customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Libya’s “unity” government has called on military factions to hold off from any campaign against the Islamic State-controlled city of Sirte until a unified military command structure is created.
Thursday’s statement came amid signs that factions from both eastern and western Libya could be gearing up for an advance on Sirte, although such operations have repeatedly been announced in recent months without taking place.
Islamic State has held Sirte since 2015, taking advantage of a conflict between loose alliances of armed brigades allied to Libya’s rival governments to seize a 250km strip of coastline around the central Mediterranean city, which lies between the eastern and western power bases.
What was Barack Obama’s ‘worst mistake’? President singles out failure to plan for Libya’s future
Western states are hoping the unity government, which arrived in Tripoli last month, will be able to make Libya’s armed factions work together against the ultrahardline militant group, and have said they are ready to provide training for Libyan forces if requested by the unity government.
The United States has already conducted air strikes against Islamic State militants in Libya.
The unity government’s leadership, or Presidential Council, said on Thursday it welcomed the “push by various factions and armed forces to fight Islamic State forces in Sirte”, but warned that an uncoordinated offensive could lead to civil war.

“In the absence of coordination and unified leadership ... the Council expresses its concern that the battle in Sirte against [Islamic State] will be a confrontation between those armed forces,” it said in a statement, adding such a conflict would likely benefit Islamic State.
“Accordingly, the Presidential Council, as the supreme commander of army, demands all Libyan military forces wait for it to appoint a joint leadership for the Sirte operation,” the statement said.
In a recorded statement later on Thursday, the head of the council and prime minister of the unity government, Fayez Seraj, said his ministers had started coordinating security arrangements with the army “to start liberating Sirte”, and were looking to set up a national joint operations room.
Islamic State would be rooted out “by Libyan hands and not through foreign intervention,” he said.
Since 2014, Libya has had two competing sets of governments and parliaments in Tripoli and the east. Both were backed by shifting coalitions of military factions and former rebels.
The unity government has been gradually establishing itself in Tripoli, displacing the self-declared administration that had been set up in the capital.

But it has failed to secure a vote of approval from the eastern parliament, or House of Representatives, amid opposition from hardline allies of Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the eastern military.
The hardliners say they are worried the military will not be protected under the new government, and have opposed a clause that would give it power over military appointments.
The military in the east has been making significant gains on the ground against Islamist and other opponents in Benghazi, Libya’s second city.
It said on Thursday it was “fully ready for the battle of Sirte and was waiting for orders” from Haftar.
Witnesses told Reuters dozens of armoured vehicles and ambulances had been mobilising for the operation.
Reports and pictures have been circulating on social media in recent days that brigades from the western city of Misrata were also mobilising for a campaign against Sirte.
What kind of civilisation leaves 60 million people without a home?
No one from the military operations room in Misrata was immediately available to confirm the reports, but commanders from the city have previously said they intend to launch an offensive.
Brigades from Misrata have been militarily strong since playing a major role in the Nato-backed campaign to topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Forces from Misrata abandoned ground operations against Islamic State in Sirte last year, but have continued to conduct air strikes over the city.
Eastern military officials said there had not been any coordination with forces in Misrata over a new campaign against Sirte.


Libyan government urges factions not to attack Islamic State – yet

A militant loyal to Libya's eastern government. Photo: Reuters

A warplane belonging to the internationally recognized Libyan pro-government forces, who are backed by the locals, attempts to bomb sites under the Shura Council of Libyan Revolutionaries, an alliance of former anti-Gaddafi rebels who have joined forces with the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia, during clashes in Benghazi, Libya April 27, 2016. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori

Fayez Al-Sarraj, flanked by members of the Presidential Council, speaks during a news conference at the Mitiga Naval Base in Tripoli, Libya, Wednesday, March, 30, 2015. Al-Sarraj, the head of a U.N.-brokered Libyan unity government, sailed to the capital with six deputies to set up a temporary seat of power in a naval base despite threats from competing factions. Western nations view the unity government as the best hope for ending Libya's chaos and uniting all factions against an increasingly powerful Islamic State affiliate, which has seized the central city of Sirte. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa)

News

World

Africa

Middle East