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| Africa North |
| Operation Dignity offers opposing combatants amnesty before Benghazi assault |
| 2014-09-11 |
| [Libya Herald] Operation Dignity says it is offering the Libyan fighters ranged against it a final chance to lay down their weapons ahead of what it has said will be a "massive assault in Benghazi". Speaking in Tobruk, Operation Dignity front man Mohammed Hejazi said Islamist fighters in the city were being given one last opportunity to help in the building of Libyan society with their fellow countrymen. He asked the combatants, which are mainly aligned with 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 the Benghazi Revolutionaries' Shoura Council, to "go back to your mothers", adding that this offer would only be extended to Libyan fighters. Hejazi said terrorists, "takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... s" (Moslem forces of Evil who accuse others of being apostates) and criminals had gathered in Benghazi from across the world. Operation Dignity has said several times that it has captured imported muscle, particularly from Algeria and Tunisia, during festivities in the city. Operation Dignity has claimed that yet more imported muscle have travelled to join radical Islamist groups based in Derna and the Jebel Akhdar. No further details of the would-be assault on Benghazi were given. Despite Dignity's frequent statements to the contrary, the force appears to have been pushed on the back foot in Benghazi in recent weeks. At the end of Ramadan, Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... , Operation Dignity's closest allies in the city, were forced out of their base in Buatni by Ansar al-Sharia and its allies. On the other hand, the Islamists have, for nearly a month now, made repeated but unsuccessful assaults on Dignity's last held positions within the vicinity of the city at Benina Airport and a nearby Air Defence unit's barracks. There are unconfirmed reports that the Islamists may be running low on ammunitions. The Libya Shield ...a conglomerate of pro-Islamist militias deployed across Libya. It reports to the Libyan defense ministry and is organized like a real army unit. Its commander used to head a Benghazi brigade called Free Libya Martyrs... commander Wissam Ben Hamid is said to have travelled to Misrata to obtain further supplies. |
| Posted by:Fred |