Kerry: Daesh pushed back in Iraq, Syria, but a threat in Libya

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Wednesday 03 Feb 2016 - 13:28 Makkah mean time-24-4-1437 (Reuters Photo) Rome (IINA) – US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that the international coalition is pushing back Daesh (so called Islamic State) militants in their Syrian and Iraqi strongholds, but the group is threatening Libya and could seize the nation's oil wealth, Reuters reported. Officials from 23 countries met in Rome to review the fight against IS militants, who have created a self-proclaimed Caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq, and are spreading into other countries, notably Libya. IS fighters have attacked Libya's oil infrastructure and established a foothold in the city of Sirte, lies halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi, exploiting a power vacuum in the North African country where two rival governments have been battling for supremacy. "That country has resources. The last thing in the world you want is a false caliphate with access to billions of dollars of oil revenue," Kerry said. Under a UN-brokered agreement for a political transition, Libya's two rival administrations are expected to form a unity government, but a month after the deal was agreed in Morocco, its implementation has been dogged by in-fighting. Kerry said the two sides were "on the brink of getting a government of national unity". Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said once it was in place, many countries would be prepared to respond to any request for help with security. However, Kerry said the U.S. was opposed to deploying any of its ground forces into Libya and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius dismissed media speculation that Paris was poised to intervene in the oil-rich country. "We are 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," Kerry said. AB/IINA