Sirte’s citizens have urged Chairman of the Presidency Council Faiez Sarraj to fulfill his vow to reconstruct the city, which has been destroyed during the war with the Islamic State (IS).
Sarraj declared during his mid-October visit to Sirte that an official body will be formed to reconstruct and develop the coastal city.
He inspected the vital facilities and institutions, including hospitals, and promised to expedite the project signed with the Development for Administrative Centers to supply 200 beds to hospitals.
So far, only NGOs have taken action to maintain the city with modest means.
Since Muammar Gaddafi’s fall in 2011, some areas of the war-torn country have been controlled by IS militants, particularly Sirte, the very hometown of Gaddafi.
Religious education became mandatory in the city, and they established their own police force, introducing gender segregation at schools, banning alcohol, and imposing Draconian punishments such as cutting off limbs and beheading people.
In the late 2016, IS militants were largely forced out from Sirte by the Government of National Accord forces (GNA) in the cooperation with the U.S.
The GNA requested air-strike support from the U.S., which officially joined the battle on Aug. 1, 2016. These attacks have continued until the end of 2016, and by Dec. 6, 2016, IS was finally defeated at Sirte.
IS suffered heavy losses in the attacks as several of its senior figures were killed, including Waleed al-Farjani, a senior judge of the Islamic court in Sirte, the Egyptian Abu Omar al-Muhajir and Fayez Al-Bidi, an imam from Benghazi, was reportedly killed in an airstrike around Dec. 4, 2016.
