Dignity Operation airstrikes rained on Benghazi Saturday in a fresh military operation that aims to control the war-torn city.
Rogue General Khaifa Haftar announced a new military operation called Al-Hataf, an Arabic word means death, after a year from launching Dignity Operation in which he failed to control Benghazi.
Haftar’s Air Force Chief Saqir Al-Jaroushi said Al-Hataf Operation will be moved to the western cities of Misrata, Tripoli, Zuwara and Sabratha after achieving the dream of controlling Benghazi.
The fresh operation started with intensified airstrikes on different parts of the city. There were violent clashes between the fighters of Shura Council and Haftar's forces in Abu Atani, Ganfouda, Qawarsha and Al-Hawari districts where Haftar used airstrikes, tanks and artillery.
Sources close to the Shura Council said that the Council's fighters foiled a ground attack on the Abu Atani, accusing Haftar’s Air Force of targeting civilian areas in Ganfouda, Teka, Sidi Faraj and Abu Atani.
The sources added that four gunmen of Haftar Brigades were killed and others were injured in clashes around Si Farj area. One of the Council’s fighters was also killed in the clashes, the sources confirmed.
On the other hand, random rockets fell on Al Sabkha apartment houses killing a child and four other people.
Meanwhile, The UNSMIL has strongly condemned the new Haftar's military escalation in Benghazi. The UN mission said the airstrikes are a clear attempt to undermine and derail the on-going efforts to end the conflict at a time when the negotiations have entered a final and most critical stage.
The Speaker of GNC Nuri Abu Sahmain has also deplored the new military escalation of Haftar's forces, calling the GNC Dialogue Team, currently in Skhirat, to return home immediately, saying that the dialogue cannot succeed under the ongoing Haftars's violence in Benghazi