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Four civilians wounded in Libya eastern forces shelling on Derna
[Libya Observer] Four people were maimed in heavy artillery shelling on Derna by gangs of the eastern forces of Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, 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...
Residents in Derna reported that the shelling targeted Sayeda Khadija neighborhood in the city on Sunday.

The security chief in Derna, Yehya Osta Omar, told the press that four shells launched by Haftar-led gangs fell on the neighborhood in western Derna.

Omar added that the neighborhood targeted by the shelling is a residential area for workers of Derna steam power plant, adding that the shelling left material damage in some locations, pointing out the injury of a wife and a husband as well as their daughter as a shell fell on their house.

For months, Haftar’s forces have been tightening the siege on Derna with recurrent shelling of certain locations inside the city, while at the same time preventing fuel, foods and other basic needs from entering the city.

Over the last week, the self-styled army led by warlord Haftar started to mobilize fighters and send them to Derna suburbs, with Haftar calling on the resident to surrender their weapons.

The encirclement of Haftar’s forces, however, lingers despite the calls of the local and international organizations, the PC and the High Council of State to deescalate and end the conflict by dialogue, yet the inflexibility of the so-called eastern general command only worsened the crisis with no solutions in the horizon.
Posted by: Fred 2018-03-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=509640