Sirte

Arabic سرت; Sirte
Coordinates	31 ° 12 ′ N , 16 ° 35 ′ E Coordinates: 31 ° 12 ′ N , 16 ° 35 ′ E
Basic data
Country	Libya
Shaʿbiyya	Surt
ISO 3166-2	LY-SR
height	28 m
Residents	135,451 (2009)
founding	1842

Sirte or Syrte (also Surt , Arabic سرت Sirt , IPA : / ˈsɜrt /) is a Libyan port city on the Mediterranean Sea and the capital of the municipality of the same name Surt .

history

In 1842 the Ottomans built a fortress called Marsat al Zaafran (" Saffron Harbor"), which was later called Qasr al Zaafran ("Saffron Fortress"), and later called Qasr Sert. The fortress became part of the restoration of Ottoman rule over Tripolitania under Sultan Abdülmecid I after the fall of the Karamanli dynasty.

Mathābah al-Madīnah , event hall in Sirte

After the Italo-Turkish War , the city was occupied by Italians in 1912. With interruption by the Senussi 1915-1924, the Italian rule lasted until the Second World War and their rule was replaced by British troops under Montgomery in the fight against the German Africa campaign under Rommel . Sirte or a suburb of Sirte is considered the birthplace of the dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi , who ruled Libya from 1969 to 2011. Since Gaddafi came to power, the city has seen strong growth. Modern high-rise buildings shape the cityscape.

In 1986 the Austrian company VA Technologie built a seawater desalination plant in Sirte with a capacity of 10,000 m³ / d.

At the invitation of Muammar al-Gaddafi, the OAU organized the 4th Extraordinary Summit in Sirte in September 1999. The Sirte Declaration passed on September 9, 1999 paved the way for the establishment of the African Union .

During the Libyan civil war in 2011 , Sirte was permanently under the control of former ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi. Even after the capital Tripoli was under the control of the rebels in August 2011 and the former government was overthrown, Sirte was still considered unconquered. On September 1, 2011, Gaddafi declared Sirte the new capital of Libya after losing control of almost all of the rest of the country, particularly Tripoli. Between August and September 2011, the remaining troops were given a week-long ultimatum, which was originally supposed to expire on September 3, to surrender the city peacefully and to lay down their weapons. The ultimatum was officially extended to September 10th. Negotiations with local tribal leaders remained fruitless. The fighters loyal to Gaddafi let the ultimatum pass after the negotiations had broken off. On the evening of September 15, troops from the National Transitional Council that had encircled the city began their offensive on Sirte, but met strong opposition and had to withdraw several times. They were supported by air strikes by NATO, which, contrary to the UN mandate , also had civilian goals and in which a total of 47 civilians were killed. After weeks of fighting, a last major offensive against the heavily contested city began on October 7th. As of October 13, about 80 percent of the city was under the leadership of the fighters of the Transitional Council. On October 20, 2011, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council announced the takeover (“liberation”) of the city of Sirte. Shortly afterwards, the Transitional Council announced the capture and death of Muammar al-Gaddafi. His son Mutassim and 67 members of his convoy were killed by the interim council militias after their capture in Sirte.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), around 20,000 people fled Sirte during the fighting . Another 23,000 or so people camped east of Sirte or in the desert.

In April 2014, there were still 9,404 residents of Sirtes who had not returned to their homeland as internally displaced persons who had been forcibly displaced .

On February 13, 2015, the city was conquered by the terrorist organization Islamic State in the wake of the civil war in Libya since 2014 .

The Firjan tribe living in the city had refused to submit to ISIS . In August 2015, the terrorist militia shot and killed a preacher who was a member of the tribe. As a result, mostly young Firjan people rose up against their rule. In revenge, ISIS killed numerous tribesmen. The information on the number of fatalities varies between 38 and 200. The victims of IS were crucified and beheaded in public in the city. Neither of the two Libyan governments came to the aid of the city's residents who were fighting ISIS.

IS lost control of the city in September 2016 after the armed forces of Fayiz al-Sarradsch liberated the city. In January 2020, LNA troops of the Libyan warlord Haftar and Russian mercenaries captured the city from the internationally recognized GNA government in the course of their siege of Tripoli . After the siege of Tripoli was repulsed - also by Turkish soldiers and Syrian rebel militias - the outskirts of Sirte are contested again until June 2020. The Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah as-Sisi said that he would not accept an attempt to retake Sirtes by GNA forces.

geography

The city in the historical region of Tripolitania is located a little above sea level on the Gulf of the Great Syrte in the Libyan desert that extends to the coast . The state capital Tripoli in the northwest is about 450 kilometers by road, the second largest city Benghazi in the east on the other side of the Gulf is 570 kilometers away.

Infrastructure

The regional airport Gardabya Airport (SRX) is about ten kilometers south of the city. The Frankfurt architect Jo. Franzke designed the terminal . The Ras Ejder – Sirt and Sirt – Benghazi railway lines parallel to the coast are under construction . The port of Sirt is becoming increasingly important , especially after the expansion of offshore oil production in the Gulf.