EU to Back Plan to Destroy Migrant Boats

A plan to destroy the boats used by human traffickers in Libya is expected to gain support from EU foreign and defense ministers on Monday in Brussels. The EU ministers will discuss the 28-member bloc’s search-and-destroy operations, which involve gathering intelligence on gangs, destroying smugglers’ boats in international waters, and military operations inside Libyan territorial waters and on its coast. Libya’s UN ambassador along with human-rights groups have objected to the EU proposals. The EU is also seeking a UN Security Council resolution to back military action in Libyan waters. The mission is part of the EU’s effort to manage the growing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean Sea. More than 1,800 migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far this year.