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| Africa North |
| Fighting reported in Tajoura today as Libya Dawn orders surrender of local brigade HQ |
| 2015-04-17 |
| [Libya Herald] Clashes have been reported in 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... 's eastern suburb of Tajoura following an accusation by Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... that local forces there, including its Brigade 101, were supporting Khalifa Hafter and the Libyan National Army. Dawn issued an ultimatum yesterday for the brigade to hand over its weapons and headquarters -- an ultimatum rejected by 101. Today's festivities, near the 101 HQ, are said to have pitted neighbouring Suq Al-Juma forces and those from Misrata against Tajoura. Casualties are as yet unknown. Tajoura has been split over support for Libya Dawn. The local municipal council, now firmly in the hands of the Moslem Brüderbund after independent members, including the former mayor, were pressurised into resigning, backs Dawn, as does a group of the local fighters. The main militias are, however, said to support Hafter and the LNA. There have already been a number of clashed between Tajoura forces and Dawn. Most recently in February, local fighters grabbed weapons from Dawn forces. Nonetheless, the area is seen to be firmly in the hands of pro-Islamist militias based at Mitiga Airport, which Tajoura includes. According to some analysts, though, today's festivities between Tajoura and Dawn are a pre-emtive move, triggered by concerns that if and when Libya National Army (LNA) forces enter the capital, fighters in Tajoura could cut off lines between the airport and Dawn fighters elsewhere in the city. Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout Montefiore's foot was still stuck and the hound had completely soaked his uniform with slobber... there have been conflicting reports about LNA air strikes on Mitiga today as the plane carrying General National Congress negotiators to Morocco for UN-brokered peace negotiations was about to take off . Pro-Libya Dawn media, the GNC's dialogue team and the UN Special Envoy himself, Bernardino Leon, have stated the claim, with Leon saying that "we have never seen air strikes at the moment when one of the delegations is taking off on its way to the talks". He has demanded an investigation. The GNC dialogue team has accused the House of Representatives of deliberately trying to undermine the dialogue with the attack. The GNC would have to "reconsider participation in the dialogue" as a result, it said. LNA front man Mohammed Al-Hejazi also said that jets had had attacked Mitiga airport. However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... other reports state that the target was a military base some 10 kilometres away, which had once housed SAM missiles. |
| Posted by:Fred |