In addition to USA air strikes, Libyan brigades in Misrata and Sirte have been working with small teams of Western special forces who have provided intelligence and logistical support as well as strategic advice.
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Quoting US officials speaking on condition of anonymity, the Post said the US forces were operating alongside British troops, helping to co-ordinate American airstrikes and providing intelligence. Isil originally seized Sirte in June past year, giving themselves a foothold on the Mediterranean, barely 300 miles from the coast of Sicily.
The city has been under the militant group’s control since February 2015.
The general estimate of the numbers of IS militants remaining in Sirte is in the hundreds, he added.
The militias’ offensive against the Islamic State had reduced the area they controlled from 150 miles of coastline to the area immediately around the city.
MacFarland said that Syrian Democratic Fighters could defeat Islamic State in Manbij, Syria, in a matter of weeks. Newly published photographs show British special operators close to the ISIS front lines in Syria, and USA special operators have been active working alongside the Kurds in northern Syria.
The United States has since last Monday been carrying out air raids on IS positions in the city at the GNA’s request. And he said the US still has quite a bit of work to do at the Qayyarah airbase in northern Iraq before it can be used as a hub for the battle to retake Mosul.
The government-supported operation, known as al-Bonyan al-Marsous, also said that it lost contact with one of its warplanes and the pilot. American drones have since carried out 29 attacks there, according to U.S. Africa Command. According to AFRICOM, those strikes hit multiple fighting positions and a truck.
More than 300 pro-government fighters have been killed and 1,800 wounded in the operation, said medical sources Misrata, where the operation’s command centre in based.
Rather, he said, those forces are providing “unique capabilities”.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) had turned the Ouagadougou conference centre – once a showpiece of Col Muammar Gaddafi’s regime – into their local headquarters.
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But the insertion of US personnel closer to an intense battle, where the risks are much greater, highlights the high stakes of the Sirte operation. “Our mission in Libya is focused exclusively on conducting air strikes at the request and in support of forces aligned with Libya’s Government of National Accord”.
