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BENGHAZI. – East Libya-based forces said they carried out air strikes yesterday on a coastal road west of Sirte, a day after nine of their men were killed in a strike by rivals.

The Libyan National Army (LNA) took control of Sirte, a strategically important city in the centre of Libya’s Mediterranean coastline, in a rapid advance on Monday and is seeking to consolidate gains.

Since April, the LNA has also been waging a campaign to take the capital, Tripoli, about 370km north-west of Sirte, where it is battling forces aligned with the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

GNA forces said they withdrew from Sirte to avoid bloodshed.

Those forces are mainly from the port of Misrata, 190km east of Tripoli, and had controlled Sirte since driving Islamic State from the city in late 2016.

On Tuesday afternoon, clashes broke out around al-Washka, on the road between Sirte and Misrata, where LNA sources said nine of their men were killed in an evening drone strike.

Yesterday, the LNA responded with strikes near the Abu Grein checkpoint, close to al-Washka, where clashes were continuing, LNA military officials said.

Libya has been divided since 2014 into rival camps based in Tripoli and the east, each with its own set of institutions, and Haftar’s offensive against Tripoli upended UN efforts to broker a political settlement.

Turmoil in Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi’s long rule was toppled in 2011, has in recent years disrupted the OPEC member’s oil production, fuelled migrant smuggling to Europe, and given space to Islamist extremists.

Regional powers have upped intervention, with Turkey backing the GNA and the LNA receiving support from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt.

The European Union’s top diplomat and the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy this week condemned Turkey’s plans to send military experts and trainers to Libya, saying interference was exacerbating instability.

Meanwhile, Russia and Turkey have called for all parties in the ongoing Libyan conflict to declare a ceasefire, even as both countries seem to support opposite sides in the affray.

Earlier, Turkey began moving troops toward Libya.

Following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Wednesday, Moscow and Ankara released a joint statement calling on all sides in the Libyan conflict to “declare a sustainable ceasefire, supported by the necessary measures to be taken for stabilising the situation on the ground and normalising daily life in Tripoli and other cities.”

Russia has been careful not to pick sides, despite talks with Haftar in Moscow earlier in the year.

The Russian government nonetheless criticised Turkey’s siding with the GNA, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating late last month that “foreign interference will hardly help the situation.”

Once an oil-rich and prosperous nation, Libya remains fractured and devastated since long-time leader Gaddafi was ousted and killed by rebel forces in 2011, with the backing of a NATO bombing campaign.

With Gaddafi removed, the country degenerated into a no-man’s-land blighted by militia clashes, jihadism, and human trafficking. – Reuters-RT.