American and Libyan intelligence officials say the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is seeking to regroup in areas south of Sirte. “They didn’t care about the aftermath.”Īlthough they no longer control significant territory in Libya, the Islamic State affiliate has staged suicide bombings and attacked pro-government checkpoints this year. “All they cared about was liberating Sirte,” said Salah Mohamed, a taxi driver who lives on the townhouse’s top floor, directly under the bomb. And death still lurks in land mines undiscovered in the debris. Skeletons in rotting clothes still lie in the wreckage, posing risks of disease. The smell melds with the stench from sewers that don’t work. Schools and hospitals are partially functioning, as are businesses. Many who have come back are renting in half-destroyed buildings. Thousands of families have yet to return. A year later, this sprawling coastal city remains deeply scarred physically and psychologically. Special Forces and airstrikes, drove out Islamic State militants from their stronghold of Sirte in December 2016, ending their brutal rule and aspirations for an alternate capital in North Africa. “My entire family was born on this street,” said Ameesh, eyes welling with tears.
He now rents a house in the neighborhood of Cambo. airstrike last year during the fighting against ISIS.
Ameesh’s home was destroyed twice, first by fire during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and then by a U.S. Mahmoud Ameesh in the ruins of his house in the Giza neighborhood of Sirte, Libya.
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