BENGHAZI, Libya — A spokesman for militias loyal to Libya’s UN-brokered government say Daesh militants have barricaded themselves in the center of their stronghold in the coastal city of Sirte, hoping to draw their attackers into a protracted street battle.
Brig. Gen. Mohammed Al-Ghasri said Sunday the militants have barricaded themselves in a densely built-up area and their snipers have taken positions on rooftops waiting for the militias to advance. He says that Daesh suicide bombers are likely to target the militias if they close in on the area.
The militias have been shelling the area with artillery.
Daesh took over Sirte last year, exploiting Libya’s turmoil to gain a foothold in the North African country. The fight to retake it is led by militias from the western city of Misrata.
Forces loyal to Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) have made rapid advances this week as they pressed a month-long offensive to retake Sirte from the Daesh group.
Following are five things about the disparate groups battling to dislodge Daesh from its Libya stronghold facing the Mediterranean.
Pro-GNA forces comprise a range of heavily armed militias from several western Libyan towns, particularly Misrata which lies half way between the capital Tripoli and Sirte.
The Misrata militiamen took part in the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted and killed dictator Moammar Gaddafi.
They are among the best equipped, with an arsenal that includes MiG fighter jets and attack helicopters.
After the fall of Gaddafi, militias who fought in the uprising refused to lay down their arms.
A coalition of western Libyan militias led by the powerful Libya Dawn battled rival forces in August 2014, forcing the government to flee Tripoli to the remote east.
Libya descended further into chaos with two rival administrations vying for power.
Emily Estelle, a Middle East and North Africa specialist at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, estimates that about 2,000 fighters, primarily from Misrata, are engaged in the assault on Sirte that began on May 12.
Guards from Libya’s key oil installations are also taking part in the offensive and are led by Ibrahim Al-Jodran.
They attacked from the east, routing Daesh from several areas on the way to Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown, their spokesman said.
In January these forces repelled a major Daesh offensive aimed at seizing oil terminals.
They are mostly composed of tribesmen who have called for autonomy for their region within a federal government.
Libya’s army is divided.
Some units that have pledged allegiance to the GNA are involved in the offensive, while others are loyal to General Khalifa Haftar who considers the unity government to be “illegitimate.”
The forces involved in the offensive report to a joint military command centre set up by the GNA in Misrata.
However, each militia also takes direct orders from its own commander.
Despite this, coordination between the militias in Sirte appears to be working.
“The forces involved in the counter-ISIS (IS) offensive are not under a unified command structure, and they do not share the same vision for a post-ISIS Libya,” Estelle said.
After nearly a month on the offensive, pro-GNA forces entered the outskirts of Sirte on Wednesday after taking several Daesh positions.
By Friday they had managed to encircle the town and seize its port and several neighborhoods.
The terrorists are now surrounded in a densely populated area of around five square kilometers (two square miles).
Foreign intelligence services estimate that v has 5,000 fighters in Libya, but its strength inside Sirte remains unknown.
“We were expecting a fierce fight but in reality it’s not been as difficult as some had imagined,” a Libyan diplomatic source said, asking not to be named.
“Could we have exaggerated the number of jihadists there?“
According to Estelle, the forces from Misrata “have advanced so quickly because they are using their limited air power to neutralise the suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices that ISIS has deployed to attack at or behind” their frontlines. — Agencies
