DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, November 14, 2015 — The U.S. military conducted
an airstrike in Libya yesterday against an Iraqi national who was a longtime
al-Qaida operative and the senior Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leader
in Libya, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said today.
In a statement, Cook said the strike targeted Abu Nabil,
also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi. Reporting suggests Nabil may
have been the spokesman in ISIL’s February Coptic Christian execution video,
the press secretary added.
“Nabil's death will degrade ISIL's ability to meet the
group's objectives in Libya,” he said, “including recruiting new ISIL members,
establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United
States.”
While this was not the first U.S. strike against terrorists
in Libya, this is the first U.S. strike against an ISIL leader in Libya, and it
demonstrates that the United States will go after ISIL leaders wherever they
operate, Cook said.
The press secretary added that this operation was authorized
and initiated before the terrorist attack in Paris took place.
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