Counterterrorism

In Libya, the U.S. opens a fourth front in war on ISIS

The U.S. airstrike on Islamic State militants in Libya on Friday is fueling a belief that the war-torn north African state is emerging as a new front in the western-backed fight against the extremist group. But the way ahead for any military campaign there remains unclear.

For the other main fronts against the Islamic State — in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan — the U.S. has in place a key element to a full-scale military campaign: local ground-level allies to help defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. But in Libya, there's hardly any sign of a prospective local partner amid the civil war that rages between rival tribes, extremist groups and loyalists to the previous government.