French Foreign Ministry Denies Valls Speaking of Launching Libya Campaign

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls’ statement considering the potential need to fight Islamic State (ISIL, or Daesh in Arabic) terrorists in Libya did not mean that France would be directly involved in the Arab country's affairs, French Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Romain Nadal told Sputnik on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Valls said that countries fighting against Daesh in Iraq and Syria would soon be confronted with the need to expand their military operations to Libya.

"The prime minister did not mean that France would definitely intervene directly in the situation in Libya," Nadal said.

Valls’ statement is "nothing new" as it echoes France’s position that terrorism should be fought wherever it is found, Nadal added.

"Daesh is taking advantage of the [political] situation [in Libya] and is expanding its presence because of the disagreement between the two governments in Tobruk and Tripoli. It is essential that the political forces in Libya unite to confront the threat posed by Daesh," the foreign ministry’s spokesman said.

At the same time, French lawmaker Stephane le Folle refused to comment on the prime minister’s statement.

"It is too early to talk about it," le Folle told Sputnik.

Daesh is a jihadist militant organization, outlawed in a number of countries, including France and Russia.

A US-led international coalition, which includes France, has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh positions in Iraq since August 2014, later expanding the attacks to include Daesh targets in Syria.

France intensified its airstrikes on Daesh positions in Syria after the deadly Paris attacks committed by Daesh militants, which claimed the lives of 130 people on November 13.