U.S. Launches at Least 550 Drone Attacks on Libya Since 2011
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The number of the U.S. drone strikes on Libya, since the start of its campaign in the North African nation in 2011, reportedly exceeds the number of U.S. airstrikes since 2001 in Yemen, Pakistan or Somalia, media reported.
"Our Predators shot 243 Hellfire missiles in the six months of OUP [NATO Operation Unified Protector], over 20 percent of the total of all Hellfires expended in the 14 years of the system’s deployment," retired Lt. Col. Gary Peppers, the commander of the 324th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron during the OUP, told The Intercept.
The findings were made by the Intercept media outlet and Italy's La Repubblica newspaper after carrying out an investigation, based on interviews with U.S. military officials and an analysis of open-source data.
Nor the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) or the U.S. Air Force in Europe-Air Force Africa could confirm his figures, according to media outlets.
The investigation pointed at the failure of the U.S. military to tally the number of drone strikes accurately. According to the media outlet, chief of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Gen. Thomas Waldhauser provided an incorrect number of airstrikes in Libya in 2016 before a congressional committee in March.
"Our Predators shot 243 Hellfire missiles in the six months of OUP [NATO Operation Unified Protector], over 20 percent of the total of all Hellfires expended in the 14 years of the system’s deployment," retired Lt. Col. Gary Peppers, the commander of the 324th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron during the OUP, told The Intercept.
The findings were made by the Intercept media outlet and Italy's La Repubblica newspaper after carrying out an investigation, based on interviews with U.S. military officials and an analysis of open-source data.
Nor the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) or the U.S. Air Force in Europe-Air Force Africa could confirm his figures, according to media outlets.
The investigation pointed at the failure of the U.S. military to tally the number of drone strikes accurately. According to the media outlet, chief of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Gen. Thomas Waldhauser provided an incorrect number of airstrikes in Libya in 2016 before a congressional committee in March.