Libyan government attempt to retake Sirte from ISIL

World Today

FILE – In this March 5, 2011 file photo, an anti-government rebel sits with an anti-aircraft weapon in front an oil refinery in Ras Lanouf, eastern Libya. The United States France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain have called upon forces loyal to a Libyan general to withdraw from three eastern oil terminals seized earlier this week, in a statement Monday, Sept. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

The United States and Libya are working together in the fight against ISIL. Striking by air and ground, they have nearly retaken the seaside city of Sirte. As Libyan troops move into ISIL’s former stronghold, they’re making some gruesome discoveries, and perhaps some understanding of ISIL’s operations.

CCTV’s Stephanie Freid reports.

Once home to 70,000 Libyans, Sirte is a ghost town now populated by patrolling Libyan militia and ISIL operatives.

Part of the ISIL remnants is tools used in public executions, hallmark forced “taxation” stamps, a “Libyan ISIL” emblem, and basement prisons. In those ISIL prisons, prisoners were isolated and tortured, and once scrawled desperate messages.