Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed government in Tripoli, slammed British attempts to lay hands over the Libyan assets in UK banks, frozen since the era of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. The Security Council renewed Monday the embargo imposed since seven years on arming the Libyan army for an additional year. In a statement issued Monday, Sarraj rejected the intention of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom to vote over a decision to compensate victims of attacks conducted by the Irish Republican Army through making use of the Libyan frozen assets in UK, knowing that Gaddafi regime is accused of backing the Irish Republican army in the past century. Sarraj didn’t reveal the source of his information but he expressed rejection of any attempt against the country’s assets, noting that the decision to freeze the Libyan assets is an international decision and is therefore binding for any related country, including the UK. He described this step as dangerous, stating that it violates the international law and the Libyan sovereignty – it is an unprecedented step that might be exploited by others for attempts against assets of other countries in the future. Sarraj, who is following up on the matter closely, threatened that he will resort to all possible legal and diplomatic ways to confront this decision. Reliable Libyan sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar is willing to deliver a speech in the coming days in which he officially announces recapturing Darnah, the last stronghold of extremist groups in east Libya. “The LNA is currently controlling most of the city, but there are still pockets of resistance,” its spokesman General Ahmed Al-Mesmari said. “What remains outside the control of our forces is considered a small combat zone,” Al-Mesmari noted, stressing that “the operations are in their final stages and the fighting is very heavy.”