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Libyan Civil War:

 Serraj Adopts New Fighting Plan Around Tripoli, While Shelling Causes Fire at Fuel Tanks

June 17, 2019 

Serraj meets military commanders aligned to him in the Tripoli fighting against Hafter	Libyan fighters in Tripoli, June 14, 2019 alan

Serraj meets commanders, adopts new fighting plan and orders all needed reinforcements

By Sami Zaptia.

Libya Heralod, London, 17 June 2019:

In his role as Commander-in-Chief of the (western based Libyan Army) forces defending Tripoli in the fighting against the pro Khalifa Hafter forces, Faiez Serraj met with all his aligned commanders in Tripoli on Saturday to review the latest state in the fighting.

These included the Chief of General Staff of the Libyan army, the Interior Minister, the commanders of the military areas and the leaders of the different fighting fronts.

During the meeting, a ‘‘new phase of the plan to confront Hafter’s forces was adopted and its requirements were identified’’.

Serraj ordered ‘‘the reinforcement’’ of the combat units aligned to his government with ‘‘all the requirements of the operations’’.

The addressed the coordination programmes and mechanisms between the military operations room of Tripoli and the various security and military sectors, and the review of security measures and plans to ensure the safety of citizens and vital installations.

The meeting came a day before Serraj launched his new political initiative to bring an end to the fighting. In retrospect, it was probably an attempt to launch his initiative from a position of strength and probably with the agreement of his military commanders. It was probably meant to send a signal to the Hafter forces that he was backing the fighting fully, in the hope of disheartening the Hafter forces.

Serraj launches new political initiative to stop Tripoli fighting

Faiez Serraj, head of Libya’s the internationally recognized Presidency Council and Government of National Accord (PC/GNA) launched a new peace initiative yesterday in an effort to end the fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli with the Khalifa Hafter aligned forces.

The seven-point initiative involves calling for a national gathering, forum or conference representing all Libya – under the auspices of UNSMIL. This gathering will agree a roadmap for elections including agreeing on the rules and laws for holding elections. The international community will support this gathering and its outputs.

Shelling causes fire at Airport Road fuel depot: NOC

Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) reported yesterday that shelling caused a fire at its Brega Petroleum Marketing Company (BPMC) subsidiary fuel depot on Tripoli’s Airport Road.

It said that BPMC firefighters brought the blaze under control, which was near LPG, thereby averting a humanitarian and environmental disaster. The NOC claimed that the fire started as a result of ‘‘direct shelling of the facility’’ at 8pm on Saturday, 15 June 15, with first responders on the scene shortly thereafter.

The NOC and BPMC urged all parties to immediately withdraw from the local area to avoid any further damage to these vital storage tanks. It stressed that the consequences to the local population of a direct hit on LPG tanks full of flammable fuel cannot be overstated.

The NOC chairman, Mustafa Sanalla said that “NOC is truly grateful to our first responders for their unrelenting courage and efforts to avoid a possible humanitarian, ecological and economic disaster. We reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire to ongoing hostilities and an end to the blatant targeting and militarization of oil sector facilities.”

It must be borne in mind that that part of the Tripoli Airport Road is now a military zone all the way to the old disused Tripoli International Airport. A source in Tripoli confirmed that all traffic is forced to turn right at the main Airport Road traffic light in the direction of Fallah and Al-Jibs checkpoint onto Kremia road.

Moreover, residents living in the area behind the fuel depot have been forced out as forces aligned to the Faiez Serraj government are camped in the area, using local homes for shelter. This is what the NOC is referring to when it ‘‘urged all parties to immediately withdraw from the local area to avoid any further damage to these vital storage tanks’’.

It is code for the forces defending Tripoli to keep a distance from the area in order not to attract fire or return fire from the pro Khalifa Hafter forces.

It is ironic and must also be recalled that during the 2012 Tripoli militia coup which led to the destruction of Tripoli International Airport, the same fuel depots were hit and severely damaged.

Tripoli forces claim extended control on several frontlines against Hafter, Serraj talks to Mogherini, Saleh visits Sisi

Forces aligned with the Faiez Serraj internationally recognized Tripoli government claimed in a media briefing last week that they had achieved ‘‘strategic objectives’’ through operations on ‘‘more than one frontline to extend control and hunt down remnants of the supporters of the outlaw and war criminal Haftar’’.

The claim comes as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported last Tuesday that since the start of the Tripoli fighting on 4 April, 18,785 families, equating to about 93,925 individuals, have been displaced. Since 31 May alone, an additional 655 families/3,425 individuals have been displaced.

The Serraj-aligned forces, meanwhile, claimed that residential sites in the areas of Salah Al-Deen, Abu Sleem, Ain Zara and Tajura were hit by Hafter’s warplanes with rockets and airstrikes, which caused civilian casualties and considerable damage in properties.

The Serraj-aligned forces claimed that they had advanced and taken control of new sites at the disused Tripoli International Airport and at the Ramla roads, destroying two tanks and six armed vehicles, and arrested a number of Hafter supporters, after their colleagues had ran and left them wounded on the battlefield.

The Serraj aligned Air forces also claimed that during the last three days facilitated the advance of their forces by targeting sites of Hafter’s ‘‘foreign-backed criminal militias’’and carried out 14 combat missions, targeting positions and fleeing fighters.

On Thursday, the Serraj-aligned forces said that they had combed the area of ​​Gweaa, near the disused Tripoli International Airport after they said they had received information about infiltrators. They claim they had arrested seven of Hafter’s forces with their weapons.

They claim that the aim of the arrested Hafter forces was to carry out assassinations along the coastal road. The search for other infiltrators is ongoing, they added.

The Serraj-aligned forces confirmed that one of their fighter jets had crashed on the morning 13 June near Misrata but insisted that the crash was as a result of a technical defect. This conflicts with LNA claims that it had shot the fighter jet down.

They reported that the pilot had died rather than eject himself in an attempt to land the crashing jet away from residential neighbourhoods or the public road.

Finally, the Serraj-aligned forces warned Haftar against exploiting Libya’s oil institutions and facilities as gathering sites for his forces and held him fully responsible for any sabotage or damage to the oil ports.

On the political front, Faiez Serraj and Federica Mogherini, the EU Foreign Policy High Representative held a telephone call last Thursday in which Serraj reiterated his welcome for the European position on Libya in the EU Foreign Ministers’ joint statement where they denounced the military attack on Tripoli, which compounds the risk of the terrorist threat in Libya and the region.

The Tripoli government reported that Serraj had said that the resistance to the Hafter attack on the capital was ‘‘continuing until it was defeated’’, stressing that there was no retreat from the goal of building a democratic civil state.

Serraj also renewed his call to the European Union to pressure the (Arab) countries supplying Hafter’s ‘‘aggressor militias’’ with arms and money to stop this support, which he said contributes to the threat to the lives of civilians and is in breach of the UN Security Council resolution banning arms supplies to Libya.

For her part, the Tripoli government reported, Mogherini said that European efforts are focused on a ceasefire and a return to the path of a political settlement, confirming its rejection of attacks on civilians, and the EU’s position that there is no military solution to the crisis in Libya.

Meanwhile, Ageela Saleh, the head of Libya’s internationally recognized parliament based in Tobruk, the House of Representatives (HoR), met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo last Thursday.

The HoR reported that Saleh expressed his ‘‘appreciation for Egypt’s stand alongside the Libyan people’’ while Sisi assured of Egypt’s consistent stance, which has not changed with the support of the Libyan National Army in its campaign to eliminate terrorist elements and organizations, and that the will of the Libyan people is the determined will, which must be respected, activated and enforced “to support the effective legality in Libya represented by the elected Libyan House of Representatives of the people’’.

https://www.libyaherald.com/2019/06/17/tripoli-forces-claim-extended-control-on-several-frontlines-against-hafter-serraj-talks-to-mogherini-saleh-visits-sisi/  

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