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| Africa North |
| Heavy fighting in Benghazi as Hafter launches 'final offensive' |
| 2015-02-09 |
| [Libya Herald] Some 40 fighters are reported to have been killed in fierce festivities today in Benghazi as Operation Dignity forces launched a fresh, massive assault against Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... and its allies. The operation, seemingly designed to smash the Islamist forces in the city once and for all, started at 7 am this morning, according to LNA air force commander Saqr Adam Geroushi. He told the Libya Herald that fighting was taking place in Buhdeima, Buatni, Leithi, Gamfouda, Gawarsha, Halees and Sabri. As well as tanks and missiles being used, helicopters had been deployed to bomb Ansar positions, particularly in Boatni and Hawari. Operation Dignity leader 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... had ordered all front line commanders to attack, he said, after 210 fully armed fighters had arrived at Gamfouda by boat from Misrata to reinforce Ansar. Geroushi said that there had been many casualties. Thirty Ansar fighters had died, he claimed. There were lots of bodies particularly in Leithi, he stated, adding that, when the army surrounded them, Ansar forces "bravely ran away" leaving the dead behind them. A number were foreign, he alleged. He did not give figures as to operation Dignity and LNA casualties. However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... another source has put them at 7 dead and 41 maimed. A source at Jalaa Hospital said there were many maimed being brought in from Leithi area, but did not give figures. According to Colonel Mohammed Hejazi, the front man for Operation Dignity, Ansar lost 27 fighterS in Laithi and four in Suq Al-Hout. He put army losses at three dead ‐ one from navy forces in Suq Al- Hout and two from 155 Battalion from Marj. Today's fighting was the start of a "decisive" battle to finally destroy Ansar in the city, he told this newspaper. He said he did not know when it would finish. Fresh arms and munitions had been brought in for the fight, he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |