VIDEO: Libya Troops Show ISIS Positions Seized from Terrorist Group in Sirte

Sat Aug 6, 2016 15:52:49

Libyan troops, loyal to the United Nations-backed government, battling to oust Islamic State (ISIS / Daesh / ISIL) from their stronghold in the city of Sirte, on Friday (August 5) showed some of the ground they have taken from the militants.

A former small training camp with an assault course was seen, along with fox holes used by ISIS fighters.

Street by street, the Libyan army is inching closer to taking back full control of the city.

Libya’s UN-backed government requested the strikes nearly three months into a campaign that has slowed due to heavy casualties from sniper fire, mines and mortars.

Losing Sirte would be a huge blow for Islamic State (ISIS / Daesh / ISIL), which took control of the city midway along Libya's Mediterranean coastline last year.

The group is already under pressure from US-backed campaigns in Syria and Iraq.

Libyan commanders say a few hundred Islamic State fighters are now encircled in the center of Sirte, though they have retained control of four neighborhoods.

The forces fighting in Sirte are mainly composed of brigades from the nearby city of Misrata, which counter-attacked in early May when Islamic State (ISIS / Daesh / ISIL) advanced up the coast west of Sirte.

Many of them are volunteers and former rebels who fought in the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi five years ago.

At least 350 brigade members have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded since May.

Almost all of Sirte’s 80,000 residents have fled the city, and the streets are mainly deserted.

Each day of heavy fighting tends to be followed by a lull of several days.

S/SH 11

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