David Cameron is preparing to take on "one of the biggest threats" to international security, by ordering officials to undertake "initial planning" for a new military intervention against Islamic State in Libya, reports say.
"Islamic State is one of the biggest threats our world has faced," the PM said yesterday. "We will only defeat these brutal terrorists if we take action at home, overseas and online and if we unite with countries around the world against this common enemy."
Cameron indicated that as well as any military intervention he would like to work with allies to begin to establish a stable government in Libya, the Press Association reports.
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"We should be working and are working with other partners to help the new Libyan government as it gets formed. So that's helping with advice and support and capacity building in their government departments," he said.
"The problem in Libya has been they haven't had a government that has been able to deliver, and that should be our focus. That is why, for instance, we tried helping with training military personnel, so we should go on doing all of these things."
Baroness Anelay, the foreign office minister, said the government is currently "investigating possible links between Islamic State in Libya and the recent terrorist attacks in Tunisia. We are working with Libya's neighbours to enhance their capacity to tackle the threat," she said.
The UK may try to combat IS in Libya by training local troops within the country to combat IS fighters and helping Libyan authorities to plan and organise their security operations, the Daily Telegraph reports, but "air strikes are not believed to form part of the initial Libya planning."
A foreign office spokesman told the paper that the "immediate priority" was to support a "ceasefire and a stable political settlement" in the country.
