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| Africa North |
| Fierce Fighting Kills 18 in Libya's Benghazi |
| 2014-06-03 |
| [AnNahar] Fierce fighting between Islamists and a rogue Libyan general killed at least 18 people in Benghazi on Monday, triggering fears of an all-out war as hospitals urged citizens to donate blood. Officials at hospitals in the eastern city, the birthplace of the 2011 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... -backed uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them... , said at least 11 soldiers were among the dead and that 81 people were maimed. The government of outgoing prime minister Abdullah al-Thani said it was holding an "emergency meeting" on the violence, which residents said had eased in the afternoon. An air force commander said the festivities erupted when three Islamist groups, including Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, with the Libyan and Tunisian versions currently most active... , attacked a base of elite forces who support the renegade general, Khalifa Haftar. Images posted on the Internet showed army assault helicopters firing missiles at suspected Islamist targets. The fighting was the bloodiest since 76 people were killed in mid-May when Haftar unleashed an offensive dubbed "Operation Dignity" to purge Libya of Islamists he brands "terrorists". It triggered panic in Benghazi, Libya's second city where hospitals appealed to people to donate blood. "Benghazi is suffering, people are fed up, spare them," the head of the Benghazi Medical Center, Doctor Leila Buigiguis, said in remarks broadcast on television. The education ministry closed schools, forcing the postponement of scheduled final exams. Residents cowered indoors and many shops and businesses were closed as gunfire rang out and kabooms shook Benghazi, witnesses said. They said some families were trapped in the western neighborhood of Sidi Freij, a stronghold of Ansar al-Sharia. Haftar front man Mohammed al-Hijazi called on residents in combat zones across Benghazi to evacuate. Colonel Saad al-Werfelli, who commands the Benghazi air force base, said the jihadists "bombarded base 21 early on Monday, killing and wounding soldiers (from the elite unit) who were trapped inside". The air force retaliated by launching strikes on the assailants, added Werfelli, who along with the elite forces backs Haftar's campaign against Islamists accused of repeated violence in Benghazi. The latest bloodshed comes a day after Haftar's forces launched fresh air raids on Islamists in Benghazi, with one strike targeting a meeting of Ansar al-Sharia, one of his aides said. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has urged Libyans to fight Haftar and his so-called National Army, labeling the ex-army general an "enemy of Islam". Authorities have denounced Haftar as an outlaw, but after thousands of Libya rallied for his support he said he has a mandate from the people to pursue his offensive to crush "terrorism". Since the 2011, Libya has been rocked by lawlessness with near-daily attacks blamed on radical Islamists targeting security forces in Benghazi. The interim authorities, caught in their own power struggle, have been unable to stamp out the violence in the absence of a strong army and police force. Ansar al-Sharia, classified as a terrorist group by the United States, was backed by the February 17 Brigades of ex-rebel leader Rafallah al-Sahati and the Libya Shield Force Islamist groups, said Werfelli. The powerful February 17 group of ex-rebels denied any involvement in Monday's fighting, in a statement posted on Facebook. The group of ex-rebels is suspected of having strong ties with Ansar al-Sharia, which has threatened Haftar that he could end up like Qadaffy, killed by rebels eight months after the 2011 uprising. Haftar, 71, lived in exile in the United States before returning home to command ground forces in the uprising. Last week, he said in a statement read on a private television that he would not rest until he has purged Libya of Islamists. "No steps backwards until the country is liberated, security and stability restored and freedom and democracy established," he said. But many in Libya doubt that he will have any impact on the Islamists and question his motivation. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 The average Achmed on the street in Libya doesn't want an Islamic paradise governed by Sharia, enough of them have been on the Hajj to KSA and have seen THAT. And many of them have listened to the lunatics from the Muslim Brotherhood babble their radical "Islamic" nonsense on TV. Trust me, most Libyans want an end to the militias and are sick and tired of the posturing and bickering in the GNC over run with Islamist who do not represent the will of the people. Most want the GNC disbanded and they want a modern democratic constitution, something neither the GNC nor the Islamic militias want. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2014-06-03 22:05 |
| #3 Al-Qaeda is an "enemy of Islam". |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-06-03 14:46 |
| #2 Hopefully they have agreed on standard calibres. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-06-03 14:05 |
| #1 How tragic. (If either side runs low on ammo maybe we can direct them to were we stashed some.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2014-06-03 07:44 |