The third front

BARACK OBAMA is far from achieving his declared aim to “degrade and ultimately destroy” Islamic State (IS), the self-styled caliphate that straddles parts of Iraq and Syria. But at least it is being rolled back in some places. Ramadi in Iraq was retaken in December. Oil installations controlled by IS have been bombed, sapping the economic and the fighting power of the jihadists. In Libya, though, the picture is more alarming: the caliphate is building a sprawling new “province” on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, just a few hundred miles from Europe. This is the new front in the war against jihadism.