John Kerry Urges Coalition to Address Growing ISIS Threat in Libya

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday at a meeting here of the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State that the group must step up its efforts to prevent the militants from gaining a “stranglehold” in Libya, where it has become a growing threat.

 

“We’re still not at the victory that we want to achieve, and will achieve, in either Syria or Iraq, and we have seen Daesh playing a game of metastasizing out to other countries, particularly Libya,” Mr. Kerry said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

 

Mr. Kerry, opening a day of meetings devoted to planning the next stages of the battle against the Sunni extremist group, said the formation of a national unity government in Libya would prevent the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, from seizing control of the country.

 

Warning that the stakes were high, he said, “The last thing in the world you want is a false caliphate with access to billions of dollars of oil revenue.”

 

Read More: John Kerry Urges Coalition to Address Growing ISIS Threat in Libya – The New York Times