Forces of the Libyan Government of National Accord’s Presidential Council announced that they have made important progress in the Al-Imaraat Sittumiah area and have seized control of large areas in the Al-Imaraat area in the coastal city of Sirte from the extremist organisation ISIS.

The media bureau of Al-Bunyan Al-Marsoos military operation said on its Facebook page that troops had inflicted “heavy losses” on the ranks of ISIS and that more than 20 members of ISIS were killed. The bureau also noted that it had successfully rescued and liberated five foreign prisoners including two from Turkey, two from India and one from Bangladesh.

Furthermore, in an attempt to avoid greater tension in relations with the commander of the Libyan National Army General Khalifa Haftar, Al-Sarraj’s Presidential Council yesterday removed an article stating that Haftar was “a war criminal” in accordance with one of the recommendations of the Sixth Forum of Military Officers that was held on Thursday in the capital Tripoli.

The final statement of the Sixth Forum of Military Officers did not contain any reference to Haftar, even though the live broadcast of the forum’s sessions on local television channels showed the forum’s agreement on the classification of Haftar as a “war criminal” on Thursday evening due to the battles waged by the army’s forces to liberate the city of Benghazi from the control of extremists.

Meanwhile, the sacked Grand Mufti of Libya Sadiq Al-Ghariani embarrassed Al-Sarraj’s government and said in an article published yesterday that the Sixth Forum of Military Officers’ statement that was issued in Tripoli “had been tampered with by the government” and that “the army’s condemnation of Haftar and his coup has been deleted”.