By Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 25 January 2014:
As Libyan Army forces take control of the southern town of Sebha, the situation in the . . .[restrict]town today is quiet.
“Although some areas remain dangerous, and there are risks posed by snipers, the army is now in control of most parts of the city,” Sebha’s military commander, Mohammed Al-Busaify, told the Libya Herald. He added that some neighbourhoods remained no-go areas for the moment.
He denied that more army troops had arrived in Sebha yesterday, as reported by Libyan news agency LANA. Busaify said it was local army forces who had so far managed to secure parts of the town, without the help of supporting units from the north of the country, which had been promised by the government.
The Tamenhint airbase also remained in the hands of Qaddafi loyalists, Busaify said.
Spokesman for the General Chief of Staff Ali Alshaikhi, told this paper that the Libyan Air Force continued to conduct daily operations, flying low over Sebha and a wide surrounding area. He said, however, that locating targets remained a difficult task. The Air Force was now operating out of a military airbase at Jufra, he added.
Head of Sebha Local Council, Ayoub Alzaroug, said that the town was urgently in need of vital supplies, including food and fuel. Normal life for local residents had been completely disrupted, he added. [/restrict]
