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Haftar forces advance to within 30km of the Libyan capital of Tripoli
[TWITTER]
Armed groups from Libya's Misrata are moving to defend Tripoli: Residents [AlAhram] Armed groups from the western Libyan city of Misrata have started moving toward 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... to defend the capital against possible advance by Eastern forces, residents said on Thursday. Eastern Libyan commander Haftar orders his troops to move on Tripoli in a video online Eastern Libyan commander 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...ordered his troops on Thursday to march on the capital Tripoli, taking his conflict with the internationally recognised government to a dangerous new level. Haftar posted his order in a video online, hours after his forces took full control of Gharyan, a town about 100 km (60 miles) south of the capital. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in Tripoli trying to push an international peace deal, and was due to make a statement. He earlier called for restraint from all sides. "To our army which is stationed at the outskirts of Tripoli. Today we complete our march ... We are going to start shortly," Haftar said in the video titled ’Operation to liberate Tripoli’. "Today we will shake the land under the feet of their suppressors," he added. The capture of Gharyan after skirmishes on Wednesday with forces allied to Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj followed a rapid thrust westwards by Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) from his eastern stronghold of Benghazi. The developments mark a dramatic escalation of a power tussle that has dragged on in Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... in 2011. The country has been divided between the Western-backed government in Tripoli and a parallel administration allied to Haftar since Qadaffy’s downfall. Posted by: Fred 2019-04-05 |
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