— Domani Spero
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Updated on 8/31/14 at 2302 PST: AP and Reuters have an update on this here including additional photos of the rooms in the annex that appear to be in the condition they were left behind; the pantry appears to still have food items, the kitchen and gym did not look looted and the compound did not show signs of the reported “storming.”
Updated on 9/1/14 at 9:26pm PST: ABC News has additional photos of the annex here. Plus this: “Another commander said the group had asked cleaners to come spruce up the grounds and that U.S. staff were welcome to reside in the embassy while it was under Dawn of Libya control.”
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A commander of the Dawn of Libya militia, an Islamist-allied group in control of Tripoli has told an AP reporter that it has “secured” a U.S. Embassy residential compound in the capital city. The AP report says that a walk-through in the compound shows some broken windows, but that “it appeared most of the equipment there remained untouched. The journalist saw treadmills, food, televisions and computers still inside.”
On July 26, the State Department suspended all embassy operations in Libya and evacuated all its staff overland to Tunisia (see State Dept Suspends All Embassy Operations in Libya, Relocates Staff Under Armed Escorts). The U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones is currently based at the U.S. Embassy in Malta.
Rumor Control in response to calls: No I’m not in #Misrata or #Tobruk or anywhere in #Libya. Here in #Malta. Still. pic.twitter.com/jtwRdIXeFc
— Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) August 25, 2014
Meanwhile, at the pool party at Embassy Tripoli’s compound residential annex:
Whiskey and a Qatari man appear in US embassy building in #Tripoli taken by Dawn of #Libya Islamist militias pic.twitter.com/O6gQMLKbce — Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) August 31, 2014
Islamists in the US embassy in #Tripoli #Libya pic.twitter.com/5sKDTaJZuI
— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) August 31, 2014
#Libya Dawn fighters make a splash at US embassy, Tripoli: they’ve controlled it for a week: http://t.co/fZY7BX5W2K pic.twitter.com/Ikm8PVjZSR — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) August 31, 2014
And because Ambassador Jones is now reachable via Twitter, she was asked about it:
@AmCo15 The YouTube appears to be a residential annex of the US mission but cannot say definitively since not there.
— Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) August 31, 2014
@AmCo15 To my knowledge & per recent photos the US Embassy Tripoli chancery & compound is now being safeguarded and has not been ransacked. — Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) August 31, 2014
We don’t know what that means. Who told these guys to “safeguard” a U.S. diplomatic property? Did they bring their own whiskey to the pool party?
The good news is — the Dawn of Libya militia apparently wrestled the compound from a rivaled militia and neither group set the compound on fire. The bad news is “securing” the compound was apparently done to avenge U.S. airstrikes. If true, just “securing” the compound, a sip of whiskey and having a dip in the pool may not be enough.
Dawn of #Libya forces take US embassy in #Tripoli to avenge US airstrikes in #Iraq & #Libya according to activists. http://t.co/Ld8jGYHr42
— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) August 31, 2014
The other good news , of course, if the U.S. needs to, DOD knows where exactly to send its Predator drones and Navy F-18 fighter jets.
Not that we want the Pentagon to do that for many reasons. Perhaps the uninvited guests can be persuaded to cut the grass, too, while they’re there?
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Related articles
- Militia says it “secured” U.S. compound in Tripoli (cbsnews.com)
- State Dept Suspends All Embassy Operations in Libya, Relocates Staff Under Armed Escorts (diplopundit.net)
- U.S. shuts down embassy in Libya, issues travel warning (thestar.com)
- Islamist Militia Group Says It Has ‘Secured’ a US Embassy Compound in Libya’s Capital (abcnews.go.com)
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