US-RUSSIAN MARINES SET UP
BRIDGEHEAD IN E. LIBYA FOR CAMPAIGN AGAINST ISIS
Via
DEBKAfile’s
President
BARACK OBAMA resolved earlier this month, much to the surprise of WASHINGTON insiders,
to open a third anti-terror front in LIBYA to eradicate the ISLAMIC FRONT’S tightening
grip on the country.
Related Topic: LIBYAN INTERVENTION - TAKE 2?
While
collaborating with RUSSIA in the SYRIAN arena, and with the IRANIANS and the IRAQI
army and SUNNIS in IRAQ, OBAMA took his close aides by surprise by another
decision – to lead the LIBYA campaign again in conjunction with RUSSIA, as well
as with concerned WESTERN EUROPE allies.
The
first step in this campaign took place this weekend: A group of US, RUSSIAN,
FRENCH and ITALIAN Special Forces quietly landed at a point south of TOBRUK
near the LIBYAN-EGYPTIAN frontier. Standing by after preparing the ground were
some 1,000 BRITISH SAS troops.
The
landing area is located some 144 kilometers from DARNAH, the main bastion of
extremist LIBYAN Islamic groups linked to AL QAEDA or ISIS, of which the
ultra-violent ANSAR AL SHARIA is the most powerful.
RUSSIAN – USA COLLABORATION,
THE FIRST IN MANY DECADES
The
joint US-RUSSIAN war offensive building up in LIBYA, the first such
collaboration in many decades, may be seen as an extension of their expanding
military partnership in SYRIA, DEBKAfile’s military sources report.
Preparations
for the campaign were assigned to two special operational commands set up at
the PENTAGON and at the US Central Command, CENTCOM, in TAMPA, FLORIDA.
According
to the scenario sketched in advance by DEBKA Weekly, large-scale US air, naval
and ground units are to spearhead the new coalition’s combined assault on the
main LIBYAN redoubts of ISIS, AL QAEDA, ANSAR AL-SHARIA and other radical
Islamist organizations. Cruise missiles strikes will blast them from US, BRITISH,
FRENCH and ITALIAN warships on the MEDITERRANEAN.
At
the peak of the assault, large-scale US, BRITISH and FRENCH marines will land
on shore for an operation first billed as the largest allied war landing since
the 1952 KOREAN War. The attachment of RUSSIAN forces was negotiated later.
According
to this scenario, one group will be dropped ashore from the GULF OF SIDRA (see
attached map) to seize the town of SIRTE, a city of 50,000, where ISIS has
located its central military command center in LIBYA.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL BE
GOING INTO LIBYA FOR THE SECOND TIME IN FOUR YEARS
This
group will then split up into two task forces.
One
will head south to take over TRIPOLI and its oil fields 370 kilometers away and
reinstate LIBYA’S central government, which had been exiled to TOBRUK, at its
seat in the capital.
On
its way to TRIPOLI, the force will take control of three renegade towns: MISRATA,
ZLITEN and KHOMS.
The
second task force will head north to capture the eastern LIBYAN capital of BENGHAZI,
seizing RAS LANUF, 200 kilometers east of SIRTE, en route. A second marine force
will meanwhile land in eastern LIBYA to capture the radical Islamist stronghold
of DARNAH, a port city with 150,000 inhabitants.
The
OBAMA administration will therefore be going into LIBYA for the second time in
four years – only this time up front and on the ground - for three objectives:
1.
Control of LIBYA’S oil and gas fields.
2.
Stripping ISIS of its jumping-off base for terrorizing EUROPE, especially ITALY,
from across the MEDITERRANEAN.
3.
Saving TUNISIA, ALGERIA and MOROCCO from the noose ISIS and AL QAEDA are
pulling around them from their back yard.
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