At least 34 Libyan pro-government fighters were killed on Tuesday and 100 wounded in clashes with Islamic State militants as they continued their assault on the ISIS stronghold of Surt, Libya. – New York Times
The Islamic State terror group in Libya continues to grow inside the oil-rich North African state and is threatening attacks against Europe and elsewhere, the general nominated to lead the U.S. Africa Command told a Senate hearing Tuesday. – Washington Free Beacon
U.S. advisers on the ground have picked targets, but the White House has yet to approve airstrikes to support the fledgling Libyan government's fight against ISIS, President Obama's nominee to head U.S. Africa Command said Tuesday. – Military.com
The Marine Corps general nominated to lead U.S. forces in Africa said Tuesday the United States has a small number of troops on the ground in Libya and no more are needed "at the moment." – Associated Press
Emily Estelle writes: The Libyan civil war, like the Syrian civil war, needs a real resolution, not a back-room deal worked out in European hotels. In some ways, Secretary Kerry is also right—the U.S. needs a comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIS, and Al Qaeda, throughout the region. However, a comprehensive strategy is exactly what we don’t have. We are whacking various moles and negotiating “settlements” that settle nothing while ISIS adapts and Al Qaeda grows. – Fox News
Federica Saini Fasanotti writes: The long-advocated national-level solution of political unity does not, in fact, seem possible. Instead, a confederation of the three regions built on the original disposition of tribes and natural borders could probably assure a deeper stability. – Brookings Institution
“A confederal model for Libya” (Federica Saini Fasanotti, Order from Chaos)
“While UNSMIL’s efforts have been commendable, the international community should seriously consider how to do more in Libya. It’s better to devise and implement an intervention plan now than wait for a true emergency in Libya. The international community must think about and articulate a real strategy, not merely implement tactical operations. Given the dramatically deteriorated security situation today, it seems impossible to imagine a non-security related intervention, even in defense of the soldiers called to the simple mission of protecting the new coalition government. One approach to consider is helping Libyans build a confederal state, divided into three large regions: Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan (or perhaps more if the Libyan people deem it appropriate). Perhaps it is time that such provinces become more autonomous -- following different paths as they choose, based on their unique ethnic, social, religious, and political origins. This is an extreme solution, of course. But it is clear that the international community, which had been so much a part of the Libyan revolution, cannot now permit the failure of Libya as a state.”