Another of Delalande's features on air warfare over Libya - and let's hope this might not develop into a pattern: A Fierce Air War Over Libya’s Oil Fields Has Killed Innocent Civilians
************On Sept. 20, 2016, unidentified aircraft struck a park at Nina Agricultural Project in Sokna, part of the Al Jufrah district 125 miles south of Sirte in Libya. The bombing killed at least seven people and injured as many as 20 others.
The two main government factions — the Libyan National Army and militia forces affiliated with the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord — both denied involvement#… and accused each other of orchestrating the strike.
So who bombed Al Jufrah?
BTW, two days ago, a pair of AdA (French AF) did not fly an air strike on Libya. They were also not accompanied by any KC-135FR tanker.
Why do I say it this way? Because official Paris is insistent that its military and intel are NOT involved in Libya, and is strictly curbing any related reporting. In spring this year, a prominent reporter working for Le Monde (which remains one of most influential media outlets in France), reported something else. She was immediately put under all sorts of charges and investigations. When Arnaud Delalande and me prepared a big report on French, US and other (primarily those of two Libyan air forces) aerial ops over Libya for the premier volume of the new (bi-monthly) magazine Airpower, the publisher (former military helicopter pilot) got all sorts of problems with authorities. In essence, the French MOD told him they're going to put him under investigation, and practically ban him from all air bases, all official events, and all sorts of official contacts - 'just for the start'.
The 'France-related' part of that story (especially the part detailing early air strikes flown from N'Djamena IAP and Faya Largeau, with involved Rafales IFR-ing from USAF KC-135s over north-eastern Niger), thus came out 'much softened', and including all sorts of 'could be, would be, should be'...
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