The Islamic State is on the march in Libya

CAIRO, Egypt — The militant group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS) claimed to have captured the entirety of the Libyan city of Sirte on Tuesday, according to the US-based SITE Intelligence Group.

The monitor said the group had published photographs of its fighters engaged in clashes, and moving around the town.

The targeting of Sirte, if the reports are correct, may be part of a larger plan to control the country’s energy resources. It could prove to be a significant tactical victory for IS, providing a healthy flow of funds.

IS members have been patrolling the streets in Sirte since February. Tales soon emerged of the group’s morality police enforcing their austere interpretation of Islam: Residents reported militants telling perfume sellers not to sell their wares, removing mannequins from shop windows and shutting down hairdressers.

Sirte is also the hometown of ousted strongman MuammarGaddafi, and its capture is the latest in a series of moves by the group to bolster its presence in the country.

Analysts believe that the first IS operatives arrived in Libya last summer. Its fighters took control of the eastern city of Derna late last year and significant parts of Sirte in early 2015. It has also been responsible for a string of high profile kidnappings and mass beheadings elsewhere, some of which were filmed by the same media group that produced videos of executions of hostages in Iraq and Syria.

As in other areas under its control, IS has named an "Emir of Tripoli" — a Tunisian known as Abu Talha — to run the group's operations in western Libya. Abu al-Baraa el-Azdi, a Yemeni based in Derna reportedly sent by IS leadership in Mosul, is said to lead in the east.

By cementing its control over Sirte the group has laid claim to a route toward Libya’s largest oil terminal, el Sidra. IS attacks in the region south of el Sidra, which include the kidnapping and killing of oil workers and security personnel, has caused people to flee and left the area open to IS expansion.

Elders in the town of Harawa told the Middle East Eye that IS had entered their town following an agreement with tribal elders, something they say is part of a strategy to take over what is known as Libya’s “oil crescent.”

Libya’s two main oil ports, Sidra and Ras Lanuf, have been under independent control of an independent federalist leader for almost two years, rather than taking orders from the elected government in Tobruk or the Islamist-affiliated government in Tripoli.

The group’s announcement came as UN-brokered talks of a unity government faltered in Morocco when the country’s elected government walked out in protest over a plan that would involve a power-sharing agreement with their rivals.