Al-Obeid accuses Khalifa Haftar of recruiting mercenaries to fight alongside his self-styled army

Major General Suleiman Mahmoud, the former National Transitional Council military chief, has accused renegade General KhalifaHaftar of forming an army of militias and hiring mercenaries. Speaking to BBC Arabic, Al-Obeidi said Haftar has also recruited about 500 fighters from his Al-Furjan tribe. “When Haftar was promoted to Marshal, about 7000 mercenaries from the Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement were fighting with him”, he said. Reacting to the Return to Benghazi Military Operation launched by Benghazi Defense Brigades, Al-Obeidi identified members of BDB as Benghazi’s revolutionary fighters who were forcibly driven out of the city. “I am leftist, I can’t accuse them of Islamic extremism andHaftar can’t defeat them alone”, he remarked, referring to last year intervention of two Arab countries “Egypt and UAE” to help Dignity Operation repel the advance of BDB forces. This time, Al-Obeidi called the UN to impose a no-fly zone to facilitate the march of Benghazi Defense Brigades eastward. “We are still under the 7th Chapter, those fighters are under the Government of National Accord”, he noted.