By Noora Ibrahim.
Benghazi, 22 August 2014:
Salafist preacher and Operation Dignity Commander Ashraf Al-Mayar has received treatment at a . . .[restrict]Benghazi medical facility after he was shot during clashes with Ansar Al-Sharia.
Mayar was wounded in the early hours of yesterday morning during fighting in the Benghazi district of Buatni which has raged over the past week. The leader of Operation Dignity’s air forces, Air Force Brigadier-General Saqr Adam Geroushi, told the Libya Herald that Mayar was in a stable condition and was expected to make a full recovery.
Despite their ideological similarities there has been no love lost between Ansar Al-Sharia and Benghazi’s Salafists. Mayar was himself one of the founders of the 17 February Brigade which is now bitterly opposed to Operation Dignity. Mayar made the announcement of his surprise move to Operation Dignity in June, declaring his intention of helping fight terrorists in Benghazi. He has formed a new unit under the name of Sariet Al-Agha and has claimed it includes all those who quit 17 February Brigade with him.
Last month Ansar Al-Sharia was heavily implicated in a series of assassinations which targeted Salafist preachers. Three Imam’s connected to mosques in the Sidi Hussein area of Benghazi were killed in three days.
Fighting in Benghazi’s Buatni district continued yesterday. There were rumours that armoured brigades from Operation Dignity had spread out in South East Benghazi from Tobruk. However this information was denied by Dignity sources who said they had not deployed and further troops in the city.
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