|
Misratan forces kill and capture Sirte IS fighters: report
[Libya Herald] Misratan Libya Dawn...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... forces claim to have killed 17 Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... fighters and lost two of their own, in yesterday's fierce battles in Sirte. Details are confused but the fighting appears to have started after IS units set up a checkpoint on the coastal highway in the eastern section of the town. A Misratan unit sent to investigate came under fire and a battle then developed. Misrata's 166 brigade has been positioned guarding roads leading into the town for some weeks, after IS announced its presence in Sirte, draping black flags from public buildings and taking over the radio station. A front man for Libya Dawn's Al-Shorooq force told the media that battles had continued throughout the day. He said that Dawn forces had taken several IS fighters prisoner and had sent them back to Misrata. Photographs on social media showed Misratan fighters in armed jeeps battling in the town. One Misrata source told Libya Herald that its forces had killed and captured several IS imported muscle, but gave no details of their nationality. He said the prisoners would be questioned back in Misrata. In recent months IS forces have established bases in Sirte, Derna and Nawfilya, a small settlement south-east of Sirte. In February IS in Sirte posted images showing the execution of 21 Christians, 20 from Egypt, apparently on the Sirte shoreline. Egypt launched retaliatory air strikes. Earlier this month gunnies, believed to be IS, beheaded 8 Libyan guards and kidnapped 9 foreign hostages from Al-Ghani oilfield, south east of Sirte. Yesterday's festivities bring to an end a tacit ceasefire between Libya Dawn forces outside the town and IS units within. Several journalists who visited the area this month reported that Misratan units maintain checkpoints around the town. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... IS units are inside, holding sites including the central Ouagadougou conference hall, from which a black IS flag has been draped. Libya Dawn said it had previously held back from a direct assault on the town for fear of civilian casualties. It also seems to be concerned about its military capacity being overstretched, by involvement in the stalled attack on Sidra and deployments to the south at Sebha and to the west of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... . Posted by: Fred 2015-03-16 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=412959 |