US missiles blew up a remote Libyan farm early Sunday morning apparently killing Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the one-eyed Algerian terrorist who boasted of the 2013 attack on Algeria's Im-Amenas gas processing plant, in which 40 workers died. What both the terrorists and the Libyans will now be asking themselves is whether this is an extension of the air war against Daesh (so-called IS) that the Americans are leading in Syria and Iraq. From its original base in the eastern port city of Derna, Daesh has spread this year west to Gaddafi's hometown Sirte from where it has expanded, seizing neighboring towns and villages, raiding oilfields to the south and threatening the key city of Misrata. Had there been any doubt about the arrival of Daesh in Sirte, this February it announced its presence with a graphic video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians on a beach, all the victims dressed in the Daesh trademark orange Guantanamo Bay detainee jumpsuits. Though the threat of Daesh is now keenly felt by the Muslim Brotherhood rebels of Libya Dawn, who control the capital Tripoli and much of the west of Libya — the terrorists routed tough Misratan militiamen sent to drive them out of Sirte — Daesh in Libya does not represent the same “target-rich” environment described by Washington in Syria and Iraq. The terrorists have few discrete camps and bases and prefer to mix with local populations, who accept their presence either with enthusiasm or fear. In Sirte for instance, there is evidence that the terrorists were welcomed by supporters of the dead dictator Gaddafi, who have suffered under successive post-revolution governments. Members of Ansar Al-Sharia, declared by the UN to be Al-Qaeda terrorists also merged with the newly-arrived and more brutal Daesh thugs. The internationally-recognized Libyan government, currently sheltering in the east in Baida, has welcomed Sunday's US attack that apparently slew Belmokhtar and claimed that it had been “consulted” about the raid. This is almost guaranteed to provoke the Libya Dawn rebels, even though an aerial campaign could drive Daesh back from Misrata, thus sparing the key rebel city from becoming another Mosul. The former political leader of the rebel government, Omar Hassi once described Ansar as “beautiful” even though the terrorists had also boasted of their own beheadings. An all-out aerial campaign in Libya would therefore also target other terror groups beside Daesh. This will very quickly alienate ordinary Libyans and add to the chaos gripping the country. There is another consideration. The majority of Daesh and Ansar terrorists are foreign, with Tunisians making up a large proportion. Libyans are fed up with all foreign interference. In their Derna heartland, Daesh groups were this week actually driven out of the town and Ansar sympathizers with them. After the Sunday raid, which it seems killed Belmokhtar, locals in the nearby town of Ajdabiya fought off Daesh and Ansar fighters who were trying to bring their wounded to the hospital. It must therefore be hoped that Washington is not going to try to repeat in Libya its wide-ranging air assault against terrorists in Iraq and Syria. If it sticks to pinpoint attacks on known killers, especially foreign jihadists, there will be quiet approval from Libyans. Anything more ambitious will be a disaster.
