[Libya Herald] Ansar Al-Sharia, one of the principle targets of General Khalifa Hafter's Dignity Operation, has said his forces are "waging war against the religious Mohammedan youth".
The Islamist group, based mainly in Benghazi and Derna, has said they have been the targets of a campaign of hate waged by those who are against Islam and the application of Sharia. They claimed that while they were being accused of terrorism, their assailants were in fact the terrorists.
Ansar Al-Sharia said they were eager to safeguard Mohammedan blood and had not, as has been said by their enemies, hindered the establishment of security in Libya. They said their image had been tarnished by "evil television channels" which had sowed "seeds of discord" and were led by "ex-regime sympathisers and secularists supported by their masters in the west".
The Islamist group concluded their statement saying that they remained steadfast in their demands for security and stability under Islamic Sharia, condemned Khalifa Hifter and his forces and asked the "honourable and decent tribes" to forbid their sons from joining him. |