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Units of the Libyan National Army (LNA) have re-entered the area of al-Sawani southwest of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. By this advance and the recent success in the Tripoli International Airport area, the LNA de-facto reversed all gains achieved by militias loyal to the Government of National Accord as a result of the April 10 counter-attack.
If the LNA appears to be capable of securing these positions, it would be able to move further along the road heading from al-Sawani to Tripoli. This would create an additional pressure of pro-GNA forces that are now resisting to the LNA advance in the area of Ain Zara. In the positive scenario for the LNA, this situation may lead to a full collapse of the GNA defense on this part of the frontline.
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Good work, now once the road to Misrata gets cut this battle will be over soon.
The road to Misrata must be cut by way of the Ain Zara-Tajura axis. Once this is accomplished, it will sever the GNA forces in half, and stop Misrata from reinforcing battle positions.
The guys to worry about for the Libyan National Army are the hardcore veterans from Mistrata who participated in the Battle for Misrata in 2011 when Gaddafi sent his best forces to subdue Misrata, Libya’s third largest city. Gaddafi’s infamous 32nd Division and thousands of African mercs met their demise in the streets and alleyways, houses of Misrata.
By and large, the Libyan National Army hasn’t even sent in their best troops, Special Forces and Commandos into the fighting yet, nor have they really brought up any heavy artillery (155mm, Kaytusha’s etc.) and tanks in numbers to the field of battle either. And Egypt has been busy arming Haftar and the LNA with weapons and training.
The U.S. State Dept. blasted the LNA attack on Tripoli, while Russia vetoed a closed U.N.Security Council vote to condemn the multiple-headed thrust the LNA is making on Tripoli. Russians also probably giving the LNA satellite footage of militia of the GNA concentration points, and weapons depots.
All in all, Turkey and especially Qatar have been financing, weaponizing the GNA militias, to keep the anarchy going in Libya. But not anymore. With Turkey unable to gain a foothold in Libya, and Qatar having its neck stepped on by Saudi Arabia, Qatar has been knocked out of the equation too. Qatar is a natural gas exporter, mainly to Europe , and Libya has an estimated third largest natural gas reserves in the world , after first Iran and its South Pars fields, and second Russia. Libya has an estimated 50 billion cubic feet of liquified natural gas reserves, and threatens to knock Qatar off the European market should peace and tranquility ever come to Libya.
All in all, Libya is just another proxy battle between China-Russia vs. U.S.-U.K.-Italy-France.
The Chinese want to establish a major stake in Libya, with a rail line linking Egypt and Tunis, through Libya to be part of China’s OBR Silk Road to go through North Africa. Libya is that missing link. The Chinese also want a massive port of call somewhere , as do the Russians, along Libya’s 1900 km coast. If this happens, Libya and Libyans will see a dramatic rise in their standard of living.
If the U.S. and their Euro lackeys win, it will be more pain and suffering for Libyans in general.
African mercs? This is itself State Department propaganda.
“The guys to worry about for the Libyan National Army are the hardcore veterans from Mistrata who participated in the Battle for Misrata in 2011…
Interesting comment. The anti-Ghadaffi Misrata militias were mostly local civilians without any military experience and few arms. That, as opposed to say the Zintani Brigades that had a lot of well-trained loyalist military defectors of every rank. The Misrata Brigades fought pretty hard but had little coordination between brigades – there was no ‘commander’. They would have been slaughtered without NATO airstrikes on Ghadaffi’s armor, last-minute shipments of anti-tank missiles into their port and SF ‘assistance’ from various NATO/GCC forces (the US SF notably absent).
This was during the 2011 uprising. Some went on to fight against Ghadaffi loyalists in Tripoli and other parts of Libya as the Misrata Brigades, but many (injured, old, etc.) just stayed home to protect the city. The rebellion ended with Qadaffi’s death a few months later, so I’m not sure how ‘hardcore’ any of the rebel veterans could have become. These were all volunteers – nobody got paid back then.
Question is: are these the same Misrata Brigades from back then or have they morphed into local thug ‘security’ gangs something like Benghazi? Have western intel agencies been skulking around training and arming up different brigades inside Misrata for their own schemes? How many foreigners are part of the Misrata Brigades today? And are the Misrata Brigades opposing LNA because they are truly loyal to the political elite of the GNA (doubtful) or because they see the LNA/Haftar as opportunists and basically a rebranded Ghadaffi military that they fought in 2011? I honestly have no idea about answers to these questions – everyone still lies about everything in Libya.
“…Gaddafi’s infamous 32nd Division and thousands of African mercs met their demise in the streets and alleyways, houses of Misrata…”
Had to think about this one a while. Ghadaffi had some African mercs for personal security stuff, but he didn’t use them to Misrata. Then I remembered this old Hillary leaked email:
Hillary Emails Reveal True Motive for Libya Intervention
By Brad Hoff | Jan 6, 2016 | Africa, Editor’s Picks, News & Analysis, US https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/01/06/new-hillary-emails-reveal-true-motive-for-libya-intervention/
(Source Comment: Speaking in strict confidence, one rebel commander stated that his troops continue to summarily execute all foreign mercenaries captured in the fighting…).
While the illegality of extra-judicial killings is easy to recognize (groups engaged in such are conventionally termed “death squads”), the sinister reality behind the “foreign mercenaries” reference might not be as immediately evident to most.
While over the decades Gaddafi was known to make use of European and other international security and infrastructural contractors, there is no evidence to suggest that these were targeted by the Libyan rebels.
There is, however, ample documentation by journalists, academics, and human rights groups demonstrating that black Libyan civilians and sub-Saharan contract workers, a population favored by Gaddafi in his pro-African Union policies, were targets of “racial cleansing” by rebels who saw black Libyans as tied closely with the regime.[1]
Black Libyans were commonly branded as “foreign mercenaries” by the rebel opposition for their perceived general loyalty to Gaddafi as a community and subjected to torture, executions, and their towns “liberated” by ethnic cleansing. This is demonstrated in the most well-documented example of Tawergha, an entire town of 30,000 black and “dark-skinned” Libyans which vanished by August 2011 after its takeover by NATO-backed NTC Misratan brigades.
These attacks were well-known as late as 2012 and often filmed, as this report from The Telegraph confirms:
After Muammar Gaddafi was killed, hundreds of migrant workers from neighboring states were imprisoned by fighters allied to the new interim authorities. They accuse the black Africans of having been mercenaries for the late ruler. Thousands of sub-Saharan Africans have been rounded up since Gaddafi fell in August.
If US-NATO were seriously against their long-standing CIA man (& US citizen) Haftar advancing on Tripoli I am fairly sure the latter would have been experiencing some exceptional shock-and-awe by now.
I wish LNA goodluck and more power !!!! take your freaking country back from the LOOTERS