The U.S. military carried out two airstrikes in Libya against ISIS fighters in what it says will be an ongoing campaign. The strikes took place Monday in the city of Sirte. Pentagon officials said the campaign would continue until ISIS has been driven from the city, which it took over last year. The Pentagon said Libya’s Western-backed unity government, known as the GNA, requested the airstrikes. The so-called unity government is one of three competing governments that claim legitimacy in the country. This is Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook.

Peter Cook: “The goal of GNA is to eliminate ISIL from Sirte and from the country. And we’ll be working closely with them, and they’ll be determining the pace and the success of this campaign, arguably. They will be—they have their forces on the ground conducting their efforts, and this will be in support of their efforts. ISIL’s numbers had been reduced. They had made significant progress in Sirte already, on their own. And we believe this can make a difference, hopefully in a short amount of time, and we’ll see.”

The strikes come almost five years after the U.S. helped depose Muammar Gaddafi in a revolution that has devolved into civil war. Between 2011 and now, U.S. special forces have carried out raids in the country, and there have been airstrikes targeting specific individuals. We’ll have more on Libya with Phyllis Bennis later in the broadcast.