Islamic State ousted out of Libyan city of Sirte

The Islamic State militant group has been ousted out of its Libyan stronghold of Sirte by the country’s UN-backed national unity government after months of fighting.

“Our forces have total control of Sirte,” Reda Issa, a spokesman for pro-government forces, told AFP news agency. “Our forces saw Daesh totally collapse”.

The battle for the coastal city, which was the last significant territory in Libya held by IS, cost the lives of hundreds of loyalist soldiers as well as an unknown number of IS fighters, Issa added.

The government forces seized the city’s Jiza al-Bahrieh district, the last area which IS had been holding out, and were in the process of securing it, Issa told DPA news agency.

“Daesh has totally collapsed and dozens of them have given themselves up to our forces,” a statement on the loyalist forces’ Facebook page said.

The victory comes at the end of a bitter seven-month campaign against IS, which had taken advantage of Libya’s split between rival governments to conquer its largest territory outside of Syria and Iraq.

The militant group took over Sirte in early 2015 and at one point had access to 150 miles of Mediterranean coastline. The US claimed about 6,000 Isis fighters were inside Sirte, but subsequent analysis suggested the true number was closer to 3,000.

IS fighters are still believed to be present in several parts of southern and eastern Libya but no longer control any cities.

Despite the victory in Sirte, Libya remains a deeply divided country, with the Tripoli-based national unity government unable to gain recognition from the parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk.

Forces loyal to Tobruk military strongman General Khalifa Haftar have made major advances in recent months, seizing the country’s critical oil ports from forces aligned to the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), which is led by Fayez al-Sarraj.  

In recent weeks, Russia has become more closely involved in trying to resolve the political stalemate by giving visible backing to General Haftar. Last week he met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Russia has insisted it will not arm Haftar but believes he must be integral to any new political compromise, and a reshaping of the GNA.