Writing on his personal Facebook page yesterday, and not on his official 444th Combat Brigade page, Major General Mahmoud Hamza, Commander of the 444th Combat Brigade and Director of the Military Intelligence Department, narrated his version of yesterday’s events regarding the clash with the Special Deterrence Force (SDF) / RADA in Tripoli.
‘‘For years, we have always been keen on the security and protection of citizens, preventing bloodshed and stopping the armed conflict. We were not advocates of war, and keen on the sanctity of the blood of innocent people and the protection of lives, property and honours.
Our intervention in the past years to stop armed conflicts is evidence of the sincerity of our intentions’’.
SDF / RADA reneg on agreement to handover locations
‘‘What happened yesterday (the attack by SDF / RADA and its allied militias on his own forces) is treachery, betrayal and violation of the covenant and the charter, where the “Deterrence and Judicial Forces” yesterday, after we were in an agreement and covenant with them, attacked all the (444th) brigade’s positions in the capital Tripoli treacherously and without warning.
We could only stand firm and valiantly in defence of their treachery, for which they were known before, and they learned a lesson in all the places where they were treacherous. They “eat with the wolf and cry with the shepherd.”
Refrained from attacking even though they could
‘‘At the same time, we sought with every effort, and we stopped fighting to protect the people, and although all the lines were open to us to advance in all axes, but we stopped fighting. This shows our keenness to prevent blood and not to fight’’.
Comment
Ultimately, this is one side of the story. Hamza’s story. On the opposite side, the SDF / RADA have conveyed the narrative that Hamza’s 444, the 111 Brigade and their other allies at the time, attacked them.
Hamza is saying his forces went to fill a vacuum left by the disintegrating Stability Support Agency (SAA) and its ally, the Judiciary Force, following Abdelghani Ghnewa Al-Kikly’s contested death the day before. Hamza recounts that his forces were entering these vacated locations with the agreement of the SDF / RADA forces. But according to him, they reneged on the agreement and attacked Hamza’s forces.
Nevertheless, as Hamza suggested, his track record is not that of a hot head. He has sought to portray and mould the 444th as a neutral and regular state institution: a regular army. His forces in guarding major crosspoints, roundabouts and traffic lights Salahaldeen and Ain Zara are impeccably presented and are respected by civilians in their treatment. They are restrained in being overly aggressive and in using force. They are mindful that they are accountable and represent the state. Militas are not. On the contrary, militias act with impunity at the cost of the Libyan people and the Libyan state.
Hamza knows too well, that unlike the warlord militia leaders, he is a military civil servant. He is dispensable at the stroke of the pen of his boss – current prime minister Aldabaiba.
However, Aldabaiba’s enemies have sought to take advantage of the fog of war and create a tribal/regional narrative that Aldabaiba only stands for his hometown of Misrata – rather than the militia versus regular police and army narrative.
The Libyan state will never stand on its feet if the state does not have a monopoly on the legitimate, accountable use of force. There can be no monopoly if the state is full of multiple, corrupt, self-aggrandising militias.
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