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2019-05-08 Africa North
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Libyan National Army shoots down Tripoli government warplane, video shows apparent foreign pilot
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[AlAhram] The Libyan National Army (LNA), led by commander Khalifa Haftar
 ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, 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 it shot down a 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...
government warplane purportedly flown by a foreign mercenary south of the Libyan capital on Tuesday.
The LNA media unit released photographs of what it said was the pilot receiving medical treatment while seated on a chair. One showed an LNA commander, Abdulsalam al-Hassi, standing behind him.
Video posted on social media, which an LNA source said was authentic, showed the pilot, looking groggy and wearing a blood-soaked T-shirt and khaki jacket, being questioned in English.
Asked his name, he said what sounded to be Jimmy Rees but his answer was not clear. He gave his age as 29 and said he was "from Portugal".
Asked what he was doing in Libya, he said: "I was requested to destroy roads and bridges". Asked who sent him, he said it was a civilian contract with someone called Hadi but he did not know his full name.
In Lisbon, the Portuguese Defence Ministry and they could not confirm the pilot's nationality.
"For now the only thing we can say is that he is not a Portuguese soldier," a ministry spokeswoman told Rooters.
Rooters correspondents in Lisbon said the man did not sound Portuguese.
A front man for forces aligned with the internationally recognised government which is based in Tripoli had no immediate comment on the incident.
Residents of Gharyan, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli, said that when the plane was heard overhead, anti-aircraft fire opened up. There was an kaboom as it was hit.
"The jet was shot down in al-Hira town (10 km from Gharyan) and I saw LNA troops capturing the pilot," a Gharyan resident told Rooters.
The eastern-based LNA, led by Haftar, began an offensive against Tripoli in early April but its advance has been blocked by forces loyal to Tripoli on the city's southern outskirts.
The escalation is a setback for efforts by the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
and Western states to end the chaos and political division in Libya eight years after a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
-backed uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...
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Posted by trailing wife 2019-05-08 00:00||
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File under: Arab Spring
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Posted by SteveS 2019-05-08 08:52||
2019-05-08 08:52||
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Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2019-05-08 11:18||
2019-05-08 11:18||
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Posted by SteveS 2019-05-08 12:00||
2019-05-08 12:00||
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Posted by Hupailing Elmoluck5245 2019-05-08 17:28||
2019-05-08 17:28||
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