Sitting in the shabby parlour of his temporary home, Haaji Mohammed can barely bring himself to watch the Islamic State video playing on his mobile phone.
Many of the city’s young ex-revolutionaries are now struck with a sense of despair, wondering why their reward for toppling one of the world’s most feared dictators is to face another psychopathic force in the form of IS.
“Blood has become like smoke,” said “Ahmed”, 23, puffing on a joint and slugging from a bottle of Chivas Regal one night. “I used to be upset when I saw people killed, now it means nothing.”
Misrata is relatively unified by Libyan standards, its people having been through a collective baptism of fire in 2011 when Gaddafi’s forces subjected them to a savage six-month siege. But after emerging from that coastal Stalingrad with a reputation for having some of the best urban fighters in Libya, it appears to have met its match in IS-controlled Sirte.
After initial successes, a senior military figure says, the fighting went into areas where the risk of civilian casualties was too high. Other Misratan fighters, though, say they were simply outgunned. “Fighting Gaddafi’s people during the war was hard enough, but these IS people are even fiercer,” said Mohammed’s nephew Osama, who at one point was burying five comrades a day, including one of Mohammed’s sons. “We have never seen anything like it.”
Misratan commanders say a major offensive is being planned against IS in Sirte, and that Western help will be welcome, as long as it is discreet.
Meanwhile, Osama and his surviving comrades are laying the groundwork by sending spies into Sirte to gather intelligence.
Two have already been caught and killed, and three others are missing, but the risks are deemed worth it – if only to see the return of Libya’s green, black and red revolutionary flag, which still flutters proudly all over the rest of the country.
“IS’s people only want their own black flag on display,” said Osama. “So they have set up special dustbins where the Libyan flag can be dumped.”
In a country where so many died to see it unfurled five years ago, there is perhaps no greater insult – and no greater expression of IS’s new confidence. — Daily Telegraph, from Misrata
Black flag of IS over Gaddafi’s hellfire city
Many of the city’s young ex-revolutionaries are now struck with a sense of despair, wondering why their reward for toppling one of the world’s most feared dictators is to face another psychopathic force in the form of IS.
“Blood has become like smoke,” said “Ahmed”, 23, puffing on a joint and slugging from a bottle of Chivas Regal one night. “I used to be upset when I saw people killed, now it means nothing.”
Misrata is relatively unified by Libyan standards, its people having been through a collective baptism of fire in 2011 when Gaddafi’s forces subjected them to a savage six-month siege. But after emerging from that coastal Stalingrad with a reputation for having some of the best urban fighters in Libya, it appears to have met its match in IS-controlled Sirte.
After initial successes, a senior military figure says, the fighting went into areas where the risk of civilian casualties was too high. Other Misratan fighters, though, say they were simply outgunned. “Fighting Gaddafi’s people during the war was hard enough, but these IS people are even fiercer,” said Mohammed’s nephew Osama, who at one point was burying five comrades a day, including one of Mohammed’s sons. “We have never seen anything like it.”
Misratan commanders say a major offensive is being planned against IS in Sirte, and that Western help will be welcome, as long as it is discreet.
Meanwhile, Osama and his surviving comrades are laying the groundwork by sending spies into Sirte to gather intelligence.
Two have already been caught and killed, and three others are missing, but the risks are deemed worth it – if only to see the return of Libya’s green, black and red revolutionary flag, which still flutters proudly all over the rest of the country.
“IS’s people only want their own black flag on display,” said Osama. “So they have set up special dustbins where the Libyan flag can be dumped.”
In a country where so many died to see it unfurled five years ago, there is perhaps no greater insult – and no greater expression of IS’s new confidence. — Daily Telegraph, from Misrata
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