Libya Calls for Arab Airstrikes Against IS

Libya Calls for Arab Airstrikes Against ISLibya Calls for Arab Airstrikes Against IS

Libya's UN-backed government called on Arab countries to bomb Islamic State targets in the city of Sirte, after warnings of a "massacre" in the coastal city.

"We urge fellow Arab countries ... to launch airstrikes on Daesh terrorist group positions," the government based in the country's east said in a statement late Saturday, using an Arabic acronym for IS, AFP reported.

The government also renewed its call for the UN Security Council to lift an arms embargo that it says is hampering its military's battle against IS, which seized control of Sirte in June.

Fighting for control of the city, the hometown of former autocrat Muammar Gaddafi some 450 kilometers east of Tripoli, raged from Tuesday to Saturday, but Sunday was reported to be calm.

"There are no battles today," an official at the Sirte local council said.

"It's calm. We don't know what happened exactly, but some of the armed youth who fought IS left the areas of fighting and the city … They couldn't get any real help from either government, so they had to stop fighting, or even withdraw from their city."

Both of Libya's rival governments, one based in the east and the other in Tripoli, have encouraged fighting against the extremist group.

Authorities in Tripoli on Tuesday announced the launch of an operation to seize control of Sirte.

Libya's ambassador to France, Chibani Abuhamoud, said on Friday that fighting in Sirte had left between 150 and 200 dead, and warned of a "massacre" in the city.

IS militants also beheaded 12 local militiamen who had been battling them in the east of the city and hung their bodies on crosses, official news agency LANA reported on Saturday.

Libya has descended into chaos since the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, with two administrations and rival militias battling for control of the oil-rich country.