By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis, 7 September 2016:
IS terrorists had been confined to just one part of Sirte and were on the verge of defeat US Defence Secretary Carter Ash predicted in London today.
He said that he expected that the remaining terrorists would be eliminated shortly.
Carter, speaking at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government pointed out: “A few months ago, many had predicted that Libya could become the new ISIL headquarters. But our airstrikes, in support of local forces aligned with the GNA, have reduced ISIL’s presence in Sirte to a single neighbourhood”.
His speech also addressed the US-led fight against ISIL in Syria and Iraq. He emphasised that to inflict an enduring physical and ideological defeat on ISIL, the assault had to be led by locals.
“It’s not something we can do by ourselves,” he said, ”We have to enable local forces to do it. That has its frustrations, for sure. But it is necessary in order to achieve a defeat of ISIL that is lasting”
At the end of last month the Pentagon announced that it planned to extend its air strikes on Sirte for another 30 days. According to U.S. Africa Command (Africom), up until August American warplanes had flown 108 missions against targets in the town.
