Posted on 02/07/2016 3:13:20 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The U.S. assesses that ISIS is ramping up the numbers of militants in Libya and that it has become harder for the group's fighters to enter Syria.
The U.S. estimate of ISIS militants in Libya has doubled as it has become harder for them to enter Syria, according to U.S. intelligence assessments.
There may now be up to 6,500 ISIS fighters in Libya, twice the number previously thought, according to several U.S. intelligence officials.
They attributed the increase to the U.S. analysis that ISIS is diverting more fighters to Libya from Syria -- and from Turkey when they cannot get into Syria.
"ISIS is investing heavily in Libya," one U.S. official said.
While the estimate of up to 6,500 is the most recent from military intelligence sources, others in the intelligence community don't agree and believe the number could be half that.
The trend began to emerge over the last six months of 2015, as indicated by the growth in numbers.
However, the official also strongly emphasized that the estimate is made up of "best guesses with low confidence," underscoring that the U.S. is not certain at this point how many fighters are there.
The build-up is one of the key reasons the Pentagon wants to increase aerial surveillance and reconnaissance over Libya.
At the same time, the U.S. believes the number of ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq has declined slightly to somewhere between 19,000 and 25,000 -- compared to the previous estimate of 20,000 to 31,500 -- according to two U.S. officials familiar with the latest information.
Both emphasized that these are all estimates at best.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
A bit like sitting on a waterbed.
Goes down here, rises up over there.
That’s going to be profitable for.. er, uhmmm...
Which side are “we” selling arms to again?
Ike must be groaning in his grave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg-jvHynP9Y
And don’t forget that she cackled and laughed about it as if she had really accomplished something.
There re just going to easy pickings, and That would be Libya. Somewhat docile, not a muslim war zone.
Isis is growing in Libya because that s where they are not being killed by the dozens.
Gaddafi was a beast of a man, I didn’t mourn his death.
However, what replaced his is just a mob of even more barbaric beasts. Intervention was premature and a mistake.
The worldwide network of Saudi-funded mosques preaching their Wahabbi extremism is the recruiting and training base for Sunni jihadis and terrorists.
They have ramped up to a production level of about a thousand new combatants a month, and they will be flowing somewhere - until those mosques and their other front groups get shut down, or at least monitored and regulated.
Since they are getting closed off from Syria, they will flow to Libya (or Europe, or the USA). If one terrorist organization is defeated, they will flock to the next. The root of the terrorist tree is the state religion of Saudi Arabia (a twisted sub-cult, of the fundamentally flawed religion of Islam), and the resources that flow from Gulf Arab oil profits into covert war against the West.
Chechen intelligence agents have also infiltrated the ranks of the militant group, according to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, who said he had sent undercover agents to train alongside its fighters at the start of the Syrian war.
“According to Ramzan Kadyrov, an extensive spy network has been set up inside Islamic State,” said Russian state TV, whose coverage usually reflects the Kremlin line.
“The republic's (Chechnya's) best fighters were sent there. They are gathering information about the structure and the number of terrorists, and are identifying targets for bombing and documenting the bombing’s results.”
http://in.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-russia-idINKCN0VH0U5
The leadership of Daesh/ISIS is saturated with operatives from involved countries that are guiding them in picking targets. That is why Russia is against bombing them.
So now they are going public with this revelation, trying to accomplish what?
Thanks for that graphic. What a pity that every word is true.
Good question, but that is the case.
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