News / North Africa

France deploys forces to Libya to allegedly fight against Daesh

Wednesday, 24 February 2016 6:29 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 24 February 2016 6:28 PM ]

Libyan security forces inspect damaged cars at the site of a bombing in Libya's coastal city of Zliten, on January 7, 2016. (AFP)

A report says French special forces have been deployed in Libya under the pretext of fighting Daesh terrorists operating in the North African country.

On Wednesday, France’s Le Monde reported that French special forces and members of the DGSE external security service were in Libya for "clandestine operations" against Daesh militants.

Following the release of the report, French officials said they had launched a probe into a possible leak of classified documents.

"The investigation should establish if details covered by defense secrecy rules were revealed in this article," a source close to Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

This is while a violation of defense secrecy carries a penalty of up to three years in prison as well as a 45,000-euro ($50,000) fine.

France and other Western countries have explicitly supported the idea of military action against Daesh in Libya. However, France has said it is waiting for the formation of a national unity government before formally intervening.

Daesh gained control of Libya’s northern port city of Sirte in June 2015, almost four months after it announced its presence in the city, and made it the first city to be ruled by the militant group outside of Iraq and Syria.

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