Representatives of Libya's neighbors meeting in Cairo warned the North African nation's main rival factions against seeking to settle their differences through military force, as Egypt announced that efforts were underway to bring their leaders together to chart a "joint vision" for the country. The representatives came from Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Chad, Niger and Tunisia. Also attending was U.N. envoy to Libya Martin Kobler.

"A comprehensive political dialogue between all Libya parties is the only way out of this crisis," said a final communique after the meeting, saying the delegates "decisively reject" a military solution to the Libyan crisis, a thinly veiled reference to past clashes between forces backing the factions.Libya has plunged into chaos and lawlessness since the ouster and later killing of strongman Muammar Gadhafi in a 2011 uprising and subsequent civil war, with two rival administrations operating in the east and west of the vast, oil-rich nation. Also operating in Libya is an array of militant groups, including a local affiliate of the Daesh terrorist group.

The communique said participants in the Cairo meeting commended recent defeats of the militants in the coastal cities of Sirte and Benghazi, but that they remained concerned over their continuing presence elsewhere in the vast country.

Saturday's meeting followed airstrikes earlier this week by U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers that targeted a pair of Daesh military camps southwest of Sirte. The airstrikes were coordinated with the U.N-backed government headquartered in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.