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Jihadists declare emirate in east Libya: “Benghazi has now become an Islamic emirate”

Jul 31, 2014 7:21 am By Robert Spencer

AnsaralShariaLibyaThat Islamic emirate in Benghazi? Ansar al-Sharia didn’t build that. Barack Obama built that. “Islamists declare ‘Islamic emirate’ in east Libya,” Al Arabiya, July 31, 2014:

Libya’s Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia has said that it seized complete control of Benghazi late on Wednesday, declaring the city an “Islamic emirate,” the group’s representative said.

Ansar al-Sharia is blacklisted by the United States over its alleged role in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, eastern Libya.

An official representative for the armed group told a local radio channel that Benghazi is now under its control.

“Benghazi has now become an Islamic emirate,” said Mohammed al-Zahawi, the spokesman, to Radio Tawhid.

However, Khalifa Haftar, a retired, renegade former army general who earlier this year launched a self-declared campaign to clear the city of Islamist militants, denied the group’s claims.

“The national Libyan army is in control of Benghazi and only withdrew from certain positions for tactical reasons,” Haftar told Al Arabiya News Channel.

“The claim that Benghazi is under the control of militias is a lie,” he said.

Ansar al-Sharia’s declaration comes following two days of fighting in which Islamist fighters and allied militiamen overran an army base in the city.

Al Arabiya’s correspondent in Libya reported that Islamist groups had seized the headquarters of the Libyan army’s Special Forces in Benghazi late on Tuesday following heavy fighting.

Turkey’s Anadolu news agency quoted Talal bin Harir, a Benghazi Shura Council member, as saying that the Islamists were in control of the army base.

Three years after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi, the OPEC nation has failed to control former rebel militias who refuse to disband and threaten the unity of the country.

The extent of recent hostilities has increased Western worries that Libya is sliding toward becoming a failed state and may once again go to war.

Several foreign states have withdrawn their citizens and diplomats from the state.

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Comments

  1. Uri says

    Jul 31, 2014 at 9:51 am

    How does George Bush even sleep at night, given that his egotism and hubris DESTROYED the Middle East?

    • Jay Boo says

      Jul 31, 2014 at 11:08 am

      WHAT ?
      Unless you are covering for Obama you must using sarcasm.

      OBAMA and McCain said that these Benghazi folks – (who by the way murdered our embassy staff, over a film we were told) – were the GOOD guys.

      The Arab spring Muslims are doing a good job all by themselves in turning the Middle East into a typical Islamic hell-hole of self-righteous butchery in the name of Islam.

      • The Islamist says

        Aug 1, 2014 at 11:43 am

        butchery in the name of Islam…by training and arms from Zionists and white dogs.

    • Beagle says

      Jul 31, 2014 at 12:43 pm

      Bush’s djinn powers are so strong he caused the initial Shia-Sunni split at the first Battle of Karbala, long subsequently the Wahhabi invasion of Karbala in 1802, and the Iran-Iraq (with it’s Shia-Sunni undertones) war in the 1980s.

      You can’t destroy something which is fundamentally broken at the best of times. It’s like trying to bomb Afghanistan to the Stone Age. The scrap metal you leave behind may inadvertently lift it up to the Bronze Age.

      Oh well, I fed a troll.

      • Uri says

        Jul 31, 2014 at 2:03 pm

        Barfed it back

    • Myxlplik says

      Jul 31, 2014 at 2:05 pm

      Bush actually believed Muslims would choose something different, looks like Bush was more or less right in Egypt, but wrong everywhere else. Bush believed self determination is the path to liberty, problem is liberty doesn’t always mean human rights as we know it, if you are Muslim liberty and human rights often means theocratic oppression, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Bush was wrong when he estimated what is in the hearts of Muslims in general, so mostly his entire policy was flawed. Personally, I see little distinction between Obama and Bush regarding the outcome of their understanding the hearts and minds of Muslims.

  2. JIMJFOX says

    Jul 31, 2014 at 9:57 am

    Everybody is wise AFTER the event; I don’t recall anyone forecasting that Islamic terrorists would take over ‘liberated’ countries. I do recall hearing a lot of parroting of the “its all about oil” mantra, even in places like Afghanistan (!).
    Surely had that been true we would have invaded Saudi Arabia!!

    • Jay Boo says

      Jul 31, 2014 at 11:15 am

      Obama Cairo speech
      Obama and his allies (NPR & Al Jazeera) repackage defective product Morsi & MB as new and improved.
      Morsi & East Libya is all part of the same old Islamic Arab Spring stink.

    • Liza Jones says

      Jul 31, 2014 at 1:17 pm

      You’ve got to be kidding! Why would the US invade Saudi Arabia? The Saudis are personal friends of US oil execs. Remember George Bush allowing flights to take Saudis home when all other planes were grounded after 9/11. And when any Prince is in town he’s sure to a special guest on Charlie Rose. Who cares about their reprehensible narrow application of Sharia? Who cares about the twenty-three or so Malaysian maids (yep, Muslim on Muslim), that have been publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia for some infraction? The Saudis are in the enviable position of fomenting and financing jihad throughout the world while at the same time maintaining close ties with the US administration–regardless of stripe.

  3. Uri says

    Jul 31, 2014 at 10:21 am

    Maybe Obama didn’t hear of Islamic terrorists taking over liberated countries either?

    Do you recall hearing warnings of Iraq breaking up?

    Do you recall hearing warnings of Iraq becoming an Iranian client state?

    Or were you asleep?

    • The Islamist says

      Aug 1, 2014 at 11:46 am

      U crazy? the plan was to destroy these islamic countries and then blame islam for the failure. How white dogs are so clever?

  4. Jovial Joe says

    Jul 31, 2014 at 10:49 am

    It astounds me how mainstream pundits attribute the chaos in these soon to be ‘failed states’ to Bush and Blair while pining for the dictatorial but secular regimes which preceded them. They fail to make the link, however: Secular state: relative order; an Islamic free-for-all: utter chaos. I’ve hold no brief for Blair and Bush but seriously , they’re not to blame for the chaos in these states, Islam is.

  5. Jovial Joe says

    Jul 31, 2014 at 10:49 am

    It astounds me how mainstream pundits attribute the chaos in these soon to be ‘failed states’ to Bush and Blair while pining for the dictatorial but secular regimes which preceded them. They fail to make the link, however: Secular state: relative order; an Islamic free-for-all: utter chaos. I hold no brief for Blair and Bush but seriously , they’re not to blame for the chaos in these states, Islam is.

  6. Liza Jones says

    Jul 31, 2014 at 11:16 am

    See below for what I said in an earlier post. The Obama administration fully expects regime changes in Islamist-dominated oil producing countries. Obama is laying a foundation for “business as usual” with these new Islamic magnates—no wonder he is siding with Hamas against Israel. It will buy him favours with the Islamists.
    “The oil imperative! He is playing hardball with Canada over the Keystone pipe line to appease environmentalists at home but now laying the foundation for business as usual with the new upcoming Islamist oil barons. . .”
    US treachery is not lost on Stephen Harper who has been snubbed by Obama who refuses to make a decision on the pipeline between Canada and the US.

    • Beagle says

      Jul 31, 2014 at 1:48 pm

      “The Obama administration fully expects regime changes in Islamist-dominated oil producing countries.”

      Yeah, I can’t wait for 2016 either.

      • John C. Barile says

        Aug 1, 2014 at 10:56 am

        Neither can I.

  7. John C. Barile says

    Jul 31, 2014 at 12:08 pm

    Let’s see–that’s Libya, and Syria, and Yemen, and Somalia–and Afghanistan, and “al-Shams”–Obama sure does know how to build Islamic “peace” and security, don’t he.

    • John C. Barile says

      Jul 31, 2014 at 12:10 pm

      Mustn’t forget Nigeria, the Sahel, and the rest of the Magreb.

    • John C. Barile says

      Jul 31, 2014 at 12:12 pm

      Pakistan will reap what it sows, too.

  8. tpellow says

    Jul 31, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    Supplementary on Islamic jihadist activity in Libya-

    “Diplomat to oversee mass Filipino evacuation from Libya”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28588895

  9. SpiritOf1683 says

    Aug 1, 2014 at 2:26 am

    Well done Cameron and Obama – another testimony to your incredible wisdom – or lack of it.

  10. Darius Jeddburgh says

    Aug 1, 2014 at 7:53 am

    The capital will be named hilary ville, after their patron “saint”.

  11. The Islamist says

    Aug 1, 2014 at 11:38 am

    “Ansar al-Sharia didn’t build that. Barack Obama built that.” This shows how you (Spencer) are stupid. Yes Obama built that so that the whole world will attack Islam saying that it threatens the world peace. Those so called Jihadists are CIA dogs.

    • Jovial Joe says

      Aug 1, 2014 at 11:44 am

      But you Islamists want to rule the whole world. Therefore you threaten world peace. It’s not a hard concept to grasp, unless you’re a complete cretin.

      • The Islamist says

        Aug 1, 2014 at 11:50 am

        To want to rule the world is not a sin. If DemonsCrats want to rule the world using their slavery called democracy, why can’t Muslims rule the world using Sharia?

        • Jovial Joe says

          Aug 1, 2014 at 12:06 pm

          Well you see in a democracy Jews can practice their faith, Christians can practice their faith, Hindus can practice their faith and all of them can build or renovate their places of worship. Atheists too can go about their lawful business. Now, when we get to Islam, you too can build and renovate your mosques and worship unmolested. Trouble is you’re not really following the faith until the religion of Allah is made to dominate the world, through violent jihad, so that all other faiths and peoples are subjugated. Now that is simply unfair don’t you think? It also means that your religion is a totalitarian ideology on a par with Nazism and communism. In other words freedom loving people will never let you dominate them and will do all their power to prevent power-crazed, sick fantasists like you from ever reaching your goals.

    • SpiritOf1683 says

      Aug 2, 2014 at 5:54 am

      Off you go to Pakistan, Somalia or Syria to join your fellow savages.

  12. BC says

    Aug 1, 2014 at 12:32 pm

    I donot know if our ‘leaders’ have noticed, but World War Three has already started

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