Libyan strongman declares Benghazi free after Islamists defeated

EAST LIBYAN troops captured the last Islamist militant-controlled districts of Benghazi, in a victory for the renegade army commander who controls much of the east of the war-torn country.

Gen Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), said his forces had taken control of Libya’s second city after more than three years of fighting. “Your armed forces declare to you the liberation of Benghazi from terrorism, a full liberation and a victory of dignity,” Gen Haftar said in a televised speech late on Wednesday evening.

“Benghazi has entered into a new era of safety and peace.”

LNA forces used tanks and artillery to force their way through the central seafront district of Sabri, one of two neighbourhoods that had remained under insurgent control for the past three years.

Thousands of Benghazi residents took to the streets following the an- nouncement, letting off fireworks and parading in cars flying the red, black and green Libyan flag.

Gen Haftar launched Operation Dignity in May 2014 – an offensive to push out of Benghazi the jihadist groups that had carried out bombings and assassinations in the city.

The battle pitted the LNA against an array of Islamist and other groups, including Ansar al-sharia, the al-qaedaaffiliated militia blamed for the deadly attack on the US diplomatic mission in the city in 2012.

Victory there strengthens Gen Haftar’s grip on the eastern part of the country, where he has been expanding his control in defiance of the Unbacked Government of National Accord based in Tripoli, the capital.

Gen Haftar, a former field marshal in the army of Muammar Gaddafi, spent two decades in exile after falling out with the dictator, but returned to Libya after the revolution in 2011. He is seen by some as a strongman leader who could impose a secular government and crack down on extremist groups.

However, he refuses to recognise the Un-recognised Government of National Accord, based in Tripoli, which he portrays as dominated by Islamists and armed groups. And his troops have clashed with former anti-gaddafi rebels who fear he wants to impose a military dictatorship.

He enjoys strong backing from Egypt and has recently courted the Russian government, which has provided him with some logistical and technical support, although it has publicly rejected requests for arms.