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Libya Ex-Rebels Deny Attempt to Kill Army Officer, Say Ready to Withdraw If Government Protects Facilities in Tripoli
[Tripoli Post] Libyan revolutionaries who liberated the capital Tripoli and toppled the Qadaffy regime denied accusations that they attempted to kill Colonel Khalifa Hifter who claims to be in charge of a Libyan army.The rebels say the alleged national army does not even exist and has played no role in protecting the strategic facilities in the capital Tripoli and does not have any presence on Libya borders. A front man from Zintan revolutionaries denied that his fighters, who protect the Tripoli International Airport and other economic strategic facilities within the capital, ever tried to kill the former Qadaffy military assistant and the commander of the infamous Chad War. Speaking to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named, Khalid el-Zintani, front man for Zintan revolutionaries, said his fighters did not try to kill Hifter and blamed the festivities occurred on Saturday evening on the Colonel's failure to notify them of his arrival. "What do you expect fighters to do, when a heavily armed military convoy tries to pass checkpoints [in the direction of the airport] without previous notification?" el-Zintani said. When asked about the "National Army" which Hifter claims to be its Chief of Staff, el-Zentani said the military is too poorly organized for them to submit to its authority, as quoted by AP. "Until now, we don't know anything about the Libyan national army. Who is in charge, where the military bases are, what is its chain of command or even how can rebels join it?" said el-Zintani. "On the ground, the so-called national army is nothing yet," he stressed. It is a common fact that Libyans do not agree on those who claim to lead the national army and in the case of the revolutionary fighters who toppled Qadaffy they do not trust those who served in high ranks with the former dictator. Hifter is one of those controversial officers at least until he left the country and went to exile. Hifter was the commander of the Libyan army during the Chad war from 1986 to 1987. But he was defeated and taken prisoner with a large number of Libyan soldiers by the Chadian army and in due time he went to exile to join the opposition group outside Libya. El-Zintani said that rebels were ready to hand the airport to a government agency "only if it is capable of protecting the airport from intrusions." Mukhtar al-Akhdar, the Zintan fighters' commander at the airport, also disputed the legitimacy of the so-called national army and its very authority. "If this is a real army, why don't they go protect the borders instead of trying to take over the airport?" he said. Posted by: Fred 2011-12-12 |
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