The fighters based in the city of Misrata would like international logistical support to help retake what has become ISIL’s most important base outside Syria and Iraq, but will not wait for it before launching the operation, they said, Daily Star reported.
“We are ready and we are preparing our security arrangements to attack Sirte,” said Brigadier General Mohamed al-Gasri, spokesman for a newly formed military operations room in Misrata.
The operations room was set up by a UN-backed unity government that arrived in Tripoli at the end of March.
European powers and the United States hope the unity government will be able to unite Libya’s rival political groups and armed factions to take on ISIL, though it is unclear how far its authority extends on the ground.
Misrata’s brigades have largely transferred their support to it from a self-declared government formed in Tripoli in 2014.
But the unity government has struggled to win support from another administration based the East and the military forces allied to it. They have also said they would move against Sirte, though past announcements have come to nothing.
Late last month the unity government urged both sides to hold off attacking Sirte before a unified command is created, fearing an uncoordinated offensive could lead to civil war.
“We need logistical support from the international community, and we need weapons and ammunition,” Gasri said. “Whether they’re going to support us or not, we will be there soon. We will not stand and watch.”
ISIL took advantage of the political turmoil and security vacuum after the uprising that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi five years ago to build a power base in Libya.
The Misrata brigades were present in Sirte as ISIL began to establish control, but withdrew last summer.
Though it has struggled to win support and hold territory in parts of Libya, ISIL controls a strip of more than 250 km (155 miles) of Libya’s central coastline, from which it has launched attacks to the East, West and South.
Over the last week it has made gains, carrying out suicide attacks in the sparsely populated area between Sirte and Misrata, including at a major checkpoint at Abu Grain.
