“The situation in Libya is out of control, but now it is not the right time for military intervention,” Renzi said in an interview with Canale 5 TV channel.
Renzi said that the international community has the means to intervene in the Libyan crisis if necessary.
Earlier in the day, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told La Reppublica newspaper that the United Nations must make an urgent decision to send peacekeeping forces to Libya to stop the advancement of radical Islamists.
Libya is currently facing its worst wave of violence since the beginning of the civil war prompted by the 2011 overthrow of long-standing leader Muammar Gaddafi. There are now two governments in the country. The group controlling the Libyan capital of Tripoli and adjacent western areas is not recognized internationally.
Government forces are also fighting numerous rebel groups, including Islamic State-affiliated extremists. The Islamic State, notorious for multiple kidnappings and killings, has recently made a rapid advance in Libya despite US-led international coalition airstrikes targeting the jihadist group’s positions in the country.
In early February, Islamic State (ISIL) militants claimed responsibility for several attacks on Libyan territory. In recent weeks, extremists reportedly took over a Libyan state-run television station in Sirte, as well as two radio stations. On Sunday, the IS published a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts, kidnapped earlier in Libya.
