Obama, Italy's Mattarella discuss fight against Islamic State in Libya

Feb 12, 2016 U.S. President Barack Obama recently met with his Italian counterpart President Sergio Mattarella at the White House to discuss possible synergy in the fight against the Islamic State in Libya.

During the meeting, Obama and Mattarella also talked about the need to help Libya form a united government.

While addressing reporters after the meeting, Obama Sid:

“We discussed the joint efforts of Italy, the United States and other of our partners in helping Libya form a government that will allow us, then, to help them build out their security capacity and to push back against efforts by ISIL to gain a foothold in that country.”

Also commenting on the issue of terrorism, Mattarella said:

“So, on the subject of terrorism, which, of course, is engendering great violence and death all over the world, and then, migration. We agree that we need a very balanced approach, a human, a humane approach in dealing with this matter because we have to consider issues of security and the rights of the people that are affected.”