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| Africa North |
| 19 Libya Troops Slain after Speedboat Attack on Oil Ports |
| 2014-12-26 |
| [AnNahar] Islamists killed at least 19 soldiers Thursday after a surprise attack in which they used speedboats in a failed bid to seize some of Libya's main oil terminals, officials said. The gunnies belonging to the Fajr Libya, or 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... , launched the attack on the port of al-Sidra by firing rockets from speedboats, setting an oil tank on fire, security sources said. Soldiers damaged three of the vessels before festivities in which at least 19 of them were killed, they said, adding the murderous Moslems were eventually repelled. "These speedboats had fired several rockets at the terminals of Ras Lanuf and al-Sidra and one of them hit a tank south of al-Sidra port which then caught fire," said Ali al-Hassi, security front man for the region. Witnesses said the attack was launched overnight, and reported seeing smoke from the burning oil tank. A military source said 19 soldiers were killed in the region, and that the oil tank struck by a rocket was still burning in the Al-Sidra oil terminal. Al-Sidra is located in the region known as the "oil crescent" that has been the scene of recent fighting between government forces and Fajr Libya. Since the festivities erupted on December 13, oil production in the country has dropped to nearly 350,000 barrels per day compared with 800,000 previously, according to industry experts A medical source at Ibn Sina hospital in Sirte said the facility received 18 bodies from the fighting. "The armed forces on Thursday repelled an attack in which the Fajr Libya militia tried to seize the al-Sidra oil terminal," said Hassi, adding that it was during this attack that the 19th soldier died. The number of casualties among the Islamist murderous Moslems was unknown. The 136th battalion is affiliated with the military. Most its fighters are from a tribe loyal to former 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... Haftar's forces have been fighting alongside forces from the internationally recognised government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani against Islamist murderous Moslems who have seized control of cities including 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... On December 16, a warplane belonging to Fajr Libya fired missiles at a sector to the west of al-Sidra, Hassi said at the time, in the first such raid in the energy-rich region. More than three years after strongman Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... was toppled and killed in a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... -backed revolt, Libya is still awash with weapons and powerful militias, and has rival parliaments as well as governments. Islamists have seized Tripoli and Benghazi in the east, and forces loyal to Thani are fighting to regain control of the cities. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |