By Maha Sulaiman.
Benghazi, 29 May 2016:
Armed forces commander-in-chief Khalifa Hafter held a council of war with his eastern commanders, though the . . .[restrict]meeting was not attended by Chief of Staff Abdul Razak Al-Nazhuri.
The main subjects were the army’s build-up for an advance towards Sirte and security in Benghazi once militants have finally been defeated. It is understood that discussion focused on the logistics of the army concentration to the south of Ajdabiya and the plans for the westward advance.
Another key concern has been that once the army had regained complete control, Benghazi would be subjected to classic terrorist attacks designed to undermine security and sow alarm.
In this connection, there is clearly no mood to reopen Benina Airport to civilian traffic, even though work to repair the terminals and aprons is said to be nearing completion.
One senior commander at today’s war council held in the military airbase on the other side of Benina told this newspaper that civilian flights were not about to resume any time soon. “It would be a disaster if an airliner was hit by a random missile” he said, adding that reports that the airport would shortly reopen were plain wrong. [/restrict]
