Libya's Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Dairi demanded the UN Security Council to lift the arms embargo imposed by the council on his country Wednesday. Al-Dairi requested the UN permit to import new weapons to use it in its fight against the Islamic State (IS) militants, including 150 tanks, a number of fighter jets, seven attack helicopters, thousands of assault rifles and grenade launchers as well as millions of rounds of ammunition from Ukraine, Serbia and Czech Republic. He added that the international community has a "legal and moral responsibility to provide urgent support," explaining that North Africa and Europe are in danger due to the expansion of IS in Libya. "If we fail to have arms provided to us, this can only play into the hands of extremists," he said, asking the council to help them in counter-terrorism in Libya same as Iraq and Syria where an international coalition is fighting IS. U.N. Special Envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon warned the Security Council Wednesday that IS would "stop at nothing" to strengthen its presence in the country. "The international community must move quickly to present a clearly articulated strategy in support of the Libyan state and the efforts of a national unity government in combating the growing threat of terrorism," Leon said. The UN state members had concerns over removing the embargo on Libya, fearing weapons to reach the wrong hands, however, decision is expected to be on Monday after approval by all members of the UN. On the Libyan side, the army said it's ready to accept an international observer to guarantee delivering weapons to the official Libyan army," Libya's U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told the Security Council. Some countries in the region like Italy and Algeria expressed during the council meeting their willingness to participate in the international efforts to fight terrorism. Italy is so concerned about the growing terror acts in neighboring Libya as its islands in the Mediterranean Sea are located a few miles away from Libya. Italian officials said that the IS militants could infiltrate to their country among illegal migrants. Libya has been witnessing a state of insurgency since dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown in 2011, that ledto two rival governments and parliaments - backed with militias - to rule the country.
