"There are from three to five thousand Daesh militants active in Libya, not to mention at least four major terrorist groups and countless militant factions. There are also indications that the leaders of Daesh are moving there from Syria. But Libya is located only 300 kilometers from Italy, and could be used as a strategic staging area for launching attacks against Europe and North Africa," Guitta said, according to Belgian weekly news magazine Knack.
Guitta warned that considering these developments, Libya poses a much greater threat to Europe than Syria or Iraq.
Libya has been in a state of turmoil since the ousting and subsequent brutal murder of the country’s leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Daesh forces were able to seize a pocket of Libyan territory in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte in November 2014.
According to the Pentagon’s estimates, there may now be over 6,000 Daesh fighters in the country, their numbers doubling over the last six months.
