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jakeXT

(10,575 posts)
Fri May 16, 2014, 05:16 PM May 2014

Heavy fighting breaks out in Libya as troops storm militias in Benghazi

Source: Guardian

The heaviest fighting in Libya since the Arab spring revolution broke out in the eastern capital of Benghazi on Friday as forces led by a retired general attacked militias on the ground and with jets.

Air strikes pounded militia bases at dawn and 6,000 troops converged on the city, storming a series of bases and checkpoints.

Eyewitnesses described a city in chaos, with jets streaking low over rooftops, tanks on the streets, heavy detonations and aggressive fighting.

"The fighting is close to my house," said one resident in the Hawari district. "Planes are going very low, there are explosions, there is fighting around the February 17 (militia) base."

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/16/heavy-fighting-libya-troops-storm-militias-benghazi

27 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Heavy fighting breaks out in Libya as troops storm militias in Benghazi (Original Post) jakeXT May 2014 OP
BENGHAZI Voice for Peace May 2014 #1
GOPers will blame Hillary and Obama! Iliyah May 2014 #2
Both were spotted leading the charge ! nt Cryptoad May 2014 #3
Glad to see ctsnowman May 2014 #4
Is the government actually trying to take control of the country? Comrade Grumpy May 2014 #5
And the retired general is someone from Virginia jakeXT May 2014 #6
Deja vu Bosonic May 2014 #7
Disaster Capitalism at its finest. bvar22 May 2014 #8
+1 NealK May 2014 #9
+2 Jesus Malverde May 2014 #10
Gaddafi was warning us jamzrockz May 2014 #11
We REALLY fucked that place up. bvar22 May 2014 #12
And we are doing the same in Syria now jamzrockz May 2014 #13
Absolutely. Was the most insane thing after ballyhoo May 2014 #15
Gaddafi's forces over Benghazi from the air... JackRiddler May 2014 #14
Guess this whole thing is why the ambassador was there . . . brush May 2014 #20
This isn't the place for the "Benghazi" nonsense scandal JackRiddler May 2014 #21
Expound on your post pls. How did the US destroy Libya? brush May 2014 #24
what's the down side to this? quadrature May 2014 #16
That's a laugh. JackRiddler May 2014 #22
It will get worse with future potential water droughts in Syria and Libya Harmony Blue May 2014 #17
another success for democracy--get down on your HANDS AND KNEES and thank MisterP May 2014 #18
BBC says 24 dead in the fighting. It's a real mess. Comrade Grumpy May 2014 #19
Death toll at 36 "as fighting subsides," AP says. RT says 43 dead. Comrade Grumpy May 2014 #23
'Heavy gunfire' at Libyan parliament Bosonic May 2014 #25
"Since the end of Gaddafi's one-man rule..." Comrade Grumpy May 2014 #26
BENGHAZI!!!! Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin May 2014 #27

jakeXT

(10,575 posts)
6. And the retired general is someone from Virginia
Fri May 16, 2014, 06:33 PM
May 2014
Khalifa Haftar: The man who left Virginia to lead Libya's rebels

(CNN) -- His story reads like a political thriller. Once a confidant of Moammar Gadhafi and then his sworn enemy, he led a band of Libyan exiles trying to overthrow the Libyan regime before being spirited in secrecy to the United States when things went bad. His name is Khalifa Haftar.

He has lived in Virginia for 20 years but now he's back in Libya, trying to knock the rebel force into some kind of shape.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/04/libya.rebel.leader/

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
8. Disaster Capitalism at its finest.
Fri May 16, 2014, 09:09 PM
May 2014

The IMF and Global Banks are 1st in line to pick up the pieces.
Gaddafi was the only thing holding Libya together,
AND blocking the IMF from the RICHES of North Africa.

There was NO "Arab Spring" in Libya.
It WAS an ongoing Civil War.
It was NONE of our business.
The Global Banks and IMF Piggy Backed on the legitimate civilian uprisings in the Arab World to
enter a Civil War and remove the biggest impediment to the Western "Interests" in North Africa.
How many would DIE was not a part of their Business Plan.

” For all his dictatorial megalomania, Gaddafi is a committed pan-African - a fierce defender of African unity. Libya was not in debt to international bankers. It did not borrow cash from the International Monetary Fund for any "structural adjustment". It used oil money for social services - including the Great Man Made River project, and investment/aid to sub-Saharan countries. Its independent central bank was not manipulated by the Western financial system. All in all a very bad example for the developing world.”

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD27Ak01.html


If you don't have a disaster,
the Western Banks and the IMF will be glad to get NATO to create one for you!!

 

jamzrockz

(1,333 posts)
11. Gaddafi was warning us
Fri May 16, 2014, 10:37 PM
May 2014

about the terrorists in Bengahzi, we thought he was crazy and bombed him instead. I guess the incident in Benghazi and what is going on now is proof enough to vindicate him even in death.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
12. We REALLY fucked that place up.
Fri May 16, 2014, 10:56 PM
May 2014

Last edited Fri May 16, 2014, 11:27 PM - Edit history (1)

No telling how many will die because of the greed of OUR 1%.



 

jamzrockz

(1,333 posts)
13. And we are doing the same in Syria now
Fri May 16, 2014, 11:03 PM
May 2014

It really saddens me that some crazy people can come together to call the US and NATO for help and they show up. What happened to Libya is a great tragedy to the whole of Africa. Its used to be Libya, South Africa and Nigeria as the economic powerhouse, now Libya is no more.

 

JackRiddler

(24,979 posts)
14. Gaddafi's forces over Benghazi from the air...
Fri May 16, 2014, 11:29 PM
May 2014

was precisely the pretext for the U.S. intervention.

I guess it doesn't matter when one of our guys does it?

ON EDIT:

Who the fuck knows what's going on over there!

Another country destroyed by the intervention to free it.

brush

(53,792 posts)
20. Guess this whole thing is why the ambassador was there . . .
Sat May 17, 2014, 10:54 AM
May 2014

that night and why the CIA has — or had — such a presence there.

Also why much of the details of this are classified and can't/won't be released to the general public.

But the repugs — Boner, McCain, Issa, Graham, Gowdy, all know the details and know they are classified and can't/won't be released so they keep up their serade of yelling and claiming "cover-up" to score political points against Obama and Hillary.

They can keep this going for forever because, like I said, the actual details can't/won't be released.

BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! The repug gift that keeps on giving — 'cause they've got nothing else as Obama has run just about a scandal free administration.

Not mistake free, mind you, but over time we'll see the pluses outnumbered the mistakes.

 

JackRiddler

(24,979 posts)
21. This isn't the place for the "Benghazi" nonsense scandal
Sat May 17, 2014, 11:24 AM
May 2014

In the real city, people are now dying in the chaos left by the U.S. intervention. The Republicans put on a show scandal about the hit on the consulate because they have no problem with the real scandal of this "scandal-free" administration: the imperialist intervention that destroyed Libya in the first place.

 

JackRiddler

(24,979 posts)
22. That's a laugh.
Sat May 17, 2014, 11:25 AM
May 2014

Read the reports of what's going on. After the NATO powers' war, Libya seems to be more than two countries. One for every militia armed by the West.

Harmony Blue

(3,978 posts)
17. It will get worse with future potential water droughts in Syria and Libya
Sat May 17, 2014, 12:22 AM
May 2014

expect conflicts there to ratchet up and intensify.

MisterP

(23,730 posts)
18. another success for democracy--get down on your HANDS AND KNEES and thank
Sat May 17, 2014, 12:59 AM
May 2014

President Jesus that we don't have a warmonger in the WH anymore!

 

Comrade Grumpy

(13,184 posts)
19. BBC says 24 dead in the fighting. It's a real mess.
Sat May 17, 2014, 01:42 AM
May 2014
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27448224

A paramilitary force uses choppers and planes to attack an Islamist militia base.

Local media says government forces joined the assault.

The government in Tripoli calls it an "a coup against the revolution," but seemed to concede units of the air force were involved.

Libya hasn't had an effective government since the glorious revolution.

Bosonic

(3,746 posts)
25. 'Heavy gunfire' at Libyan parliament
Sun May 18, 2014, 11:25 AM
May 2014
'Heavy gunfire' at Libyan parliament

Heavy gunfire has been heard outside the Libyan interim parliament in the capital Tripoli.

MPs fled the building after gunmen attacked it. There are reports that supporters of a rogue officer, Khalifa Haftar, carried out the assault.

Col Haftar's forces were involved in violence on Saturday in Benghazi in the east. This prompted the government to impose a no-fly-zone there.

Authorities are struggling to contain militias that control parts of Libya.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27462921
 

Comrade Grumpy

(13,184 posts)
26. "Since the end of Gaddafi's one-man rule..."
Sun May 18, 2014, 02:38 PM
May 2014
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/18/us-libya-violence-idUSBREA4G04A20140518

<snip>

Since the end of Gaddafi's one-man rule, Libya's fragile democracy has hobbled from crisis to crisis with the country on its third prime minister since March, its new constitution unwritten and parliament deadlocked by infighting.

Just hours before the attack, new Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq announced he had formed a government pending parliamentary approval this week, after the country went nearly two months without a functioning government.

Complicating Libya's transition, the most powerful brigades of former rebels -- such as the Zintans, the Misratans and the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries -- have loosely allied themselves competing political factions.

Former rebel commanders and protesters have also taken over key oil ports and pipelines, cutting Libya's oil output to 200,000 barrels per day from 1.4 million bpd to demand more autonomy and a greater share of oil wealth.

------------------------

What a foreign policy success!
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