Haftar Calls For Harder Fight During Holy Month Of Ramadan

Haftar Calls For Harder Fight During Holy Month Of Ramadan

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On May 6th, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar called on the Libyan National Army (LNA) to fighter harder during the month of Ramadan. His statement was released by the LNA Spokesperson Maj.Gen. Ahmed Almismari in a video published on Facebook, with an English dub.

A message from General commander Marshal Haftar to the western region operation commander …read by Maj.Gen. Ahmed Almesmari

Posted by ‎الناطق الرسمي باسم القيادة العامة للقوات المسلحة العربية الليبية‎ on Sunday, May 5, 2019

“Officers and soldiers in our armed forces and the auxiliary forces, I salute you in this glorious days and urge you with your strength and determination to teach the enemy a greater and bigger lesson than the previous ones, as we’ve always known you to do, till we uproot it from our beloved land,” Haftar said in an audiotape played by Almismari.

Haftar made no mention of the UN Support Mission in Libya’s call for a week-long humanitarian truce.

“The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) congratulates all Libyans on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.  UNSMIL calls for an extendable one-week humanitarian truce starting at four in the morning of the first of Ramadan, 06 May, in accordance with the spirit of this month as well as the Human Rights Convention, during which all parties pledge to halt all forms of military operations, including reconnaissance, shelling, sniper operations, and mobilization of forces.

UNSMIL calls on all parties to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need and  to ensure the freedom of movement for civilians during this truce. The mission encourages all parties to use the truce to exchange prisoners and the bodies of the deceased and expresses its readiness to provide the necessary support in this regard.”

The statement was released on May 5th, just hours before Haftar’s call for ramping up the offensive.

Haftar Calls For Harder Fight During Holy Month Of Ramadan

Click to see full-size image

At the ground level, on May 5th, it appeared that there was a sort of calm on the frontlines. At Yarmouk a photograph was published showing calmness.

Despite that, clashes on the Wadi Rabiyah – Ayn Zarag direction continued.

The Government of National Accord (GNA) air force targeted targets in Sadi Sayeh south of Tripoli, leaving two children dead.

The GNA reportedly retook the Tueisha area, while heavy clashes continued at Qasr Bin Ghazir.

Violent clashes with various heavy and medium weapons between the LNA and GNA in Twaisha axes, behind Tripoli International Airport, Ayn Zara and Zabarneh were also on-going.


GNA’s Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj is in Rome to visit Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and discuss the situation in Libya. According to Conte, Haftar’s attack on Tripoli revitalized terrorism, rather than fight against it.


According to the World Health Organization, at least 392 people died in the clashes, and 1936 were wounded, as of May 2nd.

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Barba_Papa

Considering the usually shambolic nature of most Arab armies I wouldn’t be surprised if this battle was more a series of skirmishes, where ambushes, checkpoints and hit and run attacks are more the norm then actual conventional battles. I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody on either side knew where the frontline was exactly.

Rodger

Haftar should attack Zawia with enough forces that they would need to seriously reinforce it and then cut off the town. There are a few villages around where he can do that.

Barba_Papa

Personally I think that Haftar’s army is as shambolic as that of the GNA, just a little less so. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t have enough forces to do that. Otherwise he would have unleashed that overwhelming force earlier. I suspect that maybe Haftar overplayed his hand a little and stoked up the hornet’s nest a little too soon. Maybe he underestimated the resistance that the GNA could put up.

Or maybe he is just at the end of a very long supply line, whereas the GNA fights close to home. This was actually what happened in the desert war during WW2. One side would advance to the limits of what his logistics would allow for, then other side’s logistics would become so short again that it allowed them to bring in reinforcements and overwhelm the other side again. And back and forth it went. [m

Rodger

At least he has real support and not just from people who cheer the people smuggling. Just the support of Egypt alone should be enough to give him the win in the long run.

Rodger

“UNSMIL calls on all parties to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need and to ensure the freedom of movement for civilians during this truce.” This is PC talk for ‘deliver more inflatable boats to the people smugglers’. Go Haftar!!!!

Hasbara Hunter

The Western Headchopping Mercenaries are NO MUSLIMS…they will probably be Worshipping the Devil instead of participating in the Ramadan….

TopTier

Years ago the gna fought the democratically elected government & kicked them out of Tripoli. This government chose to relocate to Benghazi but because of extremist militias there also they had to move to Tobruk. Gen. Haftar organised his militia/army to retake Benghazi followed by Derna etc. Now they are coming back to secure Tripoli. Am I right here?
Furthermore, gna being a UN puppet does not have the best interest of the people at heart, they will eventually implement a central banking system like the federal reserve & turn Libya into an indebted society, great for zionist bankers who get to create money from nothing before slapping interest on it.

Promitheas Apollonious

that is left to be seen.

S Melanson

So according to Conte, an attack on terrorists revitalizes them – silly me, I thought it was to neutralize them. One little nagging question… How is it that there are all these terrorists to be revitalized in Tripoli under the watch of the GNA?