A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Sunday, June 4, 2017
Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar take control of strategic military base in Jufra
Control of the military base in Jufra could be a step for Haftar in controlling the Libyan capital of Tripoli
General
Khalifa Haftar has been battling the UN-backed Libyan government in a
bid to take control under the guise of his self-styled Libyan National
Army (AFP)
Saturday 3 June 2017
Libyan forces loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar said they
had taken the strategic military base of Jufra on Saturday after rival
factions withdrew.
The move consolidates control for Haftar's self-styled Libyan National
Army (LNA) over the central desert regions of Jufra and Sabha, where
they have recently taken a string of towns and bases.
It could also be a key step in the LNA's stated goal of moving towards the capital, Tripoli.
On Friday, after the LNA entered towns just south of Jufra military
base, its spokesman said its forces would gradually move towards the
town of Bani Walid, nearly 350 km (215 miles) north-west of Jufra.
Jufra is just over 500 km (300 miles) south-west of Benghazi and about the same distance south-east of Tripoli.
The LNA is aligned with a parliament and government based in eastern
Libya that has rejected a UN.-backed administration in Tripoli.
Haftar met the head of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA)
a month ago in Abu Dhabi, pledging to calm tensions in the South and
producing hopes of a political deal that could stabilise the country.
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But two weeks later violence escalated in Jufra and Sabha after dozens
of fighters loyal to the LNA were killed last month in a raid on Brak
Al-Shati air base near Sabha city.
Brigades aligned with the GNA and the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), a
force that includes Islamists and other fighters who have fled the
LNA's advances since last year in the eastern city of Benghazi, have
since retreated from the area.
Mohamed Al-Afirs, the spokesman for the LNA's 12th Brigade, said his men
had found Jufra base deserted when they entered late in the morning.
Local forces aligned with the LNA had clashed with the BDB on Friday,
but the BDB then withdrew towards Misrata, LNA officials said.
The latest LNA advances came after heavy LNA air strikes on Jufra.
Egypt has also carried out air strikes in Jufra, as well as in the far
eastern city of Derna, which it said targeted militants linked to an
attack on Coptic Christians in the southern Egyptian province of Minya.
However, analysts say the strikes appear partly designed to help Haftar, a close ally of Egypt.