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Africa North
Hafter calls for end to UN arms embargo, says heavy arms needed to defeat IS
2016-11-22
[Libya Herald] The head of the Libyan National Army, Field Marshal Khalifa Hafter, has said that the UN arms embargo is stopping the defeat of the so-called 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 Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
"We have only light arms. We need heavy arms. If we have those arms there will be no more ISIS [in Libya]", he said in an interview broadcast yesterday by French TV channel M6.
He could just do as any other regional warlord does and buy them on the open market, or do an underhanded deal with the Rooshuns...
The arms embargo was unjust, he added, and could not be respected or accepted. By holding to it, the international community was in effect simply taking a neutral position in battle against the Lions of Islam in the country. "If the embargo remains, if the world remains in the position of a spectator, we too will [be forced to] remain just spectators of ISIS".

The call is unlikely to be heeded. While Moscow is thought to be sympathetic to ending the embargo in order to crush IS in Libya, others on the Security Council are not. They have taken the line that the embargo will only end when the Government of National Accord is approved and in full control of the Libyan military.

However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
 Hafter’s demand comes just after his forces have finally managed to take Benghazi’s Gwarsha district. It is noticeable that, with it, there has been a softening of their previous opposition to him by some of Libya’s western allies.

Three days ago, at the time of the Gwarsha capture, US special envoy Jonathan Winer tweeted: "Tough sacrifices by #Libya National Army soldiers this week reported ‐ 20 killed & 40 injured in counter terror fighting in Benghazi. In similar vein, UK ambassador Peter Millett tweeted: "The #Libya-n National Army liberates #Benghazi’s Quwarsha from #ISIS & #AnsaralSharia. Condolences to the families of LNA deaders."

But, even if and when the Lions of Islam are finally crushed in both Benghazi and in Sirte, it is thought that this will not be the end of the matter.

Officials in Misrata say that many IS supporters managed to escape Sirte and are now regrouping elsewhere.

Posted by:Fred

#1  Methinks the Klingons are a little gun-shy at this point, General Field Marshal.

(pun intended)
Posted by: Pappy   2016-11-22 10:48  

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