|
Posted by
Olog-hai
on Sun Aug 31 13:07:58 2014
fiogf49gjkf0d Daily Mail
'The Dawn of Libya' Islamist militia storms US embassy compound in Tripoli11:45 EST, 31 August 2014An Islamist-allied militia group says it has 'secured' a U.S. Embassy compound in Libya's capital, more than a month after American personnel evacuated from the country over ongoing fighting.
An Associated Press journalist walked through the compound Sunday after the Dawn of Libya, an umbrella group for Islamist militias, invited onlookers inside.
Windows at the compound had been broken, but it appeared most of the equipment there remained untouched.
A commander for the Dawn of Libya group said his forces had entered and been in control of the compound since last week.
It comes near the two-year anniversary of the death of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi.
A video posted online showed men playing in a pool at the compound. In a message on Twitter, U.S.
Ambassador to Libya Safira Deborah said the video appeared to have been shot in at the embassy's residential annex.
She also said it appeared the compound was being 'safeguarded' and was not 'ransacked.'
The fighting prompted diplomats and thousands of Tripoli residents to flee. Dozens were killed in the fighting.
On July 26, U.S. diplomats evacuated to neighboring Tunisia under a U.S. military escort. The State Department said embassy operations would be suspended until the security situation improved.
Tripoli is witnessing one of its worst spasms of violence since Gadhafi's ouster in 2011. The militias, many of which originate from rebel forces that fought Gadhafi, became powerful players in post-war Libya, filling a void left by weak police and a shattered army. Successive governments have put militias on their payroll in return for maintaining order, but rivalries over control and resources have led to fierce fighting among them and posed a constant challenge to the central government and a hoped-for transition to democracy.
The Dawn of Libya militia is deployed around the capital and has called on foreign diplomats to return now that the fighting has subsided.
Meanwhile, in the eastern city of Benghazi, heavy clashes broke out between the forces of a renegade general and Islamist fighters on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and showering the airport with rockets, medical and military sources said.
Libya is being racked by factional violence as the armed groups which helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 turn their guns on each other in a struggle to dominate politics and the country's vast oil resources.
In Benghazi, forces of retired general Khalifa Haftar have been fighting Islamist brigades including Ansar al-Sharia, blamed by Washington for an attack on the U.S. consulate in September 2012 in which the U.S. ambassador was killed.
On Saturday, Islamist forces were trying to seize the Benina area, home to a civilian and military airport under the control of Haftar's forces. They have already overrun several army camps this month.
Grad rockets hit the civilian airport, military sources and residents said. At least 10 soldiers from Haftar's forces were killed and 25 wounded, a hospital medic told Reuters.
Western powers worry Libya will become a failed state as a weak central government cannot control the competing armed groups in a country awash with arms.
Senior officials and the elected parliament have relocated to the remote eastern city of Tobruk after effectively losing control of the capital Tripoli, where an alliance of armed groups rules after expelling a rival force.
The new forces controlling Tripoli, led by brigades from the western city of Misrata, have helped install an alternative parliament and prime minister.
In a televised speech, Omar al-Hasi, not recognized as prime minister internationally, said his government wanted to lead Libya out of crisis and seek national reconciliation.
"We reject extremism and terrorism," he said. "I am not with a specific group, party, operation or city but stand for a government for all Libyans."
|
