Libya: Libyan Premier orders mobilization of armed forces to free Tripoli from the Islamic militias of Operation Alba (Faraj)
Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani has ordered “a general mobilization of the armed forces at the request of the people of Tripoli to free the capital from the Islamic militias of Operation Alba (Faraj),” Libyan media reported Wednesday. The government led by Thani had been confirmed one day prior in a parliament vote of confidence.
Libya’s intergovernmental forces claim to have bombed the camp of Abu Obaida al-Libi, leader of the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia, in Tripoli. “We hit hard,” a military official told ANSA. In addition, the military “won after hard fighting in El Azizia, in the Warshefana, southwest of the capital, freeing it from the pro-Islamic militias,” a Libyan military source told ANSA.
The city is considered strategic as a crossroads for trade in western Libya. The Warshefana area has seen weeks of bloody fighting between rival militias. The Libyan Parliament, forced to meet in Tobruk, warned Wednesday of the risk of humanitarian catastrophe in the area. Dozens have been killed.
The Libyan parliament called for a ceasefire and asked the United Nations to travel to the area to evacuate women, children and handicapped, and to ensure airlift. Weeks ago, Misrata militias attacked the area, considered at the time a stronghold of Gaddafi loyalists.