Libya’s internationally-recognised government has promised to retake the country’s east after launching an offensive to capture the strategic city of Sirte from the eastern-based forces of renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar.
On Saturday, forces allied with the Government of National Accord (GNA) launched the offensive to seize Sirte, a key gateway to the country’s main oil fields in the east, from Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) forces which took the city in January.
Sirte is the hometown of former longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi and the last major settlement before the traditional boundary between Libya’s west and east.
On Sunday, Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha said: “Libya will not be completed without its east.”