French authorities made a mistake, when took part in a military operation in Libya to overthrow the country's long-standing leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, French Republicans Party's member Alain Marsaud told Sputnik Wednesday.

PARIS (Sputnik) — The United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada, among other countries, participated at the 2011 international military Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya, authorized by the United Nations. French warplanes were the first to conduct air strikes against targets inside Libya.

"France made a serious mistake, a rash act during Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency, when it carried out military intervention to Libya to overthrow Gaddafi. Today we can watch absolute chaos, extending to the whole Africa," Marsaud said.

The lawmaker noted that he supported the idea of bombing the Islamic State terrorist group, however, according to him, France currently does not have capabilities to do that.

"France is currently involved in military activities in six countries, and it can not interfere in Libya alone. It is necessary to eliminate Daesh threat in Libya, but we do not have capabilities and have no idea, how to manage with it," Marsaud stressed, having proposed to leave this issue to other countries.

Libya has been in a state of turmoil for years after the Arab Spring protests in early 2011 led to a civil war, and a western military intervention helped Islamic rebels overthrow Gaddafi.

The country has been divided between two conflicting governments — the internationally recognized Council of Deputies, based in Tobruk, and the self-proclaimed General National Congress, based in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Amid the political and social instability Libya has seen the emergence of numerous militant groups, including Daesh, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries.