Three years after Hillary Clinton pushed for the U.S. intervention in Libya, the Los Angeles Times has reported that “Islamist militias said they had taken control of Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, on Thursday, declaring it ‘an Islamic emirate.’”
According to the Los Angleles Times:
Mohamed Al Zahawi, head of Ansar al Sharia, congratulated his followers for a “victory and conquest.” “Benghazi is an Islamic emirate under our rule from now on,” Al Zahawi said in a video statement. “God’s sharia will be imposed on everyone from all nationalities in the city.” Sharia refers to Islamic law.
Underscoring Clinton’s failure to plan for a post-Qaddafi Libya is the fact that the group that now controls Benghazi is the same one that attacked the U.S. diplomatic facility. According to The Associated Press:
The armed groups that overran the city belong to a newly-formed umbrella group called Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, made up of multiple armed factions led by Islamic extremist commanders. Among the factions is Ansar al-Shariah, the group accused by the United States of leading a Sept. 11, 2012 attack on a diplomatic facility in the city that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.