Libya ‘Unity Govt’ Warns Factions Against Attacking ISIS City of Sirte

Wants to Unify Military Before Taking Any Territory

by Jason Ditz,

Libya’s UN-backed “unity government” has today issued a statement warning all factions in the country against trying to capture the main ISIS city in the country, Sirte, saying that no offensives should happen until a unified military command under their control is created.

The unity faction’s prime minister, Fayed Seraj, says that planning is in place for their army “to start liberating Sirte,” though that is likely going to be more theory than practice, since his faction doesn’t actually have much of an army yet.

With the UN pressuring everyone to submit to the “unity” group since it managed to successfully sneak into the country from neighboring Tunisia, the group is also hoping to consolidate all the various militias and militaries in the country into a single force under their command.

The fear that someone might take Sirte away from ISIS before such a unity military is in place is that it would increase the negotiating power of whoever has that territory, and could allow them to branch out on their own or back one of the other governments in Libya. Ironically, it seems they’ve decided it’s safer to leave the city in ISIS hands.

http://news.antiwar.com/2016/04/28/libya-unity-govt-warns-factions-against-attacking-isis-city-of-sirte/