Only about 350 Islamic State fighters remain in the all-but-abandoned Libyan coastal city of Sirte as the United States finished its eighth day of airstrikes there, USA defense officials said Tuesday.
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A statement posted on the forces’ Facebook page declared that “Sirte is returning to Libya”.
Since Aug. 1, US warplanes have launched a series of airstrikes targeting ISIS positions in the city.
The Pentagon announced last week it had started an air campaign in Sirte following a request for help from the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA).
Libya spiralled into chaos after longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in October 2011, with two governments vying for power and armed groups battling to control vast energy resources.
The Libyan forces were assisted by USA special operations personnel, who have been inching closer to the front line of the battle for Sirte, a longtime ISIS stronghold in the north African country.
Forces aligned with Libya’s United Nations -backed Government of National Accord, seized the Ouagadougou convention center, the University of Sirte campus just south of the center as well as the Ibn Sina Hospital to the north Wednesday, advancing into areas that had been fought over for weeks.
The Islamic State had held Sirte for the past year.
More than half of the strikes have been conducted from unmanned aircraft, one of the defense officials said.
There are not now any plans for USA forces to conduct advice and assist operations for the Libyan forces, she added.
As of Wednesday, U.S. drones and fighter jets had carried out 29 strikes in Sirte, targeting Islamic State fighting positions, vehicles and armaments, according to statements by U.S. Africa Command.
Since the beginning of operations, about 250 members of government forces have been killed and over 1,400 wounded, according to medical sources in Misrata (200 km east of Tripoli), seat of the command of the military operation.
They are also coordinating American airstrikes and providing intelligence information in the battle for the coastal city of Sirte, the report said.
Al-Ghasri added Saturday that the USA warplanes still have some targets and therefore they are still hovering in the skies of Sirte, pointing out that announcing the last stage of the battle is very soon. The forces did not provide more details.
But the militias claimed to have taken the heavily fortified Ouagadougou Center, which the Islamic State had used as its headquarters.
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A rival government in Libya’s east, which is also fighting Islamic State, now contests the authority of the internationally backed government in Tripoli.
