Sirte battle: 12 Libyans beheaded by ISIS

The fight over Sirte has been raging since Tuesday, with one Libyan diplomat warning of a “massacre” in the city.

The situation in Sirte underscores the “urgent need for parties in Libya to reach agreement on forming a government of national accord that, in partnership with the worldwide community, can provide security against violent extremist groups seeking to destabilize the country”, the statement reads.

Egypt has joined Libya’s government in calls for global intervention there.

In February and April, videos were released showing IS militants in Libya killing two groups of mainly Egyptian and Ethiopian Christians.

A Sirte council official said earlier that the fighting erupted Tuesday as authorities in the militia-held capital Tripoli, opposed to Libya’s internationally recognised government, announced the launch of an operation to retake the city from ISIS. Awad Salem, whose family remains in the city, said Daesh fighters seized homes, refusing to allow residents to return until they search them for weapons.

The rival Salafist group was backed by Sirte’s armed civilians, who refused to pledge allegiance to the ISIL under penalty of death. Unverified photos on social media showed two corpses hanging from a gibbet.

Sunday saw another violent outburst when an unknown gunman opened fire, aiming at the airport in Benghazi, which was closed last year because of frequent clashes between opposing groups. Both governments are battling Islamic State amid UN-sponsored efforts to convince them to form a unified administration.

On Saturday, Libya’s Tobruk-based government called on the Arab League to convene an emergency session to discuss the developments, according to Ahmed bin Heli, the Cairo-based league’s assistant secretary-general for political affairs.

The Tobruk government has been fighting several rival factions since past year.