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| Africa North |
| Haftar’s forces repel attacks on Libyan oil ports; ISIL driven from Sirte |
| 2016-12-10 |
| [WORLDTRIBUNE] Gen. Khalifa Haftar ... 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... ’s Libyan National Army (LNA) turned back an attack by a rival faction on some of Libya’s major oil ports on Dec. 7. A front man for the LNA said rival fighters had withdrawn after briefly occupying the town of Ben Jawad, 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of the port of Es Sider, and were being pursued in the surrounding area, Rooters reported. Four LNA troops were killed and seven maimed in the festivities, a medical source in nearby Ras Lanuf said. Haftar’s forces responded to the attack by the rival faction with A security official said the groups that advanced towards the ports in Libya’s oil crescent were linked to the Benghazi Defense Brigades, which tried this year to launch a counter-attack against the LNA. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said it had not suspended any loadings, but was monitoring the situation carefully. The LNA in September seized control of four oil crescent ports, allowing the NOC to end blockades at three of the ports and double national oil production to about 600,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... Libyan forces, led by brigades from the western city of Misrata, on Dec. 7 completed a near seven-month battle to oust 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.... of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) from its stronghold in Sirte. The forces gained full control over a final patch of ground in Sirte’s Ghiza Bahriya district after hours of festivities. Libyan and Western officials say some ISIS jihadists beat feet from Sirte before the battle or in its early stages. They fear an bad boy campaign from outside the city and there have been attacks in outlying areas. Almost all of Sirte’s estimated population of 80,000 fled the city since ISIS took control in early 2016. Libyan officials asked local families not to return to Sirte until mines had been cleared. |
| Posted by:Fred |