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By Libya Herald staff.
Misrata/Tripoli, 19 February 2015:
Misrata’s Brigade 166 and other forces sent to Sirte to retake the town from Islamic . . .[restrict]State (IS) forces now controlling it are awaiting the outcome of negotiations between IS and local tribal elders, according to a well-placed Misratan source. The objective of the talks is to get IS to leave the town and go to Nawfaliya, the source said.
Nawfaliya was reported to have been taken over by IS ten days ago but the Misrata source claimed that the militants have been based there for some time.
IS had been given two alternatives, the source said: “Give up or be killed”.
However, the mediation was not going well, he disclosed. Instead of leaving, IS has been reinforcing its presence. It has also placed snipers on buildings, he claimed.
Brigade 166 and other Misrata forces are currently based outside Sirte and are said to be manning checkpoints on both the western and eastern approaches to it.
A main part of the problem with the Islamists in Sirte, the source claimed, is that although there are foreign fighters among them – mainly Tunisians, Egyptians and Algerians – many are from Sirte itself.
The source said that a colleague had been in the town earlier this week and had seen IS gunmen, their faces not masked, manning a checkpoint near the Ouagadougou Centre and being recognised and greeted by name by locals. Others though, he reported, were masked and had stood impassively around, not talking. All had an arsenal of weaponry with them including AK47s and RPGs.
The tribal negotiators were trying to get the Sirte members to quit IS, he said.
These were mainly former Qaddafi loyalists who have now switched to the Islamists, he alleged. They include members of Qaddafi brigades, of the internal security and intelligence forces as well as former Qaddafi fighters living in District No. 2, originally from Mauritania but now with Libyan nationality. They had earlier joined Ansar Al-Sharia in the town, he claimed, because it gave them again a voice and status. But they were then ordered to leave after they started condemning others as kafir (having abandoned Islam). It was these who now controlled the town, he said.
There are unconfirmed reports that IS has some 600 fighters now in Sirte. There are also reports of armed units still operating in the town but not directly linked to the organisation.
Reporters who managed to get into it this week have spoken of meeting gunmen who they said were not IS and who told them to leave immediately.
Meanwhile, it is also claimed that the Misratans are trying to recruit militiamen from other towns, in particular Zliten and Khoms, ahead of a possible battle with IS in Sirte. However, it is questioned whether this will actually happen. Military experts point out that to deal with IS in Qaddafi’s home town would require an extensive house-to-house operation that would be bloody and take a long time. [/restrict]
