Libyan military led by Haftar legal: Libyan official

CAIRO - 26 June 2019: Speaker of the House of Representatives Aqila Saleh stressed Tuesday that the Libyan military institution led by Commander Khalifa Haftaris discipline, legitimate and constitutional,adding that it won the confidence of the Libyan Parliament.

According a press release issued by AbdulHamid al-Safi, media adviser to the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Saleh's speech came during his meeting with UN special envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salama, in the eastern city of El-Kubba.

Saleh asserted that the Libyan army is in the process of establishing security and stability in the country after the spread of militias, weapons and chaos.

He pointed out that the battle for the liberation of Tripoli after the liberation of Benghazi, Derna and the oil fields, comes to rid the Libyan people of the extortion carried out by the armed militias in Libya.

The Libyan House of Representatives headed by Counselor AqilaSaleh is the only legitimate body in Libya.

Meanwhile, Libyan officials say forces loyal to military Commander Haftar are pursuing Islamic State (IS) militants south of the country, killing more than a dozen militants over the past three days.

The officials said that the self-styled Libyan National Army began its attack on a militant hideout in the mountainous area of Haruj earlier this week. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The LNA media center said Friday that the militants were responsible for recent attacks in southern areas. IS acknowledged the ongoing LNA attack and claimed to have killed and wounded dozens of LNA troops.

Haftar’s forces launched a military offensive in early April aimingat taking the capital, Tripoli, from a United Nations-aligned but weak administration.