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

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

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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."

But there were wildly different claims over whether the attacks have official sanction, with the government denouncing the offensive and the local army command saying it was monitoring the situation.

The attack is led by Khalifa Hiftar, a former commander of the 2011 uprising that deposed Muammar Gaddafi. Hitfar announced the operation was launched to clear Benghazi of Islamist militias and restore Libya's dignity.

Hiftar, who called on the army earlier this year to mount a coup against the government, appears to have the support of a significant proportion of Libya's armed forces. He insisted the operation was sanctioned by army commanders, saying: "All reserve forces are mobilised. If we fail today, the terrorists win."

But Libya's government insisted the operation had no official sanction, with the chief of the general staff, Abdul Salam Jadallah, branding Hiftar a criminal and ordering Benghazi's militias to fight back.

Air force planes struck the bases of the Rafalla al-Sahati and Ansar al-Sharia militias, the latter blamed by Washington for the attack two years ago on the US consulate that led to the death of ambassador Chris Stevens.

By early afternoon on Friday hundreds of Benghazi residents had assembled on a flyover to watch the battles around militia bases, as jets and helicopters circled above.

There are few foreigners in Benghazi, with most diplomatic missions evacuated after a string of attacks and bombings. Britain closed its consulate in the city in 2012 after a rocket attack on the former ambassador which wounded two of his bodyguards.

Elsewhere in Libya there are reports of pro and anti-government forces mobilising. The capital, Tripoli, is tense after weeks of skirmishes between rival militias.

The attack comes after weeks of chaos and instability in Libya, with the national congress split between Islamists and their allies and non-Islamists.

A new prime minister, Ahmed Maiteeg, was elected earlier this month in a vote opponents labelled fraudulent, and has still to take office, which remains in the hands of former defence minister Abdullah al-Thinni, himself a replacement for Ali Zeiden who was sacked in March.

Earlier this week the Pentagon announced the deployment of a force of 200 Marines, backed by helicopters and vertical takeoff aircraft in Sicily amid growing concerns about Libya's unrest.