Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght- The ISIS terrorist group is reportedly in full control of the strategic Mediterranean Libyan Port-City of Sirte and is now targeting Ajdabiyah Oil Fields.
Reports say Sirte’s ISIS Takfiri leadership continues to implement the extremist group’s fringe policies, beheading innocents in a public square and banning music.
As in Iraq and Syria, ISIS terrorist group appears to be slowly imposing its vision on the city, carrying out punishments such as crucifixions and public floggings, residents say.
Taking over city institutions and banks, Islamic State forces merchants and shopkeepers to pay a tax that would normally go to the state, and an Islamic court is in place.
Barbers are banned from shaving off beards and smoking Shisha pipes in cafes has been stopped.
The local radio station broadcasts pro-ISIS propaganda and discusses the greatness of its caliph, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
On November 30th , ISIS sealed the fate of Sirte, sending in thousands of reinforcements to turn this port-city into their North African capital.
With Sirte firmly under their control, ISIS has turned their attention to the nearby city of Ajdabiyah and the lucrative oil fields that surround its northern countryside.
Should ISIS capture the Adjabiyah oil fields, the aforementioned terrorist group will control oil wells in three different Arab countries. ISIS currently controls some oil fields in Syria and Libya which reportedly earned the Takfiri terror group US$ 800 million over the last eight months.
The city was overtaken by the ISIS in February 2014, and has helped the group generate significant revenue through oil sales. Some 5,000 fighters who pledged allegiance to ISIS now rule over the city, which sits in a country that has been disassembled by war and poverty.
Sirte, a strategically important city, is now utilized as a base of attacks against targets in Libya, and in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt. Moreover, Italy and Greece remain just across the Mediterranean Sea from the coastal city. The civilians living inside of Sirte have attempted to recapture their city from ISIS on numerous occasions, but the loyalist militias are constantly outmanned and outgunned by the terrorist group’s forces that number in the thousands.
Reports say ISIS continues to extend its reach in Libya, now controlling 150 miles of Mediterranean coastline territory, the report stated.
ISIS in Libya is led by some of the group’s leaders from Syria and Iraq. “A great exodus of the ISIS leadership in Syria and Iraq is now establishing itself in Libya,” said Omar Adam, a local militia commander.
The country, previously ruled by Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, was destabilized after a US-led air campaign four years ago. Two warring factions continue to wage battles throughout the country, with an Islamist faction squaring off with a more secular entity.
With the city of Sirte quickly becoming ISIS’ new Mosul and Raqqa; it is very unlikely for anti ISIS forces to quell this threat anytime soon.
A report released on Tuesday by a United Nations monitoring group examining terrorist groups in Libya warned that ISIS has built up a significant presence in Libya and could further expand the territory it controls through local alliances, but will likely face a number of challenges and constraints in the months ahead.
Outside Syria and Iraq, Libya has proved to the most promising ground for ISIS expansion with the group entrenching its control of the former Qaddafi stronghold of Sirte in recent months and over a hundred miles of coastline bordering the city. The group also has some presence in eastern Libya where it is engaged in a contest  of dominance with al Qaeda affiliates.
According to the U.N. report, which was based on information and intelligence provided by U.N. member states, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi exerts more control over its Libyan affiliate than any other chapter of the group outside Syria and Iraq and views Libya as the best opportunity to expand its so-called caliphate, a conclusion in line with U.S. intelligence assessments. Social media accounts run by ISIS terrorists group followers have begun calling on volunteers to travel to join ISIS in Libya instead of Syria and Iraq.
On Tuesday Algiers hosted  a conference to discuss Libya with regional foreign ministers in attendance including from Egypt, Tunisia, the Arab League, the EU, and newly appointed UN Libya envoy Martin Kobler.
Tuesday’s conference in Algiers is expected to reinvigorate efforts to agree a peace deal in Libya aimed at forming a national unity government.
It comes after previous UN envoy Bernardino Leon left his post under a cloud of controversy, with allegations he was working for the UAE in backing one side in the Libyan civil war.
In their final statement at the end of the meeting in Algeirs, participating delegates expressed “deep concern over the ongoing fights and call for its ending”. In their final release, ministers also stressed their “major concern over the spread of terrorism in Libya, particularly such as ISIS, al-Qaeda and Ansar Sharia, calling for the intensification and coordination of efforts to deal with this phenomenon".

Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra encouraged new UN envoy Kobler to give the region a greater role in the Libyan peace process, saying Libya’s neighbors “are better placed to understand the culture, the habits, and the traditions.”
Lamamra has also issued a warning about the dangers of foreign intervention in North Africa adding that foreign military intervention “can become part of the problem and not part of the solution”.
“It increases the likelihood of having more terrorist activity and of having more destabilization in the countries that are opposed to foreign intervention,” he said
There have been two rival governments in Libya since Salafist-backed militias seized the capital Tripoli last year, forcing the internationally recognized government to Tobruk in the east.
As the situation in Libya reaches a crisis point, work behind the scenes of neighboring countries continues as worry grows regarding the impact of regional security.

The spread ISIS terrorist group foothold  in Libya and the country's emergence as a smuggling hub for migrants risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean have added urgency to efforts aimed at restoring stability in the north African state.