Jihadists are still battling Libyan forces in Benghazi days after strongman Khalifa Haftar and his self-styled army declared victory in the eastern city, his forces said Sunday. Colonel Miloud Zwei, spokesman for Haftar’s Libyan National Army, said the fighting persisted in the district of Soug al-Jarid, located between the central neighbourhoods of Soug al-Hout and … Read more
Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar on Wednesday announced the “total liberation” of second city Benghazi, which was overrun by jihadists three years ago. “After a continuous struggle against terrorism and its agents that lasted more than three years… we announce to you the liberation of Benghazi from terrorism,” Haftar, in full military regalia, said in … Read more
Forces loyal to east Libya strongman Khalifa Haftar said Wednesday they have cornered the last jihadists in a neighbourhood of second city Benghazi and vowed that victory is “imminent”. The self-styled Libyan National Army said fighting in Soug al-Hout neighbourhood was over and its soldiers had advanced into the central district of Al-Sabri where they … Read more
A group of militant Islamists in Libya, blamed by the US for the 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi which killed the ambassador, says it has disbanded. The Ansar al-Sharia group said that its leadership had been wiped out while fighting the Libya National Army. Most of it members are thought to have … Read more
The Libyan jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia, which is linked to Al-Qaeda and deemed a terrorist organisation by the UN and United States, announced its “dissolution” in a communique published online on Saturday. Washington accuses the group of being behind the September 11, 2012 attack on the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi in … Read more
The air force loyal to Libya’s strongman Khalifa Haftar said Saturday it took part in Egyptian air strikes on jihadist positions in the country after a deadly attack on Egypt’s Copts. Egypt launched six air strikes on jihadist camps in Libya’s eastern city of Derna on Friday, hours after masked gunmen attacked a bus carrying … Read more
Feeding on the chaos that has gripped Libya since the overthrow and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, jihadists have used the country to recruit and export militants. Salman Abedi, the man suspected of carrying out the attack on a pop concert in Manchester that killed 22 people and wounded dozens, was born … Read more
Forces loyal to Libya’s military strongman Khalifa Haftar on Monday launched an offensive to oust jihadist from their last two strongholds in second city Benghazi, they said. Forces loyal to Haftar, who does not recognise a UN-backed unity government in Tripoli and backs a rival parliament, have retaken most of the coastal city since it … Read more
Al-Qaeda on Friday claimed responsibility for a recent deadly attack on a government building in southern Yemen, which involved a suicide bombing. Al-Qaeda’s Ansar al-Shariah arm in a statement identified the suicide bomber as Abu Amer al-Hadrami, saying he had rammed his explosives-laden car into the gate of the local government building in the provincial … Read more
Khalifa Haftar’s east Libyan forces have claimed capture of the final holdout of hardline armed forces in the southwest of Benghazi, ending weeks of resistance by fighters camped in a group of tower blocks. Milad al-Zwai, spokesman for the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), said on Saturday the siege at the “12 blocks” ended when … Read more
Dozens of armed factions have battled for control of oil-rich Libya since the 2011 fall of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. This week, four days of intense fighting saw pro-unity government armed forces expand their control in the capital Tripoli, where dozens of militias operate. Further east, troops commanded by military strongman Khalifa Haftar said Tuesday … Read more
The bombing incidence is one of the many few that have shaken Benghazi in recent times. A car exploded late on Saturday in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi killing four people and wounding at least 14, security and medical officials said. Benghazi has seen regular attacks and bombings in recent months as forces loyal to … Read more