Libyan pro-government forces pressed an advance against the Daesh group in the coastal city of Sirte on Sunday as they pushed to clear rebel holdouts from residential areas.
AFP correspondents in the city saw loyalist forces armed with machine guns and light weapons advancing toward an area known as “residential district three” — one of several parts of the city where the extremists fled after suffering major losses in Sirte.
Pro-government forces also said they had seized new ground in “residential district two,” another part of Sirte under terrorist control, as well as a radio station used by the rebels to broadcast propaganda.
Forces loyal to Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) made a significant breakthrough Wednesday in a nearly three-month offensive to retake Sirte from the terrorists.
Backed by US airstrikes, they seized control of the Ouagadougou conference center used by the radicals as a base and a number of surrounding positions.
Daesh had taken control of Sirte in June 2015, sparking fears it would be used as a springboard for attacks on Europe.
Mustafa Al-Faqih, one of the commanders of loyalist forces, told AFP in Sirte that “enemy forces collapsed” in the face of the loyalist advance.
“We will advance on... areas where the enemy is still deployed in the coming days, God willing,” he said.

  Source : Arab News