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| Africa North |
| Libya Strongman Vows to 'Take Tripoli' from Islamists |
| 2014-11-29 |
| [An Nahar] An anti-Islamist former Libyan general, 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... , said Friday he has given himself two weeks to take Benghazi and three months to recapture 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... The strongman, who is allied to the Libyan parliament, has been battling Islamist militias who took control of the war-torn country's biggest cities this summer after their defeat in elections. Forces loyal to Haftar and Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani are fighting for control of Benghazi in the east and have launched an offensive against Islamist positions west of the capital. "For Tripoli we are only at the beginning," Haftar told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. "We need more men and more supplies and weaponry." "I have given myself three months, but maybe we will need less. The Islamists of Fajr Libya (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... ) are not difficult to fight, no more so than 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.... at Derna," the town in the east of the war-torn country which has become a base for forces of Evil affiliated to the bad boy group who control swathes of Syria and Iraq. "But the priority is Benghazi," Haftar said. "The Ansar Asharia (Islamist militia) is battle-hardened, that takes more work, even though we control 80 percent of the city and we are pushing forward," he added. The general wants parliament and al-Thani's internationally-recognized government, now based in Tobruk, close to the Egyptian border, to come back at least to Benghazi. "I have given myself a deadline of December 15," he said. More than three years after dictator Moamer Qadaffy was toppled and killed in a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... -backed revolt, Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias, and has rival governments and parliaments. "The Tobruk parliament is the one elected by the people. The one in Tripoli is an illegal assembly where the Islamists want to turn back history," Haftar insisted. "But the real danger comes from the fundamentalists who want to impose their will everywhere. If Ansar Asharia takes power here, the threat will come to you in Europe, in your houses," he said in the interview, given close to Benghazi. "Egypt, Algeria, the Emirates and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... have sent us arms and ammunition, but only their older technology. We are not asking you (Europeans) to send us ground troops or bomber aircraft. If we have adequate military equipment we will manage," he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-11-29 03:53 |
#1  |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-11-29 03:25 |