Libya's unity government pushes to retake Sirte from Daesh

Forces loyal to Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) have launched a final offensive to retake the city of Sirte from the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

“We are attacking the last Daesh positions in district three,” said a soldier with the GNA on Saturday.

Other sources inside the GNA confirmed the final attack had begun in Sirte, with the government’s media service saying on its Facebook page that pro-government forces were closing in on diehards of Daesh in the coastal city.

The media center said the forces were “advancing inside the areas where Daesh is, in district three,” adding that so far, they have taken control of the buildings of two banks and a hotel.

Medical sources in Misrata, a city located to the west of Sirte, said one pro-government fighter had been killed in the fighting. Witnesses said ambulances were rushing out of Sirte to transfer the wounded to hospitals in Misrata.

Sirte, located on the Mediterranean coast, is the main urban center Daesh has managed to seize outside Iraq and Syria. Recapturing the key city would inflict a huge blow to the terrorist group in its drive to expand the militancy outside the Middle East.

GNA forces managed to liberate neighborhood Number One in central Sirte earlier in the week, marking a major advance in their months-long operation against Daesh in the city.

At least six fighters were killed and a dozen wounded in the offensive on August 29, which saw Daesh terrorists using mines, car bombs or artillery to slow the advance of Libyan troops.

SS