Libyan forces kicked off aerial surveillance operation to bust IS escapees

Air force units of Libya’s Government of National Accord launched an operation on Saturday to cut off potential escape routes for militants holed up in the coastal city of Sirte, Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous forces said.

The forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA), on their Facebook page, said the surveillance operation covered central Libya and the western region up to the border with Tunisia in Ras Ajdair.

On the other hand, the US Command in Africa (AFRICOM) said the US warplanes have carried out 65 airstrikes until last Thursday when it bombed IS locations in Sirte three times.

The US, which started bombarding IS in Sirte on August 1st under the request of the UN-brokered Government of National Accord, named this operation as Odyssey Lightning, which comes as a follow-up operation to the NATO’s Odyssey Dawn operation that helped topple dictator Muamar Gaddafi in 2011.