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United States negotiate with North African countries to position drones on their territory 11307152.
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Defence & Security News - United States
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| United States negotiate with North African countries to position drones on their territory. | |||
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The United States has launched negotiations with a number of North African countries to position drones on their territory to monitor the Islamic State's activities in Libya, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, July 13, 2015, citing undisclosed US officials. According to the source, a base in North Africa close to Islamic State strongholds in Libya would help the United States fill gaps in what is happening there.
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 A MQ-1B Predator from the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron takes off in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, June 12. |
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"Right now, what we are trying to do is address some real intelligence challenges," a senior administration official said.
However, the official did not specify which African countries have been negotiating with the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, none of the countries in the region gave consent to the deployment of the United States' drone base. The source added that North African countries fear that if they accept Washington's offer the Islamic State will carry out terror attacks on their territory. Islamic State is a militant religious fundamentalist organization that has taken control of large areas in Iraq and Syria, expanding their violent attacks to Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other locations across the Middle East and North Africa. The United States is leading a Coalition against the Islamic State comprised of some 60 nations. The Coalition has conducted more than 5,100 airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq since August 2014, and in Syria since September 2014. |
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