Siege of Bani Walid: Foreign fighters, phosphorus bombs and nerve gas

The besieged Libyan city of Bani Walid has been plunged into chaos. SW the former Gaddafi regime stronghold is under attack by militias bolstered by foreign mercenaries, and they used banned weapons like white phosphorous.

­The sources denied reports of the last few days that Bani Walid was retaken by the Libyan government. Residents said that militia forces have continued their assault, while preventing the refugees who fled from reentering the city. 

A man who claimed his relatives are trapped inside the besieged city spoke with RT, saying, “There is no food; there is nothing to support the life of people. And the militia does not allow anyone to come back to their homes.”

“They are demolishing homes with machinery and tanks. There is no communication or internet so people are not able to connect with each other,” the source said. He is currently in Egypt, and refuses to reveal his identity over fears of personal safety.

He believes the real reason for the inoperable communications is that many people have been killed inside Bani Walid by the forces besieging the city and now they are trying to prevent information about the killings to be leaked outside. 

The militia attackers have claimed they are battling ‘pro-Gaddafi’ forces, but the source slammed that motive as a “lie and a dirty game.”

“They use foreign snipers, I think from Qatar or Turkey, with Qatar covering all the costs,” he said. He claimed that a ship with weapons and other equipment recently docked in the port city of Misrata, where the assault on Bani Walid is allegedly being directed.

“There is no government in Libya. Groups of militia control everything. They don’t care about Libya, they don’t care about the nation,” he said, adding allegations that the majority of militia fighters have dual citizenship or passports from other countries.

“We ask the envoy [Special Representative] of the Secretary-General of the United Nations [for Libya] Mr. Tarik Mitri – where is he now?” he said. “Where is the United Nations? Where is the EU? Where is the Human Rights Watch? We ask for an intervention now as soon as possible – please!”

In an October 23 UN session, the US blocked a statement on the violence in Bani Walid drafted by Russia, which condemned the ongoing conflict in the city and calling for a peaceful resolution.

Witnesses claim militia used chemical weapons in Bani Walid

“I can confirm that pro-government militias used internationally prohibited weapons. They used phosphorus bombs and nerve gas. We have documented all this in videos, we recorded the missiles they used and the white phosphorus raining down from these missiles,” Bani Walid-based activist and lawyer Afaf Yusef told RT.

“Many people died without being wounded or shot, they died as a result of gases. The whole world needs to see who they are targeting. Are they really Gaddafi's men? Are the children, women and old men killed – Gaddafi's men?” Yusef said.

The forces attacking Bani Walid have been ordered to use “all means necessary” in their assault on the city. “To all parasites and leaches, a message to all of them across Libya, wherever they are: Whoever you are, however strong you are, and whoever your back is – the revolution should win,” a militant said in the TV report.

Looming humanitarian catastrophe in Bani Walid

The humanitarian situation outside Bani Walid is reportedly nearly as dire as that within the besieged city. Those who managed to flee the violence now find themselves stranded on the desert roads outside the city.

Thousands of Bani Walid residents have reportedly tried to reenter the city, but were stopped at makeshift militia checkpoints composed of pickup trucks armed with mounted machine-guns.

“Look at the people over there, they got a gun and they’re shooting at people with it,” a Bani Walid resident said, pointing in the direction of a checkpoint. He claimed that those who fled the city had been forced to stay in the desert for more than a week.

“Where is the government?” he said.

Syria accuses Turkey of 'air piracy', demands return of seized cargo

Damascus said that the Syria-bound commercial jet diverted to Ankara Wednesday night was not carrying prohibited cargo, and demanded Turkey return the goods it seized. The airline accused Ankara of brutality and illegal provocations.

In its comments on the interception, the Turkish Foreign Ministry alleged that the plane’s cargo contained elements “not legitimate in civilian flights.” Turkish media speculated that security forces had seized communication equipment, radio terminals and missile components.

But the Syrian Transport Ministry insists the cargo on the Syrian Air plane, which was flying from Moscow to Damascus, was within the regulations. The ministry accuses Turkey of piracy.

“The actions of the Turkish authorities are air piracy which violates civil aviation agreements,” said Transport Minister Mahmoud Ibrahim Said. “They have the cargo – but we still have the documents. If there’s anything wrong, as their officials insist, let them prove it.”

On Thursday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry demanded the cargo be returned “whole and safe,” and said there were “no weapons or prohibited cargo” on board.

Russian airport representatives also said that customs and security services did not find anything suspicious in the cargo before the 35-passenger plane was cleared for takeoff. All the relevant inspection documents were passed over to officials for investigation, the Vnukovo Airport press service said.

The civilian plane was diverted mid-flight by F-16 fighter jets, and was not allowed to leave the international airport in Ankara for around nine hours until Turkish officials finished inspecting the plane’s cargo.

‘Turkish officials took out guns and cuffed us’

Turkey said it was permitted under international law to intercept any planes which may threaten its security. The Foreign Ministry also remarked that the pilot of the Syrian Air Airbus had been warned of Turkey's intention to ground it and was given the chance to turn back, but that he decided to continue his course.

Ghaida Abd Al-Latif, director of plane owners Syrian Air, argued that Turkey did not ask the aircraft pilots to land, and instead immediately dispatched fighter jets, putting passengers’ lives in danger.

“The Chicago Convention allows inspecting passenger planes,” Ghaida Abd Al-Latif said. “If the captain refuses to land, the country may send fighter jets. But in this case, the captain suddenly saw unidentified objects on radar. They proved to be Turkish fighter jets flying so close it could lead to disaster.”

The plane landed in territory belonging to the Turkish military, which seized “boxes and electronic equipment,” but refused to explain their actions, Al-Latif said. The crew demanded that the authorities issue a receipt for the cargo, citing international law.

“The Turks refused to issue the document, but the crew insisted. After that they turned aggressive hurting one of the crew and several passengers. And this all came on top of the stress everyone on board had been going through,” Al-Latif said.

Jasem Kaser, the engineer on that flight, said that the Turkish authorities found nothing suspicious after opening the plane’s cargo.

“[Turkish officials] still ordered us to go out and ordered to take the boxes out. I requested a receipt. They demanded we unload and they’ll give a receipt later,” Kaser said. “Then they aimed their guns at us, cuffed us, put in two cars and took to the ramp.”

Turkish officials also reportedly pressured the crew to sign a statement that called the detour an ‘emergency landing,’ which the crew refused to sign.

“We are filing protests to all international bodies including the International Civil Aviation Association and Arab Air Carriers Organization – as well as human rights bodies,” Syria’s Transport Ministry said in a statement. The ministry argued that the plane was detained in Ankara for far longer than was necessary to conduct an inspection.

Moscow roundly criticized Turkey over the incident, and for endangering the 17 Russians on board the flight. The Russian envoy to Turkey visited the country’s Foreign Ministry after Moscow demanded that Ankara explain why it failed to inform them of the presence of Russian nationals on the flight.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also demanded an explanation for why the passengers – including children and the elderly – were prohibited from leaving the plan for several hours, and were not provided food.

Tensions between Syria and Turkey have escalated after mortar shells were fired across the country’s shared border from Syrian territory last week, killed five civilians in a Turkish town. Turkey responded by deploying troops, armored vehicles and F-16 fighter jets along the volatile border

NATO sources said the Turkish forces were placed on high alert after Wednesday’s incident. This followed Ankara’s orders for the national airlines to avoid entering Syrian airspace.

Turkish media reported that Syria responded by barring Turkish aircraft from its airspace, a charge later denied by the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

Ankara, once an ally of Syria, has become an outspoken supporter of the 19-month-long uprising in Syria that seeks to topple the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. Turkey hosts over 90,000 refugees from the Arab country, where according to the UN estimates more than 18,000 people have died in the unrest.

Libyan tribal clashes: 47 dead in three days

Tribal warfare continues for the fifth day straight in Libya, with 47 killed in the last three days alone and over 100 reportedly wounded. Ethnic strife in Libya has cost hundreds of lives since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime last October.

­The Toubou and Zawiya ethnic groups are locked in a bitter conflict to control smuggling in the Saharan oasis Kufra, a town with population of around 40,000 conveniently located in a triangle where the borders of Chad, Egypt and Sudan converge.

The fighting erupted on Wednesday. Both sides are using heavy weapons, including armored vehicles. The Toubou people claim that Zawia are shelling Toubou neighborhoods with mortars, forcing them to strike back. The Daraa Shield brigade of the Libyan army deployed in the area has not intervened in the conflict.

Wissam Ben Hamid, commander of the brigade, told AFP that "negotiations are now underway to calm tensions."

Women and children have found themselves in the crosshairs of the conflict, constituting over 50 per cent of the wounded.

The Saharan Toubou tribe and the Arab Zawiya tribe previously had a dust-up in February. Those clashes resulted in the deaths of over 100 people, with the violence only ceasing after the Libyan government dispatched troops to pacify the bellicose nomads. More than half of the population has been displaced according to the UN.

In April there were skirmishes between Toubou tribesmen and the Daraa Shield brigade.

The dark-skinned Toubou claim they faced discrimination during the Gaddafi era and that the new Libyan authorities continue a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the tribe.

Besides Libya, Toubou tribesmen also inhabit Chad, Niger and Sudan.

The tribal conflict is flaring up on the eve of the national assembly elections in Libya, which are to be held on July 7.

Child soldiers forced to fight as mercenaries in Ivory Coast

The bodies of the United Nations peacekeepers killed on June 8, 2012 in western Ivory coast near the Liberia border arrive at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny International Airport, near Abidjan.

Militias loyal to the former president of the Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo are recruiting child soldiers in Liberia to launch cross-border raids on the Ivory Coast.

­Children as young as 14 are being trained, armed and used as scouts according to a recent report by the campaigning group Human Rights Watch.

Matt Wells, the West Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch who carried out much of the research for the report, told RT “recruiting children is a recent phenomenon in the last couple of months and is so they can mount larger attacks.” He suggested that without child soldiers the militias would not have sufficient numbers for their armed raids to be successful.

A 17-year-old Liberian who was recruited to fight with the armed militants told Human Rights Watch that he had taken part in at least one cross-border raid, “They call us 'small boys unit' and we are always safe when we go to the war zones in Ivory Coast. I don't know the total that we have killed.”

Human Rights Watch identified between 100-150 militants who have participated or plan to participate in cross-border raids, although the true figure is thought to be much higher than that.

Wells added that after the uprising in the Ivory Coast “scores if not hundreds of armed supporters of the ousted Gbagbo regime went over to Liberia.”

The Liberian authorities have been slow to stop the activities of the militia groups and the recruitment of child soldiers.

“There are some guys in our community who have been recruiting small boys. We have been complaining to the security forces, but they are always saying they don’t have the evidence to prove it,” a 32-year-old trader in the border region told Human Rights Watch.  

Although the border between Liberia and Ivory Coast is very difficult to monitor and is deep in the bush, Wells said that until the last few days the response from the Liberian authorities has been totally inadequate. But a raid last Friday which killed 15 people including seven UN peace-keepers has forced the governments of both countries to take action. Liberia has now closed its 450-mile border with the former French colony.

The government of Ivory Coast has threatened to deploy soldiers to Liberia to root out the militias if the problem is not swiftly resolved.

The Ivory Coast is still deeply divided and Alassane Ouattara, president since 2010, has struggled to unify a post-conflict army composed of former rebels and government soldiers.    

Gbagbo was arrested in May 2010 after a brief civil war and is now awaiting trial by the International Criminal Court.