CAIRO
The Arab League on Tuesday called for drafting a strategy to militarily support crisis-hit Libya against the Daesh militant group.
The call came at the conclusion of an extraordinary meeting by the Cairo-based organization to discuss a request by Libya to confront the militant group.
Addressing the meeting, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Dairi said that the Libyan army was not capable of confronting militant groups by itself, including Daesh.
"The Libyan army has only two aircraft," he said, going on to call on the Arab League to translate an Arab proposal for forming a joint Arab action into a reality.
"The Libyan government…calls for conducting airstrikes against Daesh on Libyan territories," he added.
Following the meeting, the Arab League called in a statement for drafting a strategy to militarily support Libya against Daesh, which has recently seized control of the coastal city of Sirte.
According to the internationally recognized government, Daesh militants have killed more than 30 civilians in Sirte this week.
Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody uprising ended the decades-long rule of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in late 2011.
Since then, the country's stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government – in the western city of Tobruk and the eastern city of Tripoli – each of which boasts its own institutions and military capacities.
