USS
Bataan (AFP Photo/Justin Webster)
SitiWanMahani - Amerika
Syarikat sedang menghantar 1,000 Marin di sebuah kapal serangan amfibia ke pantai
Libya sebagai "berjaga-jaga" Langkah perlu kedutaan Ame-rika Syarikat
memerlukan pemindahan, kata seorang pegawai Amerika Syarikat. Masalah
keselamatan juga mengetuai Amerika Syarikat untuk mencadangkan Amerika di Libya
"berlepas serta-merta."
Menambah
kepada ketegangan, lelaki bersenjata menyerang rumah Tripoli bagi Perdana Menteri
baru Libya, Ahmed Maiteeq, pada Selasa. Ahli perniagaan Maiteeq , 42, dan keluarganya
melarikan diri bahaya, menurut AFP.
Pembantu
kepada Maiteeq berkata "terdapat satu serangan roket dan senjata kecil di
rumah Perdana Menteri" di Tripoli pada 3:00 pagi (0100 GMT). Pengawal
Maiteeq itu melepaskan tembakan ke atas penyerang, melukai dan menangkap 2
daripada mereka, tambah pegawai itu.
Dalam
reaksi kepada persengketaan memuncak di Libya, USS Bataan, dipenuhi dengan
beberapa helikopter di samping Marin, adalah untuk menjadi di kawasan pesisiran
pantai di negara ini "dalam masa beberapa hari," kata seorang pegawai
pertahanan tanpa nama Amerika Syarikat, menurut AFP.
Langkah
pencegahan adalah reaksi kepada pertempuran militia semakin ganas, yang boleh
mengancam keselamatan kedutaan Amerika, kata pegawai itu.
Berdasarkan
peningkatan kebimbangan keselamatan, Jabatan Negara Amerika Syarikat disyorkan
Selasa bahawa Amerika di Libya "berlepas serta-merta."
"Sebab-sebab
keselamatan, Jabatan Negara telah kakitangan terhad di Kedutaan Tripoli dan
hanya dapat menawarkan perkhidmatan kecemasan yang sangat terhad untuk rakyat
Amerika Syarikat di Libya," kata amaran perjalanan.
Amerika
Syarikat juga ada mempunyai 250 Marin, 7 pesawat tempur Osprey, dan 3 pesawat
mengisi minyak di Sigonella, Itali, AFP melaporkan.
Jabatan
Negara berkata minggu lepas bahawa kedutaannya di Tripoli telah beroperasi
seperti biasa walaupun perbalahan melalui dilancarkan oleh umum pembangkang,
Khalifah Haftar, terhadap parlimen Libya dan puak Islam.
Angkatan
Khas Tentera Libya Komander Wanis Bukhamada (depanDaritenggah) menyampaikan
satu kenyataan di Benghazi 19 Mei 2014. Bukhamada telah bersekutu dengan umum
murtad Khalifah Haftar dalam kempen menentang militan Islam, menonjolkan
kegagalan kerajaan pusat di Tripoli untuk menegaskan kekuasaannya (Libyan Army
Special Forces Commander Wanis Bukhamada (front C) delivers a statement in
Benghazi May 19, 2014. Bukhamada has allied with renegade general Khalifah
Haftar in his campaign against militant Islamists, highlighting the failure of
central government in Tripoli to assert its authority (Reuters/Esam Al-Fetori)
Sementara
itu, Mohamed Zahawi, ketua Ansar Al-Syariah kumpulan militan Libya di Beng-hazi,
memberi amaran terhadap mana-mana campur tangan Amerika Syarikat dalam
kekacauan berterusan negara.
Zahawi
menuduh kerajaan Amerika Syarikat menyokong Ketua Haftar, suatu "Gaddafi
baru," dan "ejen perisikan Amerika."
"Kami
mengingatkan Amerika, jika mereka campur tangan, kekalahan mereka di
Afgha-nistan, Iraq dan Somalia, kerana mereka akan menghadapi di Libya tentang
yang lebih buruk," katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini. "Ia adalah
Amerika yang menggesa Haftar untuk menjadikan negara ke arah perang dan pertumpahan
darah."
Jabatan
Negara telah menafikan apa-apa peranan dalam perbalahan melalui baru-baru ini
Haftar meskipun tuduhan bahawa Amerika Syarikat adalah menggalakkan pegawai
tentera kanan. Haftar dahulunya dihabiskan dekad di Amerika Syarikat sebelum pulang
ke Libya pada tahun 2011 untuk menyertai pemberontak berjuang rejim kemudian
Presiden Muammar Gaddafi.
Berikutan
penyingkiran Gaddafi pada tahun 2011, militia di Libya yang tidak stabil
berkembang dalam bilangan, kedua-dua mengeksploitasi dan mengisi jurang
keselamatan sementara negara bergelut dengan lemah tentera dan pasukan polis.
Parlimen
Libya masih berpecah oleh persaingan, dengan pembaharuan demokratik kecil yang
dibuat sejak 2011. Negara ini kini di bawah pemerintahan Perdana Menteri yang ke-3
sejak Mac, dan perlembagaan baru masih tidak bersedia.
Maiteeq,
yang disokong oleh Islam di Parlimen, telah dipilih sebagai perdana menteri
baru bulan ini di undi huru-hara oleh Kongres Agung Kebangsaan. Beliau
menggantikan Abdullah Al-Thani, yang meletak jawatan pada April selepas
mendakwa beliau dan keluarga beliau adalah sasaran serangan.
Maiteeq
telah menjemput lawan untuk menyertai "dialog negara yang komprehensif
untuk melengkapkan institusi negeri," walaupun dia juga telah berkata
beliau komited untuk "menekan peperangan menentang pengganas dan mereka yang
mengancam keselamatan negara," mengangguk kepada militan timur, beberapa
daripada mereka membuat benteng terminal minyak di rantau ini.
US
sends assault ship with 1,000 Marines near Libya, asks Americans to 'depart
immediately' . . .
The
US is sending 1,000 Marines in an amphibious assault ship to Libya's coast as a
“precautionary” move should the US embassy require evacuation, a US official
said. Security concerns also led the US to suggest Americans in Libya
"depart immediately."
Adding
to tensions, gunmen attacked the Tripoli home of Libya’s new prime minister,
Ahmed Maiteeq, on Tuesday. Businessman Maiteeq, 42, and his family escaped
harm, according to AFP.
An
aide to Maiteeq said "there was an attack with rockets and small arms on
the prime minister's house" in Tripoli at 3:00 a.m. (0100 GMT). Maiteeq’s
guards opened fire on the attackers, wounding and arresting two of them, the
official added.
In
reaction to the heightened strife in Libya, the USS Bataan, stocked with
several helicopters in addition to the Marines, is to be in the nation’s
coastal area “in a matter of days,” an anonymous US defense official said,
according to AFP.
The
preemptive move is a reaction to increasingly violent militia battles, which
could threaten the American embassy’s security, the official said.
Based
on escalating security concerns, the US State Department recommended Tuesday
that Americans in Libya "depart immediately."
"Due
to security concerns, the Department of State has limited staffing at Embassy
Tripoli and is only able to offer very limited emergency services to US
citizens in Libya," the travel warning said.
The
US also has 250 available Marines, seven Osprey combat aircraft, and three
refueling aircraft in Sigonella, Italy, AFP reported.
The
State Department said last week that its embassy in Tripoli was operating as
usual despite offensives launched by a dissident general, Khalifa Haftar,
against the Libyan parliament and Islamist factions.
Meanwhile,
Mohamed Zahawi, the head of Libya’s Ansar Al-Sharia militant group in Benghazi,
warned against any US interference in the nation’s ongoing tumult.
Zahawi
accused the US government of backing General Haftar, a "new Gaddafi,"
and an "agent of American intelligence.”
“We
remind America, if they intervene, of their defeats in Afghanistan, Iraq and
Somalia, because they would face in Libya something much worse," he said
in a statement on Tuesday. "It was America who urged Haftar to turn the
country towards war and bloodshed."
The
State Department has denied any role in Haftar’s recent offensives despite accusations
that the US is encouraging the senior military official. Haftar previously
spent decades in the US before returning to Libya in 2011 to join rebels
fighting the regime of then-president Muammar Gaddafi.
Following
the ouster of Gaddafi in 2011, militias in a destabilized Libya expanded in
numbers, both exploiting and filling in the security gap while the nation
struggled with weak military and police forces.
Libya's
parliament remains split by rivalries, with little democratic reforms made since
2011. The country is now under the rule of its third prime minister since
March, and a new constitution is still not ready.
Maiteeq,
who is backed by Islamists in parliament, was chosen as the new premier this
month in a chaotic vote by the General National Congress. He replaced Abdullah
Al-Thani, who resigned in April after claiming he and his family were the
target of attacks.
Maiteeq
has invited opponents to join a "comprehensive national dialogue to
complete state institutions,” though he has also said he is committed to
"pressing the battle against terrorists and those who threaten the
security of the country," a nod to eastern militants, some of whom are
blockading oil terminals in the region.
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