By Aimen Amzein.
Benghazi, 23 September 2015:
Benghazi hospitals contacted by the Libya Herald say they have received no civilian casualties as a . . .[restrict]result of the latest military operation launched on Saturday by Khalifa Hafter against Islamic State forces and other militants in the city.
“No civilians have been brought to the hospital as the result of the military operation so far,” a spokesman for Benghazi Medical Centre said.
“We have had military casualties but no civilians casualties for the past three days,” an official at Jalaa Hospital similarly reported.
Local residents contacted in Leithi also say they know of no civilians being killed or wounded as a result of Operation Hatif (Doom).
In a joint statement on Sunday, hwoever, the ambassadors and representatives at the negotiations on Skhirat from the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the UK and US, condemned what they said were “air strikes against civilian population in Benghazi”.
The statement was seen as being in support of a earlier one by UN Special Envoy Bernardino Leon who condemned the operation saying it was an attempt to undermine the Libya Dialogue process.
Both statements have drawn widespread criticism from Libyans who have accused Leon and the ambassadors of bias towards the Islamists. There was no condemnation of the Islamic state’s or Ansar Al-Sharia’s activities in Benghazi in Leon’s statement, although he has since spoke against them. There have also been demands for evidence to back up the diplomats’ accusations.
The diplomats have since been backtracking on the statement. One diplomat who signed it has since privately told this newspaper that they had initially been told about attacks on civilians, but that this turned out “not to be true”.
In Bengahzi, one Leithi resident said that his family had just returned to their home in the north of the district, near Hijaz Street which was the one area there that was now clear of militants and the only part of Leithi where civilians were now living. “There have been no bombardments in this part of Leithi.”
Another resident whose family home is in Buatni, scene of heavy fighting in the past three days, said that the military had allowed him back to his home there to check it out.
The Libyan Natial Army (LNA) report that as part of Operation Hatif, it has pushed militants out of the air defence camp in Buatni and thethe areas around the Pepsi factory. Ansar, however, still controls part of Buatni. [/restrict]
