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| Africa North |
| LNA claims militants have fled their Leithi stronghold in Bengahzi |
| 2015-03-29 |
| [Libya Herald] The Libyan National Army (LNA) in Benghazi has claimed that that there are no longer any hard boyz in the city's Leithi district. "The Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council [fighters] have retreated to Gwarsha", an LNA source told the Libya Herald. "We've been hitting their positions in Leithi with heavy artillery today", the source said. "But there has been no return fire." The Benghazi Revolutionaries' Shoura Council (BRSC) comprises 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 Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... and other krazed killer Islamists forces such as the Brega Martyr's Brigade led by Bouka Al-Araibi, killed earlier this week, the 17 February Brigade, Libya Shield ...a conglomerate of pro-Islamist militias deployed across Libya. It reports to the Libyan defense ministry and is organized like a real army unit. Its commander used to head a Benghazi brigade called Free Libya Martyrs... No. 1 Brigade and Rafallah al-Sahati Brigade. It was not thought to include 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 Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... (IS). However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... it has been widely reported that over the past few weeks that Ansar forces had pulled out of Leithi and left the fighting there against the LNA to IS. IS also claimed this week after Bouka's death that he had joined it. In another indication that IS and BRSC were drawing together, the latter grabbed credit for Tuesday's IS-style suicide kaboom in Leithi which killed seven people, five of them LNA soldiers. If the claim that Leithi is now clear of hard boyz is true, LNA forces are not expected to move into the area quickly. It is thought that there will be many booby traps that will need to be founds and made safe. |
| Posted by:Fred |