NEW YORK – In a repudiation of the premise advanced by President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the “Arab Spring” was a democracy movement, Libya has descended into lawless chaos in which various terrorist militia, including al-Qaida, vie for power.
A government propped up the U.S. and NATO has collapsed, and Western nations, including the U.S., have recalled their Embassy staff from Tripoli.
According to trusted Libyan tribal sources communicating with WND via Skype, al-Qaida head Ayman al-Zawahiri now claims to have 15,000 al-Qaida fighters operating in Libya. They are fighting alongside foreign fighters from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and various Libyan-based radical Islamic militias as the group Ansar al-Sharia gains control of Benghazi and declares an “Islamic emirate” civil war.
Muslim Brotherhood forces have joined al-Qaida and various local Islamic militia from Misurata, a port city in the northwest of Libya, in an effort to take control of Libya’s capital, Tripoli.
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Libyan tribal sources pointed WND to a video showing radical Islamic militia using rockets launched from a mobile military vehicle to attack tribal militia and what remains of the government military in Tripoli during Ramadan 2014.
Another video clip shows Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaida violence aimed at dark-skinned members of the Misrata tribe.
WND also received photos and a video clip of oil tanks in Tripoli on fire after attacks by Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic militia forces.
Technicians have struggled to keep electricity flowing in the capital, according to trusted Libyan tribal sources reporting to WND.
On Friday, Mohamed Frikha, the CEO of Syphax Airlines, a private airline based in Tunisia and operating in Libya, confirmed Islamic militia stormed the Misrata airport and took possession of two Airbus A320 airplanes operated by his company. In an interview, he also said Algeria has taken measures to shoot down any airplane flying from Libya into Tunisian airspace.
On Sunday, London's Guardian reported Britain was closing its embassy in Tripoli because of increased fighting by Islamic militia groups throughout Libya. The week saw mass evacuations by diplomats of the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and other nations.
Also, Islamic militias from Misrata assaulted the international airport in Tripoli in an attempt to seize control from the Zintan tribe.
Benghazi is currently in the hands of Ansar al-Sharia, though sources in Libya have verified to WND that a video on YouTube displays a nighttime protest in which hundreds of Benghazi residents took to the streets in an effort to reclaim their city.
Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writing in the Weekly Standard, named Wissam Bin Hamid as a key operative in the Ansar al-Sharia efforts to maintain control of Benghazi.
The Weekly Standard published a recent picture showing Sheik Mohammad al-Zahawi, the leader of Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi, with Hamid after Ansar al-Sharia effectively assumed control of Benghazi.
Hamid was in possession of Stevens’ personal belongings, including his camera, cell phone, identification papers and private documents.