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audio 7:07 Still, taken at face value, the figures cited by the State Department suggest that the Islamic State could still have a significant footprint inside Libya. And we wouldnÂ’t be surprised if this is the case. On a per capital basis, Libya and Tunisia exported as many foreign fighters (or more) than any other countries for the war in Iraq and the follow-on conflicts. And the Islamic State made Libya one of its top priorities from 2014 to 2016, reversing these flows by sending some fighters back to their home countries in North Africa. In 2014, as the State...

As Libya wrangles over who is going to control its oil, the Islamic State is closing in, using sporadic attacks designed to rattle nerves and force oil-field evacuations or worker strikes out of fear. In recent months, ISIS has deployed a large number of fighters at several oil fields, and has been planning attacks on foreign workers as well as oil wells. In February 2015, one of the ISIS-inspired attacks on the Mabruk field killed nearly 12 people including four foreign nationals. In early January, ISIS launched an attack on the Es-Sidra and Ras Lanuf oil export terminals in the...

Libya is embroiled in a civil war in which various militias are too busy fighting each other to worry much about fighting ISIS, and teams of U.S. Special Operations Forces working to change that have had little success. The ongoing chaos has allowed ISIS to continue growing and solidifying its presence along the coast. Senior ISIS commanders are taking advantage of the territory to escape U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. ... Obama gathered his national security advisers last Thursday to talk about the fight against ISIS and asked them to prepare options to address the group's presence in Libya...

New intelligence assessments show that the number of Islamic State fighters has dropped in Iraq and Syria but is rising in Libya, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday. According to the official, reports suggest there are 19,000-25,000 IS fighters in Iraq and Syria, compared to an earlier range of 20,000 to more than 30,000. The newly declassified numbers back up recent comments from military commanders and other defense officials who have argued that the U.S.-led coalition airstrikes are having an impact on Islamic State militants and causing them to lose ground in both countries. ...

UPDATED: Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said that the conflict in Libya was Italy's main priority, following a meeting with French President François Hollande on Thursday morning. "Libya is the next focus," he said. "We must give top priority to Libya, which is likely to be the next emergency." Hollande had called the meeting with Renzi to discuss ways Italy can support France in its military campaign against Isis. On Monday Italian media reports suggested France would ask Italy to commit soldiers on the ground in Libya, according to La Repubblica. But Renzi was still unclear as to what...

Libya's internationally recognised government appealed to Arab states over the weekend to launch air strikes against militants allied to the Islamic State (IS) group who have expanded their hold on the eastern coastal city of Sirte. "The Libyan government, unable to ward off these terrorist groups because of the arms embargo, and out of its historic responsibility toward its people, calls on brotherly Arab countries ... to launch airstrikes against specific targets of [Islamic State group] locations in Sirte in coordination with our relevant agencies," the statement said. The statement came late on Saturday as the IS affiliate seized control...

Europe is accepting these refugees for humanitarian reasons. Anyone who raises concerns about how the Islamic State is exploiting the situation to send people to Europe and the U.S. to sow blood and destruction is denounced as “Islamophobic.” All will be well and all manner of thing will be well as we demonize and silence the “Islamophobes,” refrain from “provoking” the jihadis, and march together into the glorious multicultural future. “Sources: ISIS terrorists using chaotic Libya as new ‘route to the West,’” by Adam Housley, Fox News, June 12, 2015 (thanks to Kenneth): EXCLUSIVE: Islamic State terrorists are said to...

Militants from Libya's Islamic State affiliate beheaded eight Libyan guards in an attack on a central oil field last week during which the extremists abducted nine foreigners, a Libyan spokesman said Monday. In the Philippines, authorities said Monday that four of their nationals were among the nine abducted from the oil field. An Austrian, a Czech, a Bangladeshi and a Ghana national were also taken while one hostage remains unidentified. Friday's attack on the al-Ghani oil field near the town of Zalla, some 750 kilometers (470 miles) southeast of the capital, Tripoli, was part of a series of deadly assaults...

Over 5,000 foreign fighters have flocked to Libya to join the ranks of radical Islamist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the country’s foreign minister, Mohammed al-Dairi. Al-Dairi, in comments made to the Libyan news outlet The Libya Herald, said there were many “terrorist leaders” who had arrived in the country from foreign countries, joining terror groups such as ISIS and Ansar al-Sharia.

Catherine Herridge reported on "America's Newsroom" today about ISIS's expansion into Libya, which includes training camps and support networks. Herridge said that a senior U.S. intelligence official confirmed that more than a dozen ISIS members from Iraq and Syria are now operating in Libya, but the U.S. does not have the targeting authority to take them out. Herridge added that counter-terrorism sources have confirmed that the new support base for ISIS in eastern Libya is now providing "tangible assistance" in the form of training camps around the city of Derna, in addition to a growing number of Libyan fighters joining...

The Islamic State has expanded its presence in the failed state of Libya, and if not confronted, the terror group may be able to gain strategic territory in its quest to form an Islamic Caliphate, according to the Washington Institute’s Andrew Engel. While the United States and its allies are focused on Syria and Iraq, IS (commonly referred to as ISIL or ISIS) has its eyes beyond that fight. The report, titled The Islamic State’s Expansion in Libya, says Libya’s ex-ambassador to the Emirates Aref Ali Nayed is worried that if Washington does not act, IS will use Libya to...

A local jihadist group has claimed a Libyan city in the name of ISIS, showing how the "Islamic State" could flout traditional notions of territorial contiguity by expanding its "borders" well beyond Iraq and Syria. As the Islamic State/ISIS continues its offensives in Iraq and Syria, it is steadily gaining support from individuals and groups around the world. Most significantly, a relatively new global jihadist group in Libya -- Majlis Shura Shabab al-Islam (the Islamic Youth Shura Council), or MSSI -- announced last weekend that its claimed territory in the city of Darnah was now part of the ISIS "caliphate."...