Days after media outlets reported the arrival of Khalifa Haftar to Cairo, unknown airstrikes bombed Derna pointing fingers to Egypt’s military to be behind these strikes.
The airstrikes killed “15 civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed, while 25 other people were injured in airstrikes by unknown warplanes on Al-Fatayeh district in Derna, eastern Libya,”according to Libya Observer.
Reuters also cited a medical source who ensured the news .”The attacks on Monday continued for around an hour and hit the Dahr al-Hamar district in Derna’s south and Al Fatayeh, a hilly area about 20 km (12 miles) from the city,” a resident told Reuters.
The airstrikes hit civilians’ houses and left several casualties most of whom were women and children, adding that several persons were helped out of the rubble caused by the bombing,as reported by local media and Derna sources.
Videos and pictures of the victims and the chaos among the civilians inside and outside the hospital were circulated among social media pages, showing the horror and intimidation as well as the brutality of the attack, whose victims have been so far only women and children.
Derna has been besieged for over a year by Dignity Operation forces led by Khalifa Haftar, who order earlier his fighters to strengthen the siege and choke the city of its life.
The city is controlled by a coalition of Islamist militants and former rebels from Libya’s 2011 uprising known as the Derna Mujaheddin Shura Council (DMSC).
In late 2014,Islamic State established a foothold in Derna, but was driven out by the DMSC the following year.
“Of a particular notice is the issue of striking Al-Fatyaeh, as all Libyans know that this district battled IS militants and managed – through its local forces and Derna Shura Council fighters – to defeat them,”said Libya Observer.
Political Analysts believe that Khalifa Haftar’s false claims about Derna is only a way to spread his control over the country.
Meanwhile, no official claim for the atrocious bombardment has come out yet, however; the head of the media office of the Derna Shura Council, Mohammed Edriss Al-Taher has stated that Egypt was behind the airstrikes, and so said the member of the council Mohammed Dango.
Dango said on his Facebook page that Egypt is boldly bombarding civilians in Libya while Haftar and Al-Serraj government’s military leaderships are convening meetings in Cairo, slamming Egypt’s al-Sisi, Haftar and Al-Serraj as inhuman.
Egypt’s al-Sisi doesn’t hesitate to announce his support to Libya’s warlord and his militia, known as the Libyan National Army(LNA),to handle the security of the North African country.
In May 2017, the Egyptian Air Force has been carrying out airstrikes in eastern Libya in coordination with Haftar’s forces, following the attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt, which claimed the lives of at least 29 people.
The Islamic State (Daesh) terrorist organization has reportedly claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
Moreover, the Egyptian warplanes bombed Derna city in May 2017, on what it claimed as locations for Derna Shura Council, and it bombed also Houn as well.
At that time, media outlets reported that Houn was the epicenter for the inexplicable air-attacks, as it received air raids on locations like Al-Mujahid Brigade and Tagreft Brigade, which are part of Al-Bunyan Al-Marsoos operation that rooted out IS from Sirte.
