According to Al Jazeera Arabic and the Libyan Herald, The Shoura Council of Revolutionaries in Benghazi called on Libyans to fight French and foreign forces in Libya, calling French intervention in Libya “blatant aggression” against the country.
This comes at the time when angry demonstrations are taking place in a number of Libyan cities rejecting French intervention.
The Council controls most areas in Northwestern Benghazi, where positions are frequently hit by airstrikes and guns by forces of retired general Khalifa Haftar on a daily basis.
Rasheed al-Saiti is one of the leaders of the Shoura Council of Revolutionaries in Benghazi, and he said that this call to rise up and fight the French and foreign forces in the country is directed towards all Libyans, and there will be coordination with “the real revolutionaries” to stand in the way of French colonial ambitions.
Al-Saiti added in a statement to Al-Jazeera Arabic that the Council’s call will not affect other fighting forces, specifically mentioning the fight against Daesh in Sirte, Libya, and that all of the “revolutionaries” are united in the goal of expelling foreign forces from Libya.
He described the Unity Government as lackluster and contradictory, believing that they are complicit in foreign intervention and have not communicated with the council.
Military expert Adel Abdelkaffi warned in a statement to Al-Jazeera.net that he considered the French's main focus was dividing the country after the expansion of its military operations in Libya.
Abdelkaffi sees the call to fight foreign forces in Libya as something that will mobilize young people from all areas of Libya to fight French forces among others.
He believes that French intervention will add to the will of fighters to finish the battle in Benghazi and eliminate Daesh in Sirte, Libya.
The Libyan military analysist said that General Haftar is undertaking a military operation that is outside the control of the recognized government of Libya. This is what evidences the Presidential Council’s inability to apply the terms of its political agreement that it entered in Tripoli and the ceasefire in Benghazi.
A spokesperson for the Libyan military, General Muhammad al-Ghasri said that the forces involved in the “Solid Ground” (al-Banyan al-Marsous) operation are capable of liberating Sirte, despite the discovery of foreign forces in Libya in Eastern areas. The call from the Shura Council will not affect the fight in Sirte, but it it will add to the challenge of expelling these foreign forces.
Al-Ghasri said in a statement to al-Jazeera that the stabilization of the political and military situation in Libya depends on the complete expulsion of Khalifa Haftar from these affairs.
