Warplanes launched three air strikes on the Libyan city of Darna on Monday, a witness said, days after Egypt attacked camps there, saying it was targeting militants responsible for killing Egyptian Christians. There was no immediate confirmation of Monday’s strikes from officials in Libya or neighbouring Egypt, nor any claim of responsibility for the raid on the city at the eastern end of Libya’s Mediterranean coast.
The witness said one attack hit the western entrance to Derna and the other two hit Dahr Al Hamar in the south. Egyptian jets attacked Derna on Friday, just hours after masked militants boarded vehicles en route to a monastery in the southern Egyptian province of Minya and opened fire at close range, killing 29 and wounding 24.
Daesh claimed responsibility for that attack in Egypt, the latest targeting Christian minority there — two church bombings also claimed by Daesh killed more than 45 last month. Egypt, which attacked Derna again on Saturday, has carried out a number of air strikes on its neighbour since Libya descended into factional fighting in the years following the 2011 civil war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.
Militants groups, including Daesh, have gained ground in the chaos. Egypt has been backing eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, whose Libyan National Army has been fighting Islamist militant groups and other fighters in Benghazi and Darna for more than two years.
Libyan National Army spokesman Colonel Ahmad Messmari told reporters in Benghazi late on Sunday that Haftar’s forces were coordinating with Egypt’s military in air strikes and the weekend raids targeted ammunition stores and operations camps. Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi said on Friday the air raids targeted terrorists responsible for plotting the attack, and that Egypt would not hesitate to carry out additional strikes inside and outside the country.
On political side, Head of Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj stressed the importance of holding the parliamentary and presidential elections to resolve the current crisis in the country.
Following his meeting with Turkey’s special envoy to Libya Emrullah Isler, Sarraj preferred not to repeat the transitional phase since this would bring new burdens to the country, affirming that the parliamentary and presidential elections is the only way out along with providing the adequate climate.
In his statement, Sarraj pointed out that some are objecting under the pretext of the security condition while the main reason for objecting over elections lies in concerns of losing positions, interests and privileges as well as removing some figures from the political scene.
In his turn, Turkey’s special envoy to Libya Emrullah Isler renewed his country’s support to Sarraj government and the road-map announced, expressing Turkey’s readiness to cooperate with all Libyan parties.
Isler also revealed the intention to proceed the agreed upon projects and the determination to implement new projects in Libya. There is a common ground for cooperation between Turkey and Libya, agreed Sarraj, expressing his government’s wish that this cooperation expands to include various service and economic fields.
Reliable sources affirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat Tunisia’s impartiality towards various Libyan parties – they expected that the tour outcome of United Nations special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salameh would be decisive in taking decisions towards the return of Libyan parties to the dialogue.
In a related matter, more than 4,000 migrants have been transferred to a hangar in the coastal city of Sabratha by a UN migration agency, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said. In a written statement, UNSMIL said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is providing emergency assistance to migrants in Sabratha’s Dahman district who had been “previously held in numerous informal detention centers and camps.”