Libya’s internationally recognized government, GNA, has said that it launched an offensive to capture the key city of Sirte on Saturday. This comes as the renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, along with his Egyptian allies, proposed a ceasefire following a string of military setbacks in the past few months.
Mohamad Gnounou, the spokesperson of the Government of National Accord based in Tripoli, said that the air force has carried out five strikes on the outskirts of the city. He added that the orders had been given to advance systematically and attack all rebel-held positions.
The Tripoli-based forces have LNA’s fourteen-month long offensive launched last year to capture the Capital, Tripoli. They are now poised to advance eastwards, taking advantage of stepped-up military support from Ankara, under the new deal.
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Sirte, the last major settlement before the traditional boundary between the county’s west and east; it is also the hometown of the former military dictator Muammar Gaddafi. In January, the forces loyal to Haftar virtually captured the Mediterranean city of Sirte without a fight, after Libya’s myriad local militia group changed sides.
Beyond the city of Sirte lies the country’s main oil exports, which is LNA’s most important strategic asset. The city is located nearly 450km east of Tripoli, the place where Gaddafi took the last stand against the NATO forces in 2011.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian president, said on Saturday that Haftar and other eastern leaders, along with eastern parliament speaker Aguila Saleh, had signed up to a declaration calling for a ceasefire from 6 am on Monday.
He added that the initiative called the ‘’Cairo declaration’’, urged all the foreign mercenaries to withdraw from all the Libyan territories. The declaration also called for handing over the weaponry and dismantling the militias so that the LNA would be able to carry out its duties properly.
However, the GNA government appeared to spill cold water on the Egyptian proposal. Gnounou said that GNA did not start this war, but they will choose when the war ends. He also gave a final call to the local leaders of Sirte to abandon Haftar and spear the city from the horrors of war.
Many countries came out in support of the Egyptian initiative, the French foreign minister in call with his Egyptian counterpart, hailed the country’s efforts for an immediate halt to hostilities and clashes. The US said that it is closely watching the situation, the political voices of the east where Haftar is based.
Russia, which has inducted hundreds of mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group to fight alongside Haftar, also agreed with Egyptian proposals. However, political experts have maintained that the ceasefire is aimed to protect Haftar from any further military losses.
Since the killing of the long-ruling Gaddafi during the 2011 uprising, the country has been engulfed in war. It is now split between the two rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by powerful foreign powers.
Haftar has aimed to gain control of the west since last year, fighting the UN-recognized government in an abortive attempt to seize the capital, Tripoli. Backed by Turkey, the Tripoli-based government has gained some key strategic wins in recent weeks.
Earlier on Saturday, GNA captured the strategic town of Bani in northwestern Libya. The recent developments come as the Haftar’s forces lost its last stronghold in northwestern Syria to GNA, the city of Tarhuna, which was also used as the main base to launch attacks against GNA.
