Rebel Libya Dawn Forced Back to Sabratha After Failed Attempt to Seize Al-Jmail
21 December 2014
An attempt by the rebel militia Libya Dawn (LD) to take Zultan and the strategically important town of Al-Jmail, south of Zuwara, appears to have failed. The latter controls the road to the Zintani-held Wattiya airbase, currently being used as the western headquarters for so-called Libya National Army fighter planes.
Al-Jmail, along with neighbouring Rigdaleen, is allied to Zintan but until yesterday the LNA did not enter the town; security was maintained by local forces.
On Friday, Libya Dawn fighters managed to penetrate part of the town and set up a checkpoint.
According to a commander at the Zintan Operations Room (ZOR), they also arrested a number of local young men. When asked by local leaders to leave, he said, they refused. As a result the LNA had been asked “to come and protect” the town. It did so, he said, using both ground forces and air strikes, the latter involving both helicopter gunships and jet fighters.
The ZOR rebel commander claimed that LD forces had, as a result, been pushed back as far Sabratha and had suffered “heavy losses” in the retreat. They had were now at a camp south of the town, he said.
Along with Al-Jmail, Rigdaleen, Zultan and Ajilat were fully in LNA hands, he declared.
LNA airstrikes were also reported yesterday near Sirte and Ben Jawad. There are reports of Ben Jawad residents fleeing to Sirte for safety.
An attempt by the rebel militia Libya Dawn (LD) to take Zultan and the strategically important town of Al-Jmail, south of Zuwara, appears to have failed. The latter controls the road to the Zintani-held Wattiya airbase, currently being used as the western headquarters for so-called Libya National Army fighter planes.
Al-Jmail, along with neighbouring Rigdaleen, is allied to Zintan but until yesterday the LNA did not enter the town; security was maintained by local forces.
On Friday, Libya Dawn fighters managed to penetrate part of the town and set up a checkpoint.
According to a commander at the Zintan Operations Room (ZOR), they also arrested a number of local young men. When asked by local leaders to leave, he said, they refused. As a result the LNA had been asked “to come and protect” the town. It did so, he said, using both ground forces and air strikes, the latter involving both helicopter gunships and jet fighters.
The ZOR rebel commander claimed that LD forces had, as a result, been pushed back as far Sabratha and had suffered “heavy losses” in the retreat. They had were now at a camp south of the town, he said.
Along with Al-Jmail, Rigdaleen, Zultan and Ajilat were fully in LNA hands, he declared.
LNA airstrikes were also reported yesterday near Sirte and Ben Jawad. There are reports of Ben Jawad residents fleeing to Sirte for safety.
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