Probably the 'oddest' headline of the day but in yet another show of disdain towards US military might, the Islamist militia group known as "Dawn Of Libya" has 'secured' an annex of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. As Reuters reports [5], the United States evacuated its embassy in Tripoli on July 26, driving diplomats across the border into Tunisia; but a YouTube video showed the breach of the vacated diplomatic facility by an armed group, with fighters seen milling around a swimming pool. A rebel takeover of the compound would now deliver another symbolic blow to U.S. policy toward Libya, which Western governments fear is teetering toward becoming a failed state.
Whiskey and a Qatari man appear in US embassy building in #Tripoli [6] taken by Dawn of #Libya [7] Islamist militias pic.twitter.com/O6gQMLKbce [8]
— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) August 31, 2014 [9]
Members of a Libyan rebel militia have entered an annex of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli but have not broken into the main compound where the United States evacuated all of its staff last month, a U.S. official said on Sunday.
It was not immediately known how close the annex, apparently made up of diplomatic residences, is to the embassy itself. Libya has been rocked by the worst factional violence since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
The United States evacuated its embassy in Tripoli on July 26, driving diplomats across the border into Tunisia. A rebel takeover of the compound would now deliver another symbolic blow to U.S. policy toward Libya, which Western governments fear is teetering toward becoming a failed state.
The U.S. government believes the main embassy compound is still intact and has not been taken over, the U.S. official in Washington told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
An Associated Press journalist walked through the compound Sunday after the Dawn of Libya, an umbrella group for Islamist militias, invited onlookers inside.
Windows at the compound had been broken, but it appeared most of the equipment there remained untouched.
[10]
A commander for the Dawn of Libya group said his forces had entered and been in control of the compound since last week.
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US Embassy compound seized... time for a pool party!!!??
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It appears we are gonna need a bigger strategy...
