be near an agreement between the rival governments. The Arab League does not recognize the government in Tripoli which forced the internationally recognized government to flee to Tobruk. The electoral mandate of the Tobruk based parliament will be ending in October, thereby making it urgent to reach an agreement before this deadline.