morning 18 April coalition factions, members of the Operational Headquarters "Volcano of Wrath" of the Government of National Accord, launched an operation to capture Tarhuna, cities southeast of Tripoli and the main stronghold of the LNA forces, from where offensive operations on Karabulli are coordinated / Castelverde and Msallatu, and also on Ain Zara.
PNS supporters believe, what if tarhuna falls, then the LNA forces south of Tripoli will be under the threat of encirclement. As Kirill Semenov suggests, all logistics in the LNA relies on Tarhuna in the south of Tripoli.
As PNS supporters say, attack began with 7 directions, but in fact there are only two: western and eastern. The offensive was preceded by a fire strike in the center of Tarhuna - according to the official representative of the GNA Armed Forces, Colonel Muhammad Kanono, two sorties were carried out and destroyed 5 goals right in the city center.
By evening, the PNS reported on the liquidation of "over 120 terrorists ", what do they call haftarovites, captured from above 150 human (video #2 and #3) with tachankami, including the commander 120 LNA brigades. Even a LNA from Thailand was captured.
Reinforcements continue to be transferred to the front - PNS supporters are optimistic, that in two days Tarhuna will fall.
Captured trophies in the form of old ammunition, caught in Libya in the days of Gaddafi from Eastern Europe. Tank captured, which the, according to the PNS forces, belongs 9 infantry brigade LNA, although the armored vehicles in the composition 9 pd never happened. Total NTC claims capture 4 tanks near At-Tawish.
According to LNA, attack was repelled, and the losses of the PNS are as follows:
— 12 killed, 14 prisoners near Karabulli;
— 6 killed, 12 wounded in Souq al-Jum'a;
— 18 killed, 23 wounded and 25 prisoners at Msallata.
The LNA claims, that the “captured militants of Haftar” are civilians from Castelverde.
East
PNS forces managed to advance south of Castelverde and first knock out Ash-Shreidat, which the LNA took back in mid-January, then take Ar-Rabadah, Al-Qawiya, Al-Khawalik, clear the pocket to the east of it and reach the Enough camp. There is no video confirmation of the capture of "Enough".
closer to 22 hours, confirmation of the capture of the settlement of Suq al-Jum'a appeared ("Friday Market") PNS forces south of Castelverde [not to be confused with the other Souq al-Jumya southwest of Tarhuna and in Tripoli]. In this video, militants rob the headquarters of the LNA, and here they are posing against the backdrop of the courthouse.
Al-Ahrar channel published a video of a trip to the territories, cleared during the fighting. On 02.10 in the video there is a building of the Tarhuna employment department, where in wartime, judging by the graffiti on the wall, located the police department of the checkpoint and patrols.
From the camp "Enough" to Tarhuna is only 20 km. Tarhuna is surrounded by mountains from the north, through which there are narrow passages in the gorges: one of them south of "Hwatim", and second, main, - near the village of Souk al-Khamis ("Thursday Market"). If the PNS forces manage to take possession of it, the, in fact, their hands will get "the gates to Tarhuna". The MilitaryMaps Telegram channel compared the Al-Ahrar video with the map and found a gas station, which is located just at the entrance to the gorge in the village of Souq al-Khamis.
AT 20.00 of force 9 infantry division went on the offensive. Benghazi-based TV channel 218 claims, that the direction developed from two directions - from Az-Zatarna and Targalat - and was reflected in the middle of the day. As confirmation, the LNA published photographs of equipment burned near Az-Zatar.
west
Around the middle of the day, the PNS forces moved from the western direction. At-Tavisha was taken northwest of Tarhuna. Nevertheless, LNA supporters claim, that forces 84, 107 and 606 LNA battalions defended At-Tavisha.
At the same time, the forces of the "Volcano of Wrath" advanced from the side of Gharyan and reached Suk al-Jum'a ("Friday Market")/Masabhi west of Tarhuna. The MilitaryMaps Telegram channel compared the video with the map and determined, that we are talking about the village of Al-Weif, southwest of Souq al-Jum'a. The video features a Turkish Kirpi with the inscription "Al-Qurna".
Author: fishermen
