By Libya Herald reporter.
Near Zintan, 20 April 2015:
The head of the Libyan National Army’s Western Operations Room, Colonel Idris Madi, has . . .[restrict]spelled out his strategy and tactics in an interview with the Libya Herald. Speaking during while the abortive uprising in Tripoli’s Tajoura and Fashloum districts was taking place, he said that his forces had been able to harry and wear down an overstretched Libya Dawn in the west of the country and that as a result they were now in control of an area from the mountains to south of Sabratha, Sorman, Awjila and Zawia and were able launch operations on the main coastal road at will.
“We can block roads to the city [Tripoli] at any time,” he claimed, or anywhere as far as the border post at Ras Jedir. Likewise, the LNA can attack and withdraw at any point, he said. Last Tuesday’s attack on the Wadi Rabie camp east of Tripoli International Airport, in which five Dawn fighters had ben killed, was such a case, he declared
The strategy is military, he said. “Our goal is to cut supply lines. We have controlled and driven out Libya Dawn forces and their positions in some places.”
But the objective is political. “We want them [Dawn] to know that this cannot be solved by the force of arms. All militias need to withdraw and allow Libyans to solve the country’s problems politically. They must let the peoples’ choices stand.”
This is a pointed reference to the House of Representatives whose Chief of Staff appointed him to head the Western Operations Room after the government and army were forced to withdraw from the capital last summer.
Although the objective is ultimately political, Madi explained the thinking behind the military strategy, which appears to understand the need not to occupy places that do not want to be occupied and not over-stretching lines of supply.
Gharyan, allied to Libya Dawn, could be occupied, he said. But there was no wish to do so.
“If we were to decide to enter Gharyan, we would do so with a very large force and would start it with air-raids,” he said. “But, from the humanitarian standpoint, this would not be ideal”, he stressed. “The civilians of Gharyan are important to us, and although Gharyan is key to entering Tripoli, we want to be careful to preserve the town.”
The easier way to deal with it, he said, ws to maintain a small checkpoints on the roads in and out, and “leave the town to decide its own destiny”.
Zawia could be different, he believed. “The Zawia position is better than Gharyan because there are military units there that follow the Libyan army. We believe that the position in Zawia can change at any time.”
Elsewhere in the western region, the strategy has been to consolidate positions. “We have secured the road completely from Aziziya to the Saadiya area. We are also moving in the opposite direction toward Gharyan toward the Al-Yajour factories, having left the Sabia–Gharyan road open for humanitarian reasons.”
Tripoli, though, was “different”, Madi insited, indicating that efforts to recapture it from Dawn would not stop, regardless of the situation. “We are concerned about the civilian population but the battle for Tripoli is a battle for all Libyans,” he said, calling on Tripolitans to work for the city’s liberation.
The call, however, was before the Tajoura and Fashloum uprisings were crushed.
Outside the capital, there were continuing operations elsewhere, Madi said, suggesting that there would be anti-Dawn uprisings in other places in his area of command in the near future. Nonetheless, these would not be easy, he admitted.
“Enemy movement has been active over the past few days”, he says, speaking of sporadic clashes near Zahra and in the Warshefana area.
But he seemed convinced his side would be victorious.
“We began fighting from under the rubble and we have continued to fight as soldiers for eight months under very difficult circumstances. But we have refurbished old aircraft and now maintain them. We have managed to collect millions of dollars and pilots and technicians and national experts who will support our fight. We will win.” [/restrict]
