As soon as the Libyan army announced a military operation, “Storm of Peace”, in the context of the right to self-defense and to protect civilians in the face of repeated violations by the Haftar militias of the truce, those militias collapsed in the face of strong and sudden strikes by the army.
Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the hostile militia on Tripoli, was not expecting this response from the army forces, which made him lose about ten of his militia leaders, most notably Salem Driaq, which forced him to seek help from his supporters immediately; hoping to survive this deadlock that curtailed his militias, and confused their Plans thanks to the heavy blows of the “Peace Storm”.
Hifter is calling for help
Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed website said that Egypt has received distress calls from the militia leader who is attacking Tripoli Khalifa Haftar to provide him with immediate support after the losses suffered on the hands of the Libyan army forces.
According to the website, Egyptian President Abdelfattah El-Sisi endorsed directly the decision to launch quick military strikes against the army’s concentrations, after contacts between him and Haftar and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed, according to Egyptian sources who told the newspaper.
The website confirmed that Haftar asked Al-Sisi and Bin Zayed that Cairo should withdraw its decision to withdraw fighters and military experts of the Egyptian army due to fears of the Corona epidemic, and that Haftar asked Bin Zayed to persuade Al-Sisi to withdraw his decision.
New support from mercenaries
From the harsh blows of Operation “Peace Storm” that hindered Haftar militarily … and forced him to seek help from his supporters, a Libyan military source said that the army forces monitored in the axes south of Tripoli Haftar’s use of new Russian mercenaries to support his militias, who have lost more than 200 members since the start of the Peace Storm.
The source, who preferred not to be named, added that Haftar withdrew a large number of the Janjawid mercenaries at the base of AlJufra and Zalah to reinforce his militia at the axis of Alwishka after losing his most prominent leaders in the recent military operations.
Leaders killed
The Libyan army forces, in their latest attack, targeted the main operations room in the Alwishka area, killing what is known as the “commander of the Sirte Operations Room” Salem Driaq Al-Farjani and his assistant, Gaddafi al-Sadai, and the man who is responsible for bringing in mercenaries Ali Seda.Also Musa al-Maghribi, commander of the artillery in militia 302, commander of the operations of the Alwishka , Walid al-Dabbar al-Ferjani, the commander of the reconnaissance unit in the room known as Operations of the Great Sirte, Daw al-Megrahi, the commander of the coastal road axis in the militia, Saber al-Mutahhar, the deputy of the operations room of the Great Sirte Muhammad al-Majdoub al-Wafi, and the commander of the Battalion 103 Khaled Krees.
Observers believe that the Peace Storm confused Hifter’s plans and the expectations of his supporters because he was not expecting the strength and speed of the strikes he received from the Libyan army, and this indicates at the same time a significant progress and support of the army forces that will be revealed in the coming hours or days.
