Category Archives: Libya

US Embassy in Libya also stormed

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Google News:

Egyptian protesters scale US Embassy wall in Cairo

By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press – 22 minutes ago

CAIRO (AP) — Mainly ultraconservative protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt’s capital Tuesday and brought down the American flag, replacing it with a black Islamist flag to protest a U.S.-produced film attacking the Prophet Muhammad. Hours later, armed men in eastern Libya also stormed the US consulate there and set it on fire as anger spread.

It was the first time ever that the U.S. Embassy in Cairo has been breached and comes as Egypt is struggling to overcome months of unrest following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime. U.S. officials said no Americans were reported harmed in the assaults in Cairo or the eastern city of Benghazi.

The unrest in Cairo began when hundreds of protesters marched to the downtown embassy, gathering outside its walls and chanting against the movie and the U.S.

“Say it, don’t fear: Their ambassador must leave,” the crowd chanted.

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Headstones on Libyan World War II graves desecrated again in second attack in four months

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Daily Mail

PUBLISHED: 20:03 EST, 17 June 2012 | UPDATED: 01:53 EST, 18 June 2012

Headstones on World War Two military graves in Libya have been desecrated in the second such attack in four months.

The latest vandalism occurred in a cemetery in Benghazi, the starting point of last year’s uprising that ended Colonel Gaddafi’s dictatorship.

Earlier this year, Libya’s leadership apologised after graves of British and Italian troops were smashed in another Benghazi cemetery, by what were  believed to be Muslim extremists.

Gravestones damaged in Benghazi Military Cemetery back in FebruaryGravestones damaged in Benghazi Military Cemetery back in February

The site was near where British troops fought the Germans and Italians during the Second World War.

In February, amateur footage showed men kicking over headstones and  smashing crosses.

 

One man was heard saying: ‘This is a grave of a Christian.’

Of the latest attacks, a council spokesman said: ‘We don’t know yet who did this. We have spoken to the security committee about investigating.’

A gravestone is seen damaged by an Islamist group in protest at the burning of the Koran by U.S.A gravestone is seen damaged by an Islamist group in protest at the burning of the Koran by U.S.

‘This cemetery has been here for decades and nothing like this has ever happened before.’

Benghazi is now a hot spot for violence with arms readily available and state security forces struggling to assert their authority.

A convoy carrying Britain’s ambassador to Libya was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade on Monday, wounding two of his bodyguards.

Five days before that, an explosive device was dropped from a passing car outside the offices of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

The blast that followed slightly damaged the gate in front of the building.

Earlier attacks targeted the International Committee of the Red Cross and a convoy carrying the United Nations envoy to Libya.

Security experts say the area around the city is host to a number of Islamist militant groups opposed to any Western presence in Muslim countries.

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British diplomatic convoy attacked by rocket in Libya

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NY Post:

AFP/NEWSCORE

Last Updated: 10:51 AM, June 11, 2012

Posted: 10:50 AM, June 11, 2012

BENGHAZI, Libya — A British diplomatic convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, wounding one person, security and diplomatic sources said.

An AFP journalist saw a white armored vehicle with a diplomatic plate parked outside the British consulate in Benghazi. There was blood on the front passenger seat, he said.

One person was wounded when the vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, security sources said.

“We can confirm there was an attack on a British embassy convoy in Benghazi this afternoon,” a British embassy spokeswoman said. “All staff are accounted for. We are liaising closely with the authorities.”

US Embassy office in eastern Libya comes under attack

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From FOX:

TRIPOLI, Libya –  Attackers set off a bomb next to a wall of the U.S. Consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Wednesday, the State Department said, causing no casualties.

The blast underlined the unstable security situation in Libya, more than seven months after the death of deposed dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

It came two weeks before the country is scheduled to hold its first post-Qaddafi national elections.

In a brief comment, the State Department said that there were no injuries or claim of responsibility. It said the bomb “exploded at a perimeter wall.”

Libya’s news agency, LANA, quoted a security official as saying the bomb was probably locally made.

Violence and disorder has plagued Libya since Qaddafi was captured and killed last October after an eight-month civil war.

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Libyan Muslim Brotherhood On the Rise

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From MEMRI:

Introduction

Under Mu’ammar Qadhafi’s rule in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) was outlawed, and conducted most of its activity from abroad. Now that many of its members have returned to the country, the MB is beginning to consolidate its presence in the political arena and has established a party, called Justice and Construction.

Like the MB party in Egypt, the Libyan party presented itself as independent of the movement; however, the connection between the party and movement, both on the ideological and the organizational level, is difficult to ignore. Party leader Muhammad Sowan previously served as the head of the movement’s Shura Council, and half of the party members are MB members.

The Libyan MB resembles the Egyptian movement also in its vision for Libya: It holds that shari’a must be the primary source of legislation, while principles of democracy are supported.[1] . It should be noted, however, that the Libyan MB has stressed that its ties with MB movements in other countries are strictly ideological.[2]

This report will review the consolidation of the movement in Libya after its many years in exile, its first steps in the political arena, and its vision for the new Libyan state.

History of the Libyan MB

According to researcher Mahmoud Al-Nakou’, who was one of the founders of the Libyan MB in the 1960s, the movement got its first foothold in Libya in the late 1940s, when three members of the Egyptian MB – ‘Izz Al-Din Ibrahim, Mahmoud Al-Sharbini and Jallal Sa’da – escaped to Libya after being suspected of involvement in the assassination of Egyptian prime-minister Mahmoud Al-Nuqrashi Pasha. The three, who found asylum with Libyan Prince Idris Al-Sanousi, started to spread the movement’s ideas, and so did MB-affiliated teachers who came to teach in Libya. More MB activists came to Libya after the 1952 Free Officers Revolution in Egypt.  According to Nakou’, following the political and ideological revival triggered by the 1967 war, MB followers established a branch of the movement in Tripoli. It was headed by Sheikh Fathallah Muhammad Ahwas, and another of its founders and leaders was Al-Nakou’ himself. A similar branch was founded in Benghazi. The two branches coordinated their positions, and operated in secret due to the law banning political activity. After the 1969 military coup and the rise to power of Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi, the MB organization in Libya stopped its activity, but did not disband. In 1973, many of the movement members were arrested, and were released two years later, when Qadhafi ordered the MB to stop its activity in Libya and expelled its leaders from the country.[3]

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Islam’s Tradition of Breaking the Cross

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Stonegate:

This was no “furious mob” on a “rampage,” reacting to Koran-burning. These men are methodically, deliberately, and in an organized fashion going about destroying crosses and objects marked with crosses. Their mood seems happy.

In the recent destruction of Commonwealth war graves in Benghazi, Libya (YouTube Video), you can see not just the desecration of graves, but attacks on crosses.

The radical Muslims who are kicking over and smashing headstones marked with crosses (and one with a Star of David), also took pains to demolish a tall “Cross of Sacrifice” standing at the edge of the cemetery.

This was no “furious mob” on a “rampage,” as a Daily Mail report put it. Nor was there any evidence in what they were saying that they were angry or reacting to Koran burning by the US military.

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“No.”??The phenomenon of cross-destruction goes back to the life and example of Muhammad. A tradition reported by al-Waqidi said that if ever Muhammad found an object in his house with the mark of a cross on it, he would destroy it. (W. Muir, The life of Muhammad. Volume 3, p.61, note 47.)”

MEMRI Translates the Libya grave yard video

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I’m glad someone was able to translate parts of this. There is one sentence that is not translated where it sounds like he is saying something about the ‘Kuffar’ (Hated unbelievers)

On the flip-side, it appears that the architects of this graveyard were able to make the big cross at the front Mustard-proof

 

Michael Coren on the destruction of the grave yard in Libya

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I wonder. Is there a way to define the word ‘savage’ or ‘barbarian’ that would not apply to the way we have seen the Islamic world behave towards non-Muslims, towards Islamic and non Islamic women, between various sects of Islam and towards minority groups in majority Islamic areas? I would be interested to hear one if there is one.

Islamists dominate post-Gaddafi Libya, make it unwelcome to Sufis

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From People of Shambhala.

Remember how we ousted Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi so that the Libyan people could be free? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Gaddafi’s gone. The man was a bully and a psychopath that terrorized his own people. And Gaddafi funded every oddball political and militant group he could find, including Islamist, neo-fascist, and militant Left-wing.

Like you, probably, I was more than a little concerned by the appearance of al-Qaeda-types among the anti-Gaddafi militias. And I was pretty much certain that it would lead to a very troubled post-Gaddafi Libya when the Western governments — who were actively engaged in ousting the dictator — chose to ignore the emergence of the armed Islamist ranks.

Not everyone was convinced, of course. Stephen Schwartz saw Sufism as the moral and ethical foundation of the revolution. “Libya stands as one of the distinguished centers of a Sufism opposed both to unquestioning acceptance of Islamic law and to scriptural absolutism,” said Schwarts. This Islam, he said, was “dedicated to freedom and progress.”

With Gaddafi gone, Schwartz believed, it would “be necessary to analyze whether and how Libya’s Sufi past can positively influence its future.”

Not a bad plan, but it hasn’t exactly panned out. In the new Libya, Islamists have… read more.

‘EGYNEWS’: BOMB DEFUSED ON LIBYAN AIRPLANE

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From Egynews:

16:20 25 GEN 2012

(AGI) Cairo – On the anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, a bomb was found in the toilet of a Libyan plane in Cairo and defused. The news was released by the Egynews Website owned by the State TV and under the patronage of the Ministry of Communication. The aircraft arrived this morning from Tripoli and was on its return trip with 156 passengers on board. The crew and the passengers were disembarked shortly before take-off and bomb squads defused the device that was shaped like a small gas bottle. . .

GADDAFI SUPPORTERS RETAKE LIBYAN TOWN

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Gaddafi supporters seize control of Libyan town

(Reuters) – Fighters loyal to Libya’s overthrown leader Muammar Gaddafi took control of a town south-east of the capital on Monday, flying their green flags in defiance of the country’s fragile new government.

The fightback by Gaddafi supporters defeated in Libya’s civil war, though unlikely to spread elsewhere, added to the problems besetting a government which in the past week has been reeling from one crisis to another. Gaddafi himself was captured and killed in October after weeks on the run.

Accounts from the town of Bani Walid, about 200 km (120 miles) from Tripoli, described armed Gaddafi supporters attacking the barracks of the pro-government militia in the town and then forcing them to fall back.

“They control the town now. They are roaming the town,” said a fighter with the 28th May militia, loyal to Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), which came under attack.

The fighter told Reuters the loyalists were flying “brand new green flags” from the centre of town. The flags were symbols of Gaddafi’s 42-year rule.

A resident said four people were killed and 20 wounded in the fighting, during which the sides used heavy weapons.

Bani Walid, base of the powerful Warfallah tribe, was one of the last towns to surrender to the anti-Gaddafi rebellion last year. Many people there oppose the new leadership.

MORE HERE

A video showing epic Mustard fail, how not to shoot an RPG, courtesy of Weasel Zippers.

Libya’s draft election laws biased against women

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From People of Shambhala.
The ousting of Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 was meant to usher in a new era of pluralism and freedom.

However, as has occurred in Egypt, reactionary Islamists have stepped in to fill the political void. Women in Libya fear that they are being sidelined as the new political arrangement takes shape.

A petition calling on the National Transitional Council to ensure greater participation of women in decision-making, circulated by Women4Libya, has attracted more than 3000 signatures.

Recently the two week consultation period on the draft election laws ended abruptly with Libya’s Electoral Commission announcing that previously proposed laws have been altered and ratified.

Troublingly, the proposed 10% quota for women in the… read more. 

Iran may have sent Libya shells for chemical weapons

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This is a part of the article from…

WAPO

 

By , and Joby Warrick and , Published: November 20
The Obama administration is investigating whether Iran supplied the Libyan government of Moammar Gaddafi with hundreds of special artillery shells for chemical weapons that Libya kept secret for decades, U.S. officials said.The shells, which Libya filled with highly toxic mustard agent, were uncovered in recent weeks by revolutionary fighters at two sites in central Libya. Both are under heavy guard and round-the-clock surveillance by drones, U.S. and Libyan officials said.