.

NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Friday, August 1, 2014

Islamists ‘seize’ Benghazi, declare it ‘emirate’


Followers of Ansar al-Sharia and other militias in Benghazi.

Obama Strikes Again
After Obama's unconstitutional war, Libya
dissolves into a steaming pile of Islamist shit. 


The Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia has declared Benghazi an ‘Islamic Emirate’ after claiming to have taken total control of Libya's second largest city, seizing military barracks with rockets and ammunition.

The official spokesperson of the extremist group told local Radio Tawhid that "Benghazi has now become an Islamic emirate."

The announcement has been denounced by pro-government militia forces.

"The national Libyan army is in control of Benghazi and only withdrew from certain positions for tactical reasons. The claim that Benghazi is under the control of militias is a lie," Khalifa Haftar, a former army general, who launched a self-declared offensive against militants in May, told Al Arabiya channel reports RT News.



Members of Ansar al-Sharia (Reuters / Stringer)

Ansar al-Sharia formed during the Libyan Revolution of 2011 that ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi. The group is blamed for the attack on the US consulate in 2012 killing the US ambassador and 3 more Americans. The group advocates the implementation of strict Sharia law.

In some of the worst fighting since the revolution, around 200 people have been killed as violent clashes between rival militias erupted two weeks ago in the capital Tripoli and the city of Benghazi.
  

On Wednesday, the Islamic militants announced they overran an army base in Benghazi seizing dozens of weapons and boxes of ammunition. Libya's Red Crescent said it had recovered the bodies of 35 soldiers from the base adding that there are presumably more.

At least 75 people, mostly soldiers, were killed in the two days of fighting in the eastern city, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile in Tripoli, one hundred people have died in the battle for the airport, with 400 others believed to be wounded, the country's health ministry announced on Saturday.
. 
Spain said on Thursday it was pulling its ambassador and embassy staff out of Libya temporarily, while one person was left to oversee the archives. Greece joined the same day saying it was sending vessels to Libya to evacuate embassy workers and a few hundred Chinese and European nationals.

Three years after the US and its NATO allies used air power to help the militants achieve victory over former leader Muammar Gaddafi, the country has descended into a failed state without cohesive government and rival militias fighting for power.


Militias battle for power in Libya  




Tripoli airport destroyed by clashing militias  




Inside Libya's Militias




Islamists seize army special forces HQ
.
Islamist groups have seized the army special forces headquarters in Libya’s Benghazi after days of fighting left at least 35 soldiers dead and plunged the country deeper into lawlessness.
.
An Islamist and jihadist alliance announced the capture of the main military base in the eastern city in a statement early Wednesday, which was confirmed by an army official.
.
Ansar al-Sharia, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington, published photos on Facebook of dozens of weapons and crates of ammunition it claimed its jihadists had seized from the base.
.
Libya’s Red Crescent said it had recovered the bodies of 35 soldiers from the base.
.
“Up to now we have managed to recover 35 bodies. But there are more” to be found, Red Crescent spokesman Mohamed al-Misrati told AFP.
.
Raw Story.com

No comments: