By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 11 August 2017:
Libyan National Army (LNA) launched airstrikes on Derna yesterday, targeting a munitions depot belonging to Derna Mujahideen Shoura Council (DMSC). The airstrikes destroyed the depot close to the western entrance of the besieged town and killing at least three mujahideen fighters, according to the Libyan news agency LANA.
The mission is said to have caused substantial material losses in weapons and ammunition.
The airstrikes are part of the intensified siege of Derna ordered by the Libyan National Army’s high command. It followed the reported execution of LNA pilot Adel Jehani by the mujahideen after his plane was shot down near the town on 28 July.
The heightened blockade has seen the LNA’s Omar Mukhtar Operations Room clamp down on all movement in and out of Derna except for urgent medical cases. There has, though, been some relaxation on preventing medical supplies into the town.
Today, however, the LNA was reported by LANA warning local residents against allowing the mujahideen to use their homes or private property as a base for their vehicles or weapons. They were legitimate targets and would be targeted and destroyed, the LNA said.
There are continuing calls to lift or at least relax the siege. On Wednesday, the self-appointed, mujahideen-controlled local Derna council again called for an end to it, demanding that the UN, Arab League, African Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation send basic supplies via the town’s port.
Thirty-nine members of the House of Representatives also issued a statement yesterday, calling on tribal leaders throughout the east to pressurise the LNA into lifting the siege.
