Former henchmen of Colonel Gaddafi are being recruited to join the Western-backed battle to drive the Islamic State from Libya, the Sunday Telegraph has learned.

Commanders who fought on Gaddafi's side during the revolution in 2011 have signed up to a coalition now gearing up to push Isil from his home city of Sirte.

The commanders - some of whom fles Libya after the revolution - see the move as a chance to redeem themselves in the eyes of their fellow countrymen.

In joining the anti-Isil coalition, which is made up of different Libyan militias, they will be fighting on the same side as SAS teams sent to help behind the scenes.

British and American special forces have already spent several months on intelligence-gathering operations around Sirte, from where Isil is feared to be planning attacks on European soil.

But it is only since the formation of a new government, set up last month after two years of factional civil war, that Libya's rival armed groups have swung into action.