Libyan forces recapture ISIS-held port

Forces allied with Libya’s unity government said on Saturday that they had recaptured the port in the jihadist bastion of Sirte, advancing rapidly against ISIS group fighters encircled inside the city.

The fall of Sirte, the hometown of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi, would be a major setback for the extremists who have also lost territory in Syria and Iraq where they have declared an Islamic “caliphate”.

Apart from the port, the Libyan forces also retook residential areas in eastern Sirte, which for the past year has been the main ISIS base in the North African country, a spokesperson for the forces, Rida Issa, said.

The jihadists are now surrounded in a densely populated area of around five square kilometres inside Sirte where they are laying booby traps, he said.

Most of the city’s residents have fled but some 30,000 remain, Mr Issa said.

After a month-long operation to close in on Sirte, the rapid pace of the advance by forces allied to the Government of National Accord (GNA) who entered the city on Wednesday has surprised Libyan authorities.

“The battle wasn’t as difficult as we thought it would be,” one government official said. “Maybe we exaggerated their (ISIS’) numbers ” The UN envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, said Saturday on Twitter that he was “impressed” by the “rapid progress” of pro-GNA forces.

But analysts have warned the city’s fall would not spell the end of the jihadists in Libya.