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Haftar and ISIL fighters launch attacks in Libya
[Al Jazeera] Libyan forces loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar
... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
 and ISIS fighters have launched simultaneous attacks against forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), just hours after unidentified fighter jets raided GNA-held areas.

The Bunyan al-Marsous Forces, who support the 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...
-based GNA, said they were simultaneously attacked on Friday by both Haftar forces and the 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....
 of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, known as ISIS) group in the central district of Jufra, south of Sirte.

The GNA, formed in 2015, has struggled to exert its authority in Tripoli and beyond, or rein in gangs, including ISIS, that have held power on the ground since the country's 2011 uprising.

Haftar, a retired army general, is the self-proclaimed commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA).

"Fresh fighting has erupted between forces loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar and forces loyal to the UN-backed GNA, helped by the Benghazi Defence Brigades in the area of al-Jufra in the central desert of Libya," Al Jazeera's Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Tripoli, said.

Jufra is about 400km to the south of Sirte.

He said fighter jets, believed to be Egyptian, attacked 14 locations in Jufra overnight on Thursday, "including several residential areas and the Jufra airbase used by the UN-backed GNA forces".

While there were no reports of casualties, our correspondent said the air raids had caused heavy material losses to GNA military points and installations.
Posted by: Fred 2017-06-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=489711