‘Rage of Desert’ eliminates terrorists in Kufra: Mesmari

CAIRO – 23 January 2018: Libyan military operation "Rage of Desert" successfully eliminated terrorist groups in Kufra city, and destroyed about twenty 4WD cars owned by them, said Libyan military spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari on Monday.

On Thursday, Libyan Army Commander Khalifa Haftar’s forces launched the operation in Kufra city in south east Libya against the Sudanese opposing forces of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

Mesmari said that the terrorists came from Sudan and Chad, stationed in southern Libya, and moved to the border with Egypt.



Map of Libya and adjacent areas (Courtesy of Frontiers)


"The terrorists kidnapped people moving along the borders with Egypt and Chad," Mesmari said, adding that Libya’s border with Egypt was used to smuggle arms and drugs.

"The terrorists prospected gold in Mount Uwaynat, located in the area of the Egyptian-Libyan-Sudanese border, in order to support the terrorist groups financially," Mesmari explained.

Concerning the seized Turkish explosive-loaded ship that was heading to Misurata, Libya, Mesmari said that Turkey supplied terrorist groups around Libya’s capital of Tripoli with explosives, in order to hinder the upcoming elections in Libya.

The ship was seized in January by the Greek authorities. The ship’s bill of lading indicated that the cargo had been loaded in the Turkish ports of Mersin and Iskenderun.

The seized cargo included empty liquefied petroleum gas tanks, non-electric detonators and ammonium nitrate, Reuters reported.

Mesmari referred to a meeting of the Turkish intelligence with Qatar and the military leader Abdel Hakim Belhaj, an ex-leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting group, saying that this meeting "Reveals they are conspiring against Tripoli."

The Muslim Brotherhood organization members in Libya fear they may lose the elections, so they are trying to take control of Tripoli, with the help of Turkey, according to Mesmari.

Regarding the Qatari regime, Mesmari said that Qatar still funds extreme terrorist groups in Libya. "The Turkish-Qatari conspiracy against Libya aims to strike Tripoli or to take over Libya’s oil crescent," Mesmari added.