About 5000 displaced families have gone back to their houses in Sirte by last weekend, said Sirte municipal member, Fawzi Abu Zaid.

Abu Zaid said Monday that those families were temporarily living in Sirte suburbs, in Misrata, Abu Grein, Al-Wishka, Zliten, Bani Walid, Tarhouna and Al-Khums.

He added that the returning families made their way back to Sawawa, Gharibat, Abu Hadi, and Al-Gabiba, where normal life conditions are reported and schools and clinics have resumed work while the police station is preparing to do so.

Since the clashes between Misrata-led forces and IS diehards in Sirte have started, 18 thousand families have been displaced in 14 municipalities with the majority in Misrata and Bani Walid, according to the Sirte Municipality’s media bureau.

Responding to the HoR member for Sirte, Abu Bakir Al-Ghazali, who said Al-Bunyan Al-MArsoos forces are destroying Sirte under the pretext of fighting terrorism., Abu Zaid said the timing of those accusations aims at spoiling the joy of liberating Sirte from IS militants.

“Sirte residents prefer IS’s hell to Misrata’s paradise.” Al-Ghazali said in 2014 before IS had its grip tightened on the city of Sirte, refusing, at the time, the help offered by a Misrata brigade, which offered to uproot the few Is militants from Sirte.