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| Africa North |
| Migrant Workers among 7 Dead in Libya Air Raid |
| 2014-12-03 |
| [AnNahar] Seven people were killed, including five African migrant workers, as pro-government forces carried out air strikes Tuesday on the coastal city of Zuara in western Libya, a local official said. "There were three raids today (Tuesday) ... targeting a food depot, a chemical goods factory and a small port," the official told Agence La Belle France-Presse, asking not to be named. He said seven people were killed, including five African workers, and 25 maimed, a casualty toll which could not immediately be confirmed. Forces 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... , who is allied to Libya's internationally recognized government and has vowed to expel Islamist militias from main cities, carried out the raids, the official said. He said the warplane that launched the raids had taken off from an air base in al-Woutia, also in western Libya, that is controlled by factions loyal to Haftar. 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 collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... -backed revolt, Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias, and has rival governments and parliaments. In an interview published last week, Haftar said he has given himself two weeks to take the eastern city of Benghazi and three months to recapture the capital 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... . The strongman has been battling Islamist militias who took control of the country's biggest cities this summer after their defeat in elections. Forces loyal to Haftar and Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani are fighting for control of Benghazi and have also launched an offensive west of the capital. "For Tripoli we are only at the beginning," Haftar told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. "I have given myself three months, but maybe we will need less." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |