France Ready to Help Ensure Libyan Maritime Security Amid Daesh Threat

France is ready to help the Libyan government ensure maritime security, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday.

MOSCO (Sputnik) — France is prepared to contribute to Libyan maritime security, in particular, with regards to the EU operation against migrant smuggling, he added.

"We must wait for [Libyan] Prime Minister [Fayez Sarraj] to tell us what security measures should be taken and what he intends to get from the international community to ensure the maritime security of Libya," Le Drian said in an interview with Europe 1 radio.

On Monday, it was agreed at a meeting of US, UK, French, German and Italian leaders in Hanover that there is an urgent need to provide support to Libya amid the threat posed by Daesh terrorist group and criminal smuggling networks destabilizing the country.

The European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EU Navfor Med) operation was launched in the wake of the April 2015 Libyan migrant shipwreck incidents, with the aim of eliminating refugee smuggling routes in the Mediterranean. Currently, the operation is mandated to operate only in international waters.

Libya has been in a state of turmoil since the uprising of February 2011, which later led to a civil war and the overthrow of the country’s longtime leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

The instability also led to an increased flow of migrants across the Mediterranean into Europe, as well as giving rise to numerous Islamist militant and terrorist groups, particularly Daesh, which is outlawed in many countries, including the United States and Russia.