E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

LNA planes bomb militants' supply vessels off Benghazi
[Libya Herald] The Libyan air force says it bombed and sunk two transport craft bringing men and equipment from Misrata to Salafist tough guys besieged in Benghazi.

There has been no independent confirmation of the strikes, or any reports of casualties, but the air force has carried out numerous strikes against such boats in recent months.

Libyan National Army (LNA) and associated forces have for the past two weeks been pounding Islamist militias, including 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 Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 (IS) fighters, who are hemmed into four districts of Benghazi, in an offensive launched by the head of the Libyan armed forces, General Khalifa Hafter and codenamed Operation Doom.

Military sources say the districts are almost empty of civilians, but army advances are held up by snipers and sporadic rocket and artillery fire from the largely ruined areas.

The army says the sea supply line from Misrata is the reason Islamist units continue to fight on in Benghazi, accusing Misratans, prominent members of the former 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...
 alliance, of prolonging the battle. Last week, Benghazi council said Misrata council bore responsibility for the city's sufferings because of the continuing supply of fighters and weapons and that it would take legal action against Misrata.

Hafter has been fighting to capture Benghazi in a number of offensives that first began in May of last year, with the artillery and rockets of both sides reducing some areas, including parts of the historic quarter by the port, to rubble.

Posted by: Fred 2015-10-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=431712