'Libyan Dawn operation aims to correct the course of the revolution'

“The war waged as part of the Libyan Dawn operation aims to correct the course of the February 17 Revolution that toppled the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011,” Anadolu Agency reported Libyan Shield Force saying yesterday.

The militia’s statement came in response to remarks by MP Fathi Bashagha, from Misrata Military Council, who criticised the Libyan Dawn operation and described the current events as a “proxy war between foreign countries in Libya”.

The statement said: “The Libyan Dawn operation is carried out by the men who stood behind the February 17 Revolution and aims to eliminate the counter-revolution led by the late Gaddafi’s men and their allies.”

“We do not follow any foreign agendas and we distance ourselves from political conflicts. The current events are a war between the rebels and the enemies of the February 17 Revolution, and the rebels are determined to carry out their revolution until their victory.”

On Monday, during an interview on Misrata TV, Bashagha said: “The government of Omar Al-Hassi, emanating from Libya’s former, Islamist-dominated parliament, is illegal and the Libyan Dawn operation ended when the battle at the airport ended and the statements released on behalf of them represent the people who issue them.”

“We lost the international community and did not find a country to recognise Al-Hassi’s government because it was illegal and came before the court’s judgment which ruled that the new parliamentary elections were invalid,” she explained.