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| Africa North |
| Egypt launches airstrikes on militants in Benghazi |
| 2014-10-16 |
| [Iran Press TV] Egypt has launched "This is a battle for Egypt not Libya. Egypt was the first country in the region to warn against terrorism and it is also the first to fight it," said a senior Egyptian official on Wednesday. The military operation is launched in response to the request of the Libyan government and will later involve Libyan ground forces in an attempt to take Benghazi back from myrmidons, added the Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to Egyptian military sources, the country's operation against myrmidon groups in Libya is expected to last three to six months. Earlier this month, Egypt's incumbent president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with the Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and declared Cairo's support for the illusory sovereignty of the Libyan government, which is now based in the eastern city of Tobruk. Sisi also promised to train the Libyan army and provide it with military and intelligence assistance. Cairo's The 'Operation Dignity' has been led by forces loyal to retired 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... who have recently intensified their attacks to oust other myrmidon groups from Benghazi. |
| Posted by:Fred |