On Sunday morning the militant Islamic group "Dawn of Libya" said that they had secured a U.S. Embassy residential compound in the capital city of Tripoli, the Associated Press reports. The incident occurred more than a month after fighting broke out in the nation's capital, prompting diplomats and residents alike to flee.
A commander for the Dawn of Libya group, Moussa Abu-Zaqia, spoke to the AP and said that the group had been in control of the compound since last week. An AP journalist who walked through the compound on Sunday said that while some windows were broken, it appears that the equipment — treadmills, food, televisions and computers — was untouched.
It seems like they might have been too distracted with the compound's pool to worry about treadmills.
A video emerged on Sunday of a large group of men swimming and jumping into a pool at what they claim is the embassy.
View this video on YouTube
BuzzFeed has not been able to independently confirm the video.
On Twitter, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya said she thought the video was taken in a "residential annex of the US mission."
@AmCo15 The YouTube appears to be a residential annex of the US mission but cannot say definitively since not there.
She also said she thought that the compound was being safeguarded, and not ransacked.
@AmCo15 To my knowledge & per recent photos the US Embassy Tripoli chancery & compound is now being safeguarded and has not been ransacked.
Others on Twitter are describing the rowdy bunch as frat boys.
So many bellyflops.MT @bungdan: Islamist militia that's seized Tripoli US embassy basically frat boys. http://t.co/YSMjxLN7aa …
Islamist militia that's seized the abandoned US embassy compound in Tripoli basically frat boys on 3-day bender. http://t.co/GhkrSKKi42 …
In clashes last month, dozens were killed in Tripoli. U.S. diplomats were evacuated to Tunisia with a military escort on July 26, and the State Department said that all embassy operations would stop until the safety and security situation improved.
The Associated Press reports that the Dawn of Libya has asked for foreign diplomats to return to Tripoli since the fighting has dwindled.