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Libya's internationally recognized government urged Arab nations Saturday to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic States group in the city of Sirte, the hometown of Libya's strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
"Libya's temporary government urges ... the Arab brother states … to conduct airstrikes against positions of the Daesh terrorist group in Sirte," a cabinet statement said using Daesh, an acronym for Islamic State group.
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#Sirte_Massacre #SOS to world Internet has been cut off #Sirte as #ISIS continues to attack civilians.. #Libya pic.twitter.com/2DP8slQzOJ
— Loay Farkash (@loayomran)
August 14, 201
The plea for help comes after days of fighting in the city between the extremist group and local militants, supported by the city's residents and civilians, left between 150 and 200 dead, a Libyan diplomat said Friday as the Islamic State group battles to maintain control of the city.
"A real massacre is taking place, and we call on the international community to intervene," Libyan Ambassador to France Chibani Abuhamoud told AFP.
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According to news reports, the fighting was triggered when a Muslim cleric was killed by the group after he, and others in a neighborhood in the city, refused to comply with the Islamic State group's order to pledge allegiance or face death.
Something terrible has happened in Sirte, Libya. We need answers. #ISIS_Massacre https://t.co/i0KlhNbbtR via @loayomran
— Hend (@LibyaLiberty)
August 14, 201
The official government has been based in eastern Libya since losing control of the capital Tripoli a year ago to a competing faction which set up its own administration. Neither government has control of Sirte, leaving it up to locals to defend themselves and the city against the extremist group.
Both governments have conducted airstrikes against the group's camps in and around Sirte. However, their equipment is dated and resources limited as they rely on what is leftover from Gadhafi's era, who was ousted in 2011 following a NATO intervention in the country that killed thousands and subsequently sent the country into chaos.
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During the battles that broke out earlier this week in Sirte, women and a child were killed in the crossfire, the BBC reported Friday.
The battles come as delegations from all Libyan factions wrapped up a 2-day meeting in Geneva as part of U.N.-sponsored peace talks to form a unity government.
“At a time when Libyan key political stakeholders gathered in Geneva for a dialogue to resolve the country's crisis and send a strong message of unity, the terrorist group once again struck to impose its reign of terror,” the U.N. said in a statement Saturday.
In the past year, the Islamic State group has been expanding in Libya as it started setting up checkpoints and camps in different cities across the country.
World needs to know that #ISIS has clear & apparent presence in four Libyan cities #Derna, #Benghazi, #Sirte and #Harawa. #Libya #ليبيا
— Loay Farkash (@loayomran)
August 15, 201
In January, the group bombed the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, killing 10 people. In February and April, videos were released showing militants from the extremist organization in Libya killing two groups of mainly Egyptian and Ethiopian Christians.
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