Saturday, July 2, 2016

Forces of Haftar's Libyan National Army clash with those of Petroleum Facilities Guard

A spokesperson for the Oil Facilities Guard condemned what he described as a criminal act by warplanes of Khalifa Haftar, commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA). The LNA is the armed forces of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR).

Neither Haftar nor the HoR recognize the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). The PFG and its head, Ibrahim Jhodran, support the GNA and oppose Haftar. The planes attacked a training camp for the PFG in the Sham district that lies just to the west of Ajdabia on the road to the oil port of Brega. There were no casualties but there was material damage.
There are battles going on in Ajdabia between an Ajdabia Liberation Operation Room joined by Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB) and Haftar's Operation Dignity forces. The PFG has remained neutral in the fight while the PC condemned the BDB attacks. However, some members of the PC did not agree. Ibrahim Jodhran is perhaps best known for closing three export ports in the east for almost two years causing an estimated $60 billion loss. However, he has fallen out with Haftar and has thrown his support behind the GNA creating a situation where he could come into direct conflict with Haftar as seems to be happening now.
Spokesperson for Haftar's Operation Dignity, Ahmed Al-Mesmari said that the PFG are terrorist militias and outlaws. He said that Dignity forces would fire on any forces that provide any support for the "terrorist groups".
Al-Mesmari said: “Our warplanes bombed Sham camp, where Oil Facilities Guard forces were positioned near Ajdabia, after receiving a tip-off that said a number of terrorist groups had set off from there heading toward Ajdabia city.” Apparently, the BDB and the Ajdabia Liberation Room forces have already seized most of Dignity Operation's camps and locations in the city of Ajdabia in the last couple of days. The Libya Herald also reported on the attack noting that MiG fighters of the Libyan National Army of Haftar attack the PFG site claiming it was a terrorist target.
A recent tweet describes clashes south of Ajdabiya with many wounded: 18 wounded in clashes south of Ajdabiya b/w Libyan army supported by area residents against newly formed "#Benghazi Defense Brigade" militia. Attacks on Ajdabiya began a couple of days ago as reported in this article.


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