Military intervention in Libya "is not imminent" and will depend on a specific request from the country's nascent unity government, Italy's defence minister told a popular TV talk-show on Thursday.
"Nothing can be decided until the Libyans tell us what they need," Roberta Pinotti told 'La Telefonata', hosted by Maurizio Belpietro on Italy's private Canale 5 network.
Libya is emerging as a new magnet for jihadists after the Islamic State's recent defeats in Iraq and in Syria by the United States-led international coalition and the militant group has capitalised on Libya's instability to gain a foothold there.
"Recently, there is a growing concern at Daesh's possible expansion in Libya," Pinotti said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group.
US secretary of state John Kerry warned on Tuesday that IS is a growing threat in Libya, where it could seize its oil wealth. He spoke at a meeting in Rome of the international coalition against IS which vowed to "accelerate and intensify" the group's destruction worldwide.
Under a United Nations backed plan for a political transition to end four years of deepening chaos since the 2011 ouster of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's warring factions are due to form a unity government. A month after the deal was agree in Morocco, however, its implementation has been blocked by in-fighting.
"We hope the unity government will be formed next week," Pinotti said.
In an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera in late January, Pinotti said Italy and its allies were likely to intervene militarily in Libya in the next few months but ruled out unilateral intervention.
Italy, a member of the anti-IS coalition, has a particular interest in defeating the group and stabilising its former colony, where the turmoil is fuelling the smuggling of tens of thousands of migrants to Europe across the Mediterranean.
