NEWTEKWORLDNEWS
Menu

Libyan PM claims its forces can beat ISIS without help

4/6/2016

0 Comments

 
PictureAbdullah Al-Thinni
Prime Minister Fayez Serraj of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) claimed that the government was uniting its various militia and that its own forces would be able to eradicate the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) on its own without the help of foreign troops. While there are a number of militia that for now appear to be loyal to the GNA, the main armed forces of the Libyan National Army associated with Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) headed by Abdullah Al-Thinni, have not united under the GNA central command.

The Al-Thinni government does not recognize the GNA. Commander in chief of the Libyan National Army(LNA), Khalifa Haftar, opposes the GNA. He launched his own attack against the Islamic State weeks ago but has yet to have had a single clash with them.

Instead the eastern front attacks were launched by his opponents the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) and their head Ibrahim Jodhran. They are advancing towards the town of Harawa only 50 kilometers from Sirte after capturing two towns about 130 kilometers from the IS stronghold.

While the forces of the GNA, from what is called the Solid Structure operations room, are cooperating with those of the PFG there is no unified command. While the PFG support the GNA the group is also interested in increased autonomy for the western part of Libya, Cyrenaica. Serraj said that no one, not even General Haftar, would be excluded from the national army as long as he submitted to central authority.

Haftar has made it abundantly clear that he has not intention of unifying with the GNA forces until all their militias are disbanded. Many of them he considers his enemies, and the feeling is mutual. In fact the militia who are fighting on the western front from Misrata, Haftar opposes.

He is willing to sit back and watch one group of his Islamist enemies fight another group. He is busy attacking another group of Islamists in Derna who had just been instrumental in clearing IS out of the city and surroundings. There is little likelihood that Haftar will be willing to join any unified GNA command. However, it appears that even the forces that are fighting IS now may be capable of defeating them, especially if they receive more weapons and other equipment from the west. Special forces from several countries including the UK are already helping out on the western front against IS.

Serraj played down fears that the two competing campaigns would revive conflict between eastern and western factions. The only clash so far was with troops loyal to Haftar and some militia from Misrata near Zillah in the south. However, it remains to be seen if Haftar will stand by while his opponents occupy former IS territory while he will get none of it. Serraj said he had great hope that the two sides will be united but there appears little hope of that happening for the present.

He claimed that it was too early to talk about a time frame for the battle of Sirte. However, the battle appears to be well under way. There has been shelling of parts of the city and GNA forces claim to have captured a key airbase near the city. As a recent tweet reports: "#Libya-Capturing Ghardabiya Air Base will enable Misrata to encircle Isia in Sirte, cut off supply and fend off attacks from multiple fronts."

The HoR is to be the legislature of the GNA according to the terms of the Libya Political Agreement(LPA). The LPA also requires a vote of confidence in the GNA but that has not yet happened.

A number of meetings have been held but have either lacked a quorum or been disrupted. An alleged majority of the HoR have signed a letter saying they support the GNA at least in principle. They want section 8 that gives the job of Khalifa Haftar to the Presidential Council of the GNA to be deleted. It is not clear, how the vote would do anything but transfer conflict to within the GNA government itself. Serraj says he is pushing for a HoR vote perhaps in another city. Kobler had already been trying this. He was planning a meeting in Ghadames but it didn't work out.

​The UN through the GNA will try to convene all those who want to vote for the GNA apart from opponents and without the blessing of the speaker of the HoR, Ageela Saleh. Serraj said: "I'm trying to stress to them and convince them that they should hold a session in the near future – in any place – just to take their responsibility to make the right decision about many issues." Even if they do finally meet they might not make the "right decision" as Faiez sees it, to approve the GNA.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    You can also find Ken at Ken Think Blogspot

    RSS Feed

    Like this writer's work please donate:
    Picture

    Ken Hanly

    Ken is a retired philosophy professor living in the boondocks of Manitoba, Canada, with his Filipina wife. He enjoys reading the news and writing articles. Politically Ken is on the far left of the political spectrum on many issues.

    Archives

    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Aaron Driver
    Abdul El Sisi
    Abdul El-Sisi
    Abdullah Al Thinni
    Abdullah Al-thinni
    Aden
    Afghan Civil War
    Afghanistan
    Afghan Taliban
    Afghan War
    Ageela Salah
    Airport Security
    Alberta
    Alberta Election
    Alberta NDP
    Al Bunyan Al Marsoos
    Al-Bunyan Al-Marsoos
    Alexis Tsipras
    Ali Saleh
    Al-Khalis Prison
    Al-Mahdi A|-Barghathi
    Al Nusra Front
    Alondra Nunez
    Al Qaeda
    Al-Shabaab
    Al Wefaq
    Al-Wefaq
    Amnesty International
    Andal Ampatuan Sr
    Andalusia
    Angela Merkel
    Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis
    Anti-terror Legislation
    AQAM
    AQAP
    Assad
    Australian Election
    Bahrain
    BAM Forces
    Barach Obama
    Barack Obama
    Bashar Al-Assad
    Bayda
    Bees
    Bernie Sanders
    Bill-c51
    Boris Johnson
    British-navy
    Canada
    Canada In Iraq
    Canadian Bar Association
    Canadian Special Forces
    Cats
    CATSA
    Chemical Weapons Precursors
    China
    Christine Lagarde
    Civilian Casualties In Afghanistan
    Commodity Prices
    Cost Of Conflict
    Danger Of Neonictinoids
    Death Penalty
    Derna
    Dmitris Mardas
    Dorotea Garcia
    Drones
    Drone Strike Guidance
    Education
    Edward Snowden
    Egypt
    Elections
    Elena Panaritis
    El Sisi
    El-Sisi
    Enbridge
    Environmental Matters
    EU
    Eurogroup
    European Central Bank
    European Commission
    European Union
    Eurozone
    Euro Zone Greece
    Faiez Serraj
    Federica Mogherini
    Fethullah Gulen
    Fish Parasites
    Five Eyes
    Flogging
    Food Banks In Canada
    FSA
    Gadaffi
    Gang Rape
    Gary Johnson
    General John Nicholson
    General Martin Dempsey
    General Qassem Suleimani
    George Stathakis
    Georgia
    German War Reparations
    Germany Holds Journalist
    Ghat
    GHCQ
    Global Economies
    Global Economiic Growth
    Global Peace Index
    GNA
    Government Of National Accord
    Greece
    Greek Austerity
    Greek Bailout
    Greek Debt
    Greek Debt Crisis
    Greek Government
    Greek Referendum
    Green Energy Canada
    Green Party
    Gulf Cooperation Council
    Haider Al-Abadi
    Hail
    Health
    Helmand Province
    Hezbollah
    Hillary Clinton
    Hosni Mubarak
    House Of Representatives
    Houthi Rebels
    Houthis
    Hugh Heffner
    Hyon Chol
    Ibrahim Al-Rubaish
    Iceland
    IMF
    Iraq
    Iraqi Kurdistan
    Islamic State
    Islamic State In Libya
    Islamic State In Syria
    Israel
    Jabar Al-Luaibi
    James Clapper
    Jean-claude Juncker
    Jeremy Corbyn
    Jill Stein
    Jim Prentice
    Joachim Gauk
    John Kerry
    Jordan
    Jordan US Relations
    Journalism Is Not A Crime
    Justice And Development Party
    Key Pipeline
    Khalifa Haftar
    Kim Jong Un
    Kim Jong-un
    King Faisal Air Base
    King Mohammed VI
    King Salman
    Labor-participation-figures
    Lashkar Gah
    Lebanon
    Libertarian Candidate For President
    Libraries
    Libya
    Libya-dawn
    Libya Government Of National Accord
    Libya Kidnaps
    Libyan Banknotes
    Libyan Central Bank
    Libyan Government Of National Accord
    Libyan National Army
    Libya-peace-talks
    Libya-peace-talks
    Libyas Oil Ports
    Maguindanao Massacre
    Mansour Hadi
    Mariano Rajoy
    Martin Kobler
    Mass Surveillance
    Matteo Renzi
    Mexico
    Michel Aoun
    Migrant Crisis
    Misrata
    Misrata Militia
    Misrepresentation
    Misrrata Militia
    Mistaken Identity
    Mogadishu
    Mohammed Morsi
    Mokhtar Belmokhtar
    Mongolia
    Mongolian People's Party
    Montana
    Morocco Elections
    Muhammadu Buhari
    Mukalla
    NATO
    Nigeria
    Nigerian Oil Producition
    Nikos Voutis
    Noam Chomsky
    North Korea
    North Korea Russia Relations
    Nova Scotia
    NSA Spying
    Obama
    Oil Pipelines
    Omar Al-Hassan
    OPCW
    Operation Impact
    Operation Sophia
    Pakistan
    Palestine
    Park Geun-Hye
    Peace Talks With Taliban
    Pedro Sanchez
    Petroleum Facilities Guard
    Philippines
    Playboy Mansion
    Podemos
    Politics
    Pope Francis
    Poroshenko
    President Benigno Aquino III
    President El-Sisi
    President Hadi
    Price Of Oil
    Rachel Notley
    Ralf Badawi
    Ralph Goodale
    Raqqa
    Recep Erdogan
    Reiki
    Renewable Energy
    Right Sector
    Rival Banknotes Libya
    Russia
    Russian Elections
    Saad Hariri
    Salim Alaradi
    Saskatchewan
    Saudi Airstrikes
    Saudi Arabia
    SDF
    Sheikh Isa Qassim
    Shia Militia
    Shiites
    Sinai
    Sirte
    Sirte Offensive
    Solid Structure
    Somalia
    Somalia Attack
    Southern Manitoba
    South Korea
    South Ossetia
    Spain
    Spanish Politics
    Spoon Bending
    Stephen Biddle
    Stephen Harper
    Straits Of Mackinac
    Sunni
    Syria
    Syrian Civil War
    Syrian Democratic Forces
    Syrian Kurds
    Syriza
    Taliban Spring Offensive
    Tarin Kot
    Terrorism
    Texas
    Tikrit
    Tim Farron
    Tobruk Government
    Tornado
    Torture In UAE
    Trade Union Act
    Tripoli Government
    Troika
    Turkey
    Turkey In Syria
    UAE
    UK Labor
    Ukraine
    Ukrainian Security Forces
    UN
    UN In Yemen
    United Russia
    University Of Alberta
    UNSMIL
    Uruzgan
    US Drone Strikes
    US In Afghanistan
    US In Libya
    US In Syria
    US Politics
    US Presidential Election
    US Special Forces
    Vatican
    Vladimir Putin
    Wild Rose Party
    Wolfgang Schaeuble
    World Bank
    Xi Jinping
    Yanis Varoufakis
    Yellowstone River
    Yemen
    Yemen Ceasefire
    Yemen Peace Talks
    YPG

Click to set custom HTML
Support NEWTEK - Like what we do here at NEWTEK? If so, you should consider supporting us…
Running a news based website is fun, time consuming and can be costly. If you would like to help the site keep afloat please use the donate button
​
Sections:
News:
Welcome
Front page
Specials:

One Woman So Many Blogs


The Jeremy Corbyn Effect
​
NEWTEKWORLDNEWS:
About Us
Contact Us
Terms of Service
Cookie policy
Picture
  • Welcome
  • Latest
  • Animal Welfare
  • Barbara McPherson
  • Robert Weller
  • Dava Castillo
  • Odd News
  • Environment, science and health matters
  • On this day in History
  • About Us
  • Terms of Service
  • Our Cookie Policy
  • Welcome
  • Latest
  • Animal Welfare
  • Barbara McPherson
  • Robert Weller
  • Dava Castillo
  • Odd News
  • Environment, science and health matters
  • On this day in History
  • About Us
  • Terms of Service
  • Our Cookie Policy