By Noora Ibrahim.
Benghazi, 9 September 2014:
Operation Dignity says it is offering the Libyan fighters ranged against it a final . . .[restrict]chance to lay down their weapons ahead of what it has said will be a “massive assault in Benghazi”.
Speaking in Tobruk, Operation Dignity spokesman Mohamed Hejazi said Islamist fighters in the city were being given one last opportunity to help in the building of Libyan society with their fellow countrymen.
He asked the combatants, which are mainly aligned with Ansar Al-Sharia and the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council, to “go back to your mothers”, adding that this offer would only be extended to Libyan fighters.
Hejazi said terrorists, “takfiris” (Muslim extremists who accuse others of being apostates) and criminals had gathered in Benghazi from across the world.
Operation Dignity has said several times that it has captured foreign fighters, particularly from Algeria and Tunisia, during clashes in the city.
Operation Dignity has claimed that yet more foreign fighters have travelled to join radical Islamist groups based in Derna and the Jebel Akhdar.
No further details of the would-be assault on Benghazi were given. Despite Dignity’s frequent statements to the contrary, the force appears to have been pushed on the back foot in Benghazi in recent weeks. At the end of Ramadan, Saiqa Special Forces, Operation Dignity’s closest allies in the city, were forced out of their base in Buatni by Ansar Al-Sharia and its allies.
On the other hand, the Islamists have, for nearly a month now, made repeated but unsuccessful assaults on Dignity’s last held positions within the vicinity of the city at Benina Airport and a nearby Air Defence unit’s barracks.
There are unconfirmed reports that the Islamists may be running low on ammunitions. The Libya Shield commander Wissam Ben Hamid is said to have travelled to Misrata to obtain further supplies.
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