The fighting started Monday morning as Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, 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...-commanded forces, which are encircling Derna, arrived on the outskirts of Fatayeh university.
Later in the day, the forces withdrew as heavy artillery fire thwarted their advance.
Seven fighters from Haftar's forces have been reported killed and 15 others injured in Fatayeh frontline, sources said.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella grabbed the cocoanut cream...
the front man for the Derna Shura Council, Mohammed al-Mansouri, told news hounds that one of their fighters was killed in today's festivities, adidng that Haftar's forces pulled out to Martuba district - just outside Derna.
Haftar announced Monday in a speech celebrating the fifth anniversary of Dignity Operation in Benghazi, the "zero hour" to "liberate Derna" even if "we have to evacuate all civilians from it."
Derna has been besieged by Haftar-led al-Mukhtar Operations Room for a long time with the grip toughened last August disallowing the resident to receive enough humanitarian assistance since.