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| Africa North |
| Fierce fighting as East Libyan forces close in on last Benghazi holdout |
| 2017-07-05 |
| [AlAhram] East Libyan forces battled to advance into a final area of Benghazi controlled by their opponents on Tuesday, clearing mines and roadblocks and targeting snipers with cover from tank rounds. 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 self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) says it is close to concluding a three-year campaign for control of Libya's second city, having surrounded rival fighters in a strip of the seafront district of Sabri little more than two km wide. The campaign has been halting, with the LNA suffering high casualties even after gaining the upper hand early last year. A medical source said at least 16 troops had been killed and at least 36 maimed in fighting since Monday. The LNA said it had killed 19 of its opponents. "The special forces and supporting units from the army advanced today and tightened the grip on the terrorist groups on the Sabri front, gaining control over important sites," said special forces front man Milad al-Zawi. He said one of the sites was a block that contained a large number of snipers. Parts of Benghazi have been left in ruins since Haftar launched his "Dignity Operation" against Islamic snuffies and other opponents in May 2014. Many of the buildings in Sabri and the neighbouring historic neighbourhood of Souq al-Hout have been wrecked by street fighting, shelling and air strikes. Much of the area was heavily mined. Three years ago Libya split into two broad and shifting rival alliances based in the east and west of the country, loyal to competing governments, worsening the turmoil that followed a 2011 uprising that ousted veteran ruler Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... Haftar's LNA has gained ground in Benghazi and other parts of eastern and southern Libya while rejecting a U.N.-backed government that arrived in the capital, 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... , in March 2016. |
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