While much of the world’s focus currently is on ISIS’ reign of Islamist terror in the Iraqi territory it has conquered, another fire is burning 3,000 km away, in Libya.

Having intervened in 2011 to depose Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, NATO powers now have a responsibility to provide what next-door Niger’s authorities have termed “after-sales service.” Libya is set to become a source of terrorism for all of Africa and beyond. And recent events in Libya continue to tilt the balance in the jihadists’ favour: Tripoli’s airport, for instance, now is mostly in the hands of Islamists.

Two air raids against Tripoli in August are believed to have been the work of a joint UAE-Egypt operation. That Arab nations have become involved in this way is not surprising: Egypt’s leadership, in particular, repeatedly has warned about the Islamist threat in Northern Africa.

Algeria, another concerned Libyan neighbour, is believed to have its own operations underway on Libyan soil — involving as many as 5,000 soldiers tasked with rooting out jihadis.

Morocco and Tunisia also are on a high state of alert. This is the result of an alleged CIA warning to the effect that jihadis are planning to use planes missing in Libya to fly into buildings or strategic sites in these countries in a local repeat of the September 11 attacks (whose anniversary is next week). These planes could be used against tall buildings such as the Twin Centre, paired 28-storey skyscrapers in Casablanca that eerily mirror New York’s Twin Towers in miniature.

Almost all of this generally has been ignored by the Western media, which has been focused primarily on events in Ukraine, Iraq, Israel, Gaza and Syria.

The most impressive counter-terrorism deployment has taken place in Morocco, where tens of thousands of soldiers reportedly have been mobilized around the country to tackle this specific threat. Anti-aircraft batteries in Casablanca, Marrakesh, Tangiers and other strategic locations have been deployed to shoot down any incoming plane controlled by terrorists. (Algeria has deployed the same type of batteries along its borders with Libya and Tunisia.)

One needs only be reminded of the deadly 2013 terrorist attack led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar against Algeria’s Tigantourine gas facility to understand the scale of Algeria’s concern. As the Egypt-UAE air strikes indicate, the region’s more stable governments are not going to sit by idly while dark clouds gather.

The larger question is how Libya — seen just three years ago as a model for light-footprint Western military intervention — could become one of the world’s most dangerous places. The country arguably has the largest stockpile of loose weapons in the world, most of which have fallen into the hands of terror groups such as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, al-Murabitun (which controls large swathes of territory in the south of the country), Ansar al-Sharia in the east, and the Dawn of Libya (which has taken control of the U.S. Embassy grounds).

The situation is so dangerous and chaotic that it may soon invite a new Western intervention. It’s too late to prevent Libya from becoming a failed state — but at least some good may come of efforts to keep the threat contained within Libya’s own borders.

The only Western country that seems to have grasped the Libyan time bomb is France. President François Hollande stated a few days ago that Libya was his gravest international concern. His government is seeking an international diplomatic solution to the security situation. But if that does not work out, do not be surprised if France intervenes militarily — even if it must act alone, as it did in Mali in 2013.