Libya News and Interests

[anatta]

Al-Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar pictured with Al-Saadi al-Nawfali in Ajdabiya.

l-Qaeda’s relationship with Libya dates back to 1990s, after the Libyan group joined its lines before most of the group’s fighters returned to Libya once again. Although a number of its leaders continued to fight within al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, such as Abu Yahya al-Libi, a deputy of Osama bin Laden, in the past decade, however, the group has claimed that they have carried out intellectual reviews inside Qaddafi prisons to give up its loyalty to al-Qaeda.

The group emerged again after the revolution in February 2011 within the lines of the rebels, to spread quickly after the overthrow of Qaddafi’s regime through their most prominent leaders and held important positions and functions in the state, like their commander Abdul Hakim Belhadj. But it did not give up its weapons, which were working under several names such as Ansar al-Sharia and Shura Councils in Benghazi, Derna and Sirte, and finally the defense group of Benghazi.
Iyad Ag Ghaly announced in early March that his branch of al-Qaeda in Mali would support the “Jihad defense group of Benghazi” and praised the role played by Al-Sadiq Al-Ghariani by inciting the members of the group to fight.


Shura Council of the rebels of Ajdabia” on March 25, 2015, showing behind them the banner of al-Qaeda.

his was not the first support al-Qaeda has shown for militant groups in Libya. In October 2016, the leader of al-Qaeda in Morocco, Abdul Malik Droudkal (also known as Abu Musab Abdel Wadud) called for supporting the Benghazi Shura Council.

Mubarak Yazid, one of the most prominent leaders of al-Qaeda in Algeria (also known as Abu Ubaida Yusuf al-Annabi) demanded during the siege of the army forces of the region of Qanfouda, the stronghold of terrorism in Benghazi “to lift the siege of what they called Mujahdi Benghazi.”

Although the Benghazi Defense Group, formed in June 2016 from the remnants of past terrorist groups, have eventually escaped from Benghazi, they have been linked to the militant groups and al-Qaeda in Libya. Here are some of their leaders and fighters who were designated as terrorists both regionally and internationally:


Al-Qaeda member Al-Saadi Abdullah Ibrahim Bukhazem with the Circassian in the founding of the terrorist defense group of Benghaz

Al-Saadi Abdullah Ibrahim Bukhazem (aka “Al-Saadi al-Nawfali”) is a founder and leader of the Benghazi Defense Brigades in Libya -- a terrorist militia designated by the four countries calling for combating terrorism in June 2017.

Al-Nawfali fought with al-Qaeda militants in Iraq before returning to Libya to serve as a commander in Ansar al-Sharia. Al-Nawfali was involved in a March 2017 attack by terrorist militants on Libyan oil facilities west of Benghazi. Al-Nawfali is an associate of al-Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar. In 2015, Mokhtar Belmokhtar was targeted in a US airstrike near Benghazi at a gathering of Ansar al-Sharia and other militant leaders at a farm belonging to Al-Saadi al-Nawfali, according to regional media reporting.
Ahmed Abd al-Jaleel al-Hasnawi:

Ahmed Abd al-Jaleel al-Hasnawi is a militia leader in southern Libya. Hasnawi provided logistical support to terrorist organizations in the Sahel region, including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Ansar al-Dine in Mali, according to the UN. In February 2017, Ahmed al-Hasnawi met with Benghazi Defense Brigades leaders, including Ismail Mohammed al-Sallabi, to coordinate operations, according to the UN and reporting from Boshra News Agency

Mohammed Bakir:


Mohammed Bakir accompanied by a number of financial mercenaries belonging to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb during the attempted attack on Benghazi in July 2016.

he terrorist Mohammed Bakir, a leader of the Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council, and the Supporters of al-Sharia group, he is known as the “Bee”. He has another name, “the cut off”, because he lost his left arm in a battle in the Benina region late 2014. Bakir transferred and distributed an Al-Qaeda group from Mali and other areas to fight in Libya against the army, before he became known as the leading commander of the Benghazi defense group moving between Jafra, Tripoli and Misrata.

Mohammed al-Dursi:

Mohammed al-Dursi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Jordanian authorities since 2007 for terrorist acts, was released and returned to Libya in exchange for the release of the Jordanian ambassador kidnapped by terrorist groups in Libya, “Fawaz Al-Atian” in April 2014.

Al-Dursi is one of the founders of the Benghazi Shura Council, he appeared as a leader in an interview with Al-Mesri newspaper published by Al-Qaeda in Yemen in November 2016. He called on supporters in Algeria, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Burma, Chechnya, Somalia, Mali and Central Africa to join his forces in Benghazi.

Al-Qaeda’s media arm in Libya:

Al-Tanasoh institution for culture, information and propagation and al-Nabaa channel is considered as one of the most important channels of the militias in Libya; which often did not hide their relation with the militias, in September 2015, the channel hosted “Abdel-Haii Yousef, one of the world’s most prominent leaders of the militias, he was close to Osama bin Laden. Al-Nabaa channel as well declared its early belonging to Al-Qaeda as its founder and owner is “Abdul Hakim Belhadj”.


solated mufti and loyal to Bin Laden Abdul-Yusuf appearing on al-Qaeda media.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/feat...-in-Libya.html

[anatta]

Al-Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar pictured with Al-Saadi al-Nawfali in Ajdabiya.

l-Qaeda’s relationship with Libya dates back to 1990s, after the Libyan group joined its lines before most of the group’s fighters returned to Libya once again. Although a number of its leaders continued to fight within al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, such as Abu Yahya al-Libi, a deputy of Osama bin Laden, in the past decade, however, the group has claimed that they have carried out intellectual reviews inside Qaddafi prisons to give up its loyalty to al-Qaeda.

The group emerged again after the revolution in February 2011 within the lines of the rebels, to spread quickly after the overthrow of Qaddafi’s regime through their most prominent leaders and held important positions and functions in the state, like their commander Abdul Hakim Belhadj. But it did not give up its weapons, which were working under several names such as Ansar al-Sharia and Shura Councils in Benghazi, Derna and Sirte, and finally the defense group of Benghazi.
Iyad Ag Ghaly announced in early March that his branch of al-Qaeda in Mali would support the “Jihad defense group of Benghazi” and praised the role played by Al-Sadiq Al-Ghariani by inciting the members of the group to fight.


Shura Council of the rebels of Ajdabia” on March 25, 2015, showing behind them the banner of al-Qaeda.

his was not the first support al-Qaeda has shown for militant groups in Libya. In October 2016, the leader of al-Qaeda in Morocco, Abdul Malik Droudkal (also known as Abu Musab Abdel Wadud) called for supporting the Benghazi Shura Council.

Mubarak Yazid, one of the most prominent leaders of al-Qaeda in Algeria (also known as Abu Ubaida Yusuf al-Annabi) demanded during the siege of the army forces of the region of Qanfouda, the stronghold of terrorism in Benghazi “to lift the siege of what they called Mujahdi Benghazi.”

Although the Benghazi Defense Group, formed in June 2016 from the remnants of past terrorist groups, have eventually escaped from Benghazi, they have been linked to the militant groups and al-Qaeda in Libya. Here are some of their leaders and fighters who were designated as terrorists both regionally and internationally:


Al-Qaeda member Al-Saadi Abdullah Ibrahim Bukhazem with the Circassian in the founding of the terrorist defense group of Benghaz

Al-Saadi Abdullah Ibrahim Bukhazem (aka “Al-Saadi al-Nawfali”) is a founder and leader of the Benghazi Defense Brigades in Libya -- a terrorist militia designated by the four countries calling for combating terrorism in June 2017.

Al-Nawfali fought with al-Qaeda militants in Iraq before returning to Libya to serve as a commander in Ansar al-Sharia. Al-Nawfali was involved in a March 2017 attack by terrorist militants on Libyan oil facilities west of Benghazi. Al-Nawfali is an associate of al-Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar. In 2015, Mokhtar Belmokhtar was targeted in a US airstrike near Benghazi at a gathering of Ansar al-Sharia and other militant leaders at a farm belonging to Al-Saadi al-Nawfali, according to regional media reporting.
Ahmed Abd al-Jaleel al-Hasnawi:

Ahmed Abd al-Jaleel al-Hasnawi is a militia leader in southern Libya. Hasnawi provided logistical support to terrorist organizations in the Sahel region, including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Ansar al-Dine in Mali, according to the UN. In February 2017, Ahmed al-Hasnawi met with Benghazi Defense Brigades leaders, including Ismail Mohammed al-Sallabi, to coordinate operations, according to the UN and reporting from Boshra News Agency

Mohammed Bakir:


Mohammed Bakir accompanied by a number of financial mercenaries belonging to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb during the attempted attack on Benghazi in July 2016.

he terrorist Mohammed Bakir, a leader of the Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council, and the Supporters of al-Sharia group, he is known as the “Bee”. He has another name, “the cut off”, because he lost his left arm in a battle in the Benina region late 2014. Bakir transferred and distributed an Al-Qaeda group from Mali and other areas to fight in Libya against the army, before he became known as the leading commander of the Benghazi defense group moving between Jafra, Tripoli and Misrata.

Mohammed al-Dursi:

Mohammed al-Dursi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Jordanian authorities since 2007 for terrorist acts, was released and returned to Libya in exchange for the release of the Jordanian ambassador kidnapped by terrorist groups in Libya, “Fawaz Al-Atian” in April 2014.

Al-Dursi is one of the founders of the Benghazi Shura Council, he appeared as a leader in an interview with Al-Mesri newspaper published by Al-Qaeda in Yemen in November 2016. He called on supporters in Algeria, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Burma, Chechnya, Somalia, Mali and Central Africa to join his forces in Benghazi.

Al-Qaeda’s media arm in Libya:

Al-Tanasoh institution for culture, information and propagation and al-Nabaa channel is considered as one of the most important channels of the militias in Libya; which often did not hide their relation with the militias, in September 2015, the channel hosted “Abdel-Haii Yousef, one of the world’s most prominent leaders of the militias, he was close to Osama bin Laden. Al-Nabaa channel as well declared its early belonging to Al-Qaeda as its founder and owner is “Abdul Hakim Belhadj”.


solated mufti and loyal to Bin Laden Abdul-Yusuf appearing on al-Qaeda media.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/feat...-in-Libya.html

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s the Islamic State terror network loses territory across Iraq and Syria, analysts and experts assert that the terrorist outfit is increasingly capitalizing on the chaos of Libya, positioning the country as its point of resurgence.

Sirte 2017

The black-clad jihadist outfit is believed to be regrouping and recruiting in the rural regions south of the main east-to-west coastal highway and in the far-west town of Sabratha, which is poised just 60 miles from the Tunisian border, since being run out of its Libyan “caliphate” capital of Sirte late last year.

“The majority of their fighting force comes from Tunisia, so Sabratha is also a growing center,” prominent terrorism analyst Robert Young Pelton told Fox News. “ISIS in Libya can regenerate quickly.”

Robert Young Pelton in the city of Sirte in May 2017 as soldiers belonging to the "Bunyan Marsous" - Misrata militias who fought in Sirte to run ISIS out of its Libyan stronghold.

Col. Ahmed Almesmari, spokesperson for the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), told Fox News that ISIS first appeared in Libya at the end of 2013, even before its dominance in Iraq, borne out of “Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated militias” and Al Qaeda dissidents in Libya’s eastern port city of Derna near the Egyptian border.

But over time, ISIS has seemingly moved its operatives from the eastern Egyptian border and now appears to be clustering closer to the western Tunisian side. According to Almesmari, the terror faction has recently established camps around 25 miles east of the town of Bani Waleed, as well as south of Sirte.

Sirte
Mohamed Ghasri, spokesperson and senior commander of the Mistrata-based al-Bunyam al-Marsous militia, which waged bloody battles with ISIS fighters in Sirte, stated last week that they too have observed movements by the group south of Sirte, where they are “trying to regroup and break through our forces’ lines in the south.”

"Bunyan Marsous" Misrata militias who fought ISIS in Sirte in May 2017 concerned the terrorist outfit is resurging. (Robert Young Pelton)

Joseph Fallon, Islamic Extremism expert and U.K. Defense Forum research associate, concurred that “ISIS has retreated south of Sirte to regroup” and that its global threat cannot be underestimated.

“Here, it can jeopardize western interests through guerrilla warfare sabotaging Libya’s oil facilities and ports and through calculated use of terror to unleash a mass migration of people to destabilize neighboring countries and Europe,” he said.

ISIS still maintains strong presence in Libya, capitalizing on the chaos that has engulfed the country since 2011.

A prominent portion of Libya’s oil fields and reserves are located south of Sirte, along with major refineries. The country is home to Africa’s largest reserves, and its optimum quality of light crude is highly sought. Despite its ongoing political crisis, production in Libya last week climbed to around 885,000 barrels per day – triple its production this time a year ago – making the region ever more important to the global oil equation, and ISIS's presence there ever more troubling.

The terrorist army has, in Iraq and Syria, used oil fields as a means to fund its barbaric reign.

While more fighters are now expected to flow into Libya as the pressure on Iraq and Syria mounts, exactly how big the ISIS ranks in Libya are at present, remains largely contested.

ISIS DEFEATED, BUT NOT DESTROYED, AS TERROR GROUP STILL HOLDS STRATEGIC SWATHS OF IRAQ

In March, Marine Corps. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of the U.S military’s Africa Command, told Pentagon reporters that their fighter numbers had fallen below 200 from an estimated five to six thousand a year earlier. But a spokesperson for Africa Command told Fox News this week that their strength has been assessed to be around 500.

In sharp contrast, LNA’s Almesmari said ISIS numbers are far larger – around “five to seven thousand people of different nationalities.”

INSIDE AFGHANISTAN'S WAR HOSPITALS: CHILDREN LEFT FOR DEAD AMID ESCALATING VIOLENCE

The terrorist group, Pelton indicated, is well positioned to survive territorial losses such as Mosul, Raqqa and Sirte as its savvy propaganda promotion ensures ongoing recruitment.

“ISIS is a transnational franchise that comes with funding, trainers and PR packages,” Pelton noted. “They seek out groups who will re-brand themselves and project the image of an international organization by standardizing logos, messaging and even design criteria for tweets and videos.”

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Derna suffers as military forces tighten siege
http://news.trust.org/item/20170807153259-gthcz/
Everything is stopped, the supplies are depleted"

* Blockade tightened after fighter jet shot down

* Residents say their movements are restricted

* Supplies of medicine and food depleted


Members of the Libyan pro-government forces gesture as they stand on a tank in Derna, Libya 2015

BENGHAZI, Libya/TUNIS Aug 7 (Reuters) - Residents of Derna in east Libya say they are facing critical shortages after Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) tightened its longstanding siege around the city last week.

Haftar's eastern-based LNA, one of a number of factions that have vied for power in Libya since a 2011 uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade rule, is waging a military campaign against a coalition of Islamist militants and ex-rebels known as the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC) that controls Derna.

Attention has shifted to the coastal city after Haftar announced victory in a three-year military campaign against a similar coalition in Benghazi, 350 km (210 miles) to the west, a month ago.

The LNA launches occasional air strikes over Derna and at the end of July, one of its fighter jets was shot down. The pilot was killed. The LNA subsequently reinforced its siege.

"The situation is extremely bad. Everything is stopped, the supplies are depleted and nothing is getting into the city," one resident told Reuters by telephone.

"There is a total blockade with no entry or exit. They only allow you to leave as a displaced person."

Another resident said most bakeries had closed because of a shortage of fuel, and that petrol stations had been shut for eight months. There was an acute shortage of medicine, he said, though some oxygen tanks were delivered to a hospital in Derna on Monday.

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Libya has expressed concern over reports of "severe shortages of basic necessities, including life saving medical supplies" in Derna, while the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli called on all sides to "facilitate ways to provide for all the needs of the citizens".

The LNA is aligned with a parliament and government based in the eastern Libya that has spurned the GNA.

Haftar and the head of the GNA met in Paris in late July amid efforts to broker a peace settlement for Libya. A ceasefire was announced, though it excluded "counter-terrorism" operations. The LNA commonly brands its rivals as terrorists.

Derna has a history of militancy. It was occupied by Islamic State militants in late 2014, but they were later ousted by the DMSC. Since then, forces loyal to the LNA have bolstered their blockade. Supplies of food, cash and medicine were disrupted or confiscated even before the latest tightening of the siege.

The LNA says it has been hitting militant targets that it has identified on the outskirts of in Derna, including ammunition stores. It says it is preparing to use further strikes if peace efforts with local leaders fail.

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An African migrant aboard the Spanish humanitarian rescue boat Golfo Azzurro in June.

he Libyan navy fired two warning shots after a migrant rescue ship was seen patrolling near Libyan waters on Monday.
Open Arms, a humanitarian aid vessel belonging to the Spanish NGO ProActiva said it was chased away by Libyan coast guards although it was within its territorial bounds at around 1.5 miles from Libyan territorial waters.
In a statement, the Libyan navy said the Open Arms rescue boat was within the remit of the Libyan Coast Guard's search and rescue operation and asked the boat to leave. When it didn't, they opened fire into the air.
The Libyan Coast Guard said the Open Arms ship had been "wishing for a precious trophy" of illegal immigrants.

speaking to CNN by phone on Tuesday, Libyan Brigadier Qassem said, "We are capable of conducting rescue work. Our presence cancels their presence."

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A former prime minister who once led Libya’s first democratically elected government has been abducted by militiamen for a second time in the capital, Tripoli, witnesses said Monday.

They say Ali Zidan was led by an armed group out of a hotel where he was meeting with security officials late Sunday. The militiamen were from the Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigade, which is allied with the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli. A competing government and parliament are headquartered in eastern Libya.

There was no official statement on Zidan’s whereabouts.

Libya has been rife with chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Much of the vast North African country is ruled by a patchwork of local militias, and the two governments are locked in a power struggle.

Zidan was abducted once before by Tripoli’s unruly militias, in October 2013, but was released within days. He fled the country before competing militias seized Tripoli in 2014, but later returned.

A former diplomat and human rights lawyer, Zidan joined the opposition in exile in the 1990s. He was appointed as a prime minister by Libya’s first elected parliament, the General National Congress, in 2012.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.e5257fb50f97

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A senior Libyan military commander allied with Khalifa Haftar and suspected of involvement in the deaths of 33 people in eastern Benghazi has been arrested.

The general command of the Libyan National Army (LNA) - the force that controls most of eastern Libya, including key oil ports - said on Thursday that Mahmoud al-Werfalli was being investigated by a military prosecutor.

The arrest comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Werfalli earlier this week, accusing him of "murder as a war crime in the context of the non-international armed conflict in Libya".

The LNA said in a statement "the defendant in your judicial case, Mahmoud al-Werfalli, is under investigation for the cases against him by the general military prosecutor and is now under arrest".

Werfalli is wanted by the ICC for allegedly executing dozens of prisoners "in seven incidents, taking place on or before 3 June 2016 until on or about 17 July 2017, in Benghazi or surrounding areas", according to the ICC document seen by Al Jazeera.

READ MORE: Haftar's forces declare victory in battle for Benghazi

The military commander allegedly shot or ordered the execution of people who were either civilians or wounded fighters, according to the document.

"There is no information in the evidence to show that they have been afforded a trial by a legitimate court, whether military or otherwise, that would comport to any recognised standard of due process," the ICC's judges said.

The LNA, which is led by Haftar, commended the ICC on its "efforts to achieve stability and social security".

"We announce our readiness to cooperate with you in informing you of the result and course of the judicial case," LNA said.

However, the statement gave no indication that the LNA would be prepared to hand Werfalli over to the ICC.

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British FM Johnson discussed Libya's future with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who heads Libya's National Army
http://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-41045099

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "we were way over-optimistic" about Libya's future, adding that the elections of 2014 "made things worse".

His comments came after a two-day visit to Libya, where he urged rival parties to compromise and unite the country.

Mr Johnson pledged £9m to help tackle people trafficking and terrorism.

In a landmark meeting, Mr Johnson became the first senior Western politician to visit the Libyan military commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar on the ground at his home base near Benghazi.
'Selfish interests'

He said Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern Libya, has pledged to give up military rule if he becomes the country's president.

Mr Johnson said he pushed the point of political compromise to Libyan politicians.

He said: "I think the politicians need as it were to suppress their own selfish interests, compromise for the good of the country and get behind the UN plan."

But he said he told Libyan politicians to learn from UK Prime Minister Theresa May's mistake - and not to hold an election before they were ready.

Oliver Miles, the UK's former ambassador to Libya and deputy chairman of the Libyan British Business Council, said that Mr Johnson's visit was a "useful and good follow-up" to the French president's meeting during which Field Marshal Haftar and his rival, the UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, agreed to a ceasefire.

But he told the Today programme it was "misleading" to think of Libya as divided into two parties, adding that it is much more divided than that.

Though it is six years since the removal of Col Gaddafi, he said: "There's been a complete breakdown of government authority - Libya is not in a state of civil war - it would be more accurate to describe it as in a state of anarchy.

Field Marshal Haftar's forces control much of eastern Libya and he is seen as a key player if Libya is ever to be united, something the UN-backed government of national accord has failed to achieve.

While there have been questions about whether Field Marshal Haftar would ever allow his forces to be subject to civilian control, the foreign secretary said he had been given at least one assurance.

Mr Johnson told the BBC earlier: "We are very clear, and so is Ghassan Salame, the UN special representative, that there has got to be civilian leadership in this country."



Adding that while that does not mean there cannot be a role for Field Marshal Haftar, Mr Johnson said he accepted that were he to stand and be successful, "then he could not continue in his military role".

After visiting the many different sides of this deeply divided country, Mr Johnson said he was encouraged and that there was a chance of a political deal.

But he said other countries with different ideas about Libya's future should unite behind a new UN plan expected to be announced next month.

"A secure and stable Libya, better able to deal with the threat from terrorism and the challenge of migration, is firmly in the UK interests," Mr Johnson said.

"The Libyan people need a stable state that can meet their fundamental economic and security needs.

Adding that all sides needed to "compromise and work together", Mr Johnson said only a united Libya could "defeat the terrorists and smuggling networks who are exploiting the instability".

Though Mr Johnson did not say which countries should unite behind the UN, Mr Miles told Today: "I hope he had in mind the fact that the United Arab Emirates and, to some extent, Egypt have been supplying arms - contrary to the UN embargo to Hafta and his forces.

"And [there are] allegations that Qatar and Turkey have also been supplying arms to the other sides. I think that we and the other 'big boys' in the UN, the Security Council, should be stamping this out because I don't think it's helping a solution."

The BBC's James Landale, who is travelling with the foreign secretary, said the visit highlighted just how insecure Libya remains.
"There is no government authority who runs the country and there are large parts of it where there is no government at all".

Shortly after Col Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, thousands of Libyans turned out to cheer former Prime Minister David Cameron and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Benghazi - hailing the pair as heroes for their support.

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At least 11 people have been beheaded in southern Libya following an attack apparently carried out by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). Nine fighters loyal to the Libyan National Army (LNA), the force aligned with Libya’s eastern government, and two civilians were executed following an assault on a checkpoint 300 miles south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, in Jufra. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but according to Agence France-Presse, LNA spokesman Colonel Ahmed al-Mesmari, ISIS carried out the gruesome attack. The onslaught against the LNA forces, under the command of Gaddafi-era General Khalifa Haftar, comes as Libyan military sources warn ISIS is regrouping

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Libyan Army band murdering God Save the Queen.

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A fierce battle for control of Libya’s oil ports * is raging this weekend as worried American officials claim that Russia is trying to “do a Syria” in the country, supporting the eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar in an attempt to control its main source of wealth.

The fighting between Haftar’s forces and militias from western Libya is focused on Sidra, Libya’s biggest oil port, and nearby Ras Lanuf, its key refinery. Together they form the gateway to the vast
Oil Crescent, a series of oilfields stretching hundreds of miles through the Sahara containing Africa’s largest reserves.


Haftar’s forces have launched airstrikes against militias around the oil ports themselves, with social media showing pictures of corpses and burning vehicles. No casualty figures have yet been released.

Capturing the glittering prize of the Oil Crescent has become the focus of a bitter civil war now in its third year and US officials fear that Russia has now entered the conflict, with Haftar the likely beneficiary.

In testimony to the Senate’s foreign relations committee on Thursday, the chief of the Pentagon’s Africa command, General Thomas D Waldhauser, said: “Russia is trying to exert influence on the ultimate decision of who and what entity becomes in charge of the government inside Libya.”

Asked by Senator Lindsey Graham whether Russia was “trying to do in Libya what they are doing in Syria”, Waldhauser said: “Yes, that’s a good way to characterise it.”

Waldhauser’s complaint was bolstered on Friday when Reuters broke the news that armed Russian “security contractors” have been on the ground in eastern Libya, officially to help Haftar’s forces in mine clearance operations.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...l-ports-battle
*article is 5 month old*

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Manchester bomber's brother faces trial in Libya
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41104450


Libya's interior ministry issued this photo of Hashem Abedi in May

he 20-year-old was arrested in Libya shortly after the suicide attack in May that killed 22 people.

Libya's chief investigator in the case, Asadiq al-Sour, said Mr Abedi is suspected of having helped his brother and collected materials for the attack.

Their father Ramadan, who was also detained in Libya, has been freed.

Hashem Abedi will be taken to court within two months at most, Mr Sour told BBC Middle East correspondent Orla Guerin.

Libya currently has two rival governments - Mr Sour works for the one backed by the UN, based in the capital, Tripoli.

[anatta]

Colonel Gaddafi Seized Power in Libya in Bloodless Coup on This Day in 1969



the FOM made clear Libya would be a neutral, non-aligned state in the Cold War, and opposed all forms of colonialism and imperialism within and without the country.

A Checkered Legacy

The new government rejected communism, espousing instead a permutation of socialism that integrated Islamic principles with social, economic, and political reform.

Housing became a human right, a state bank which provided loans at zero percent interest was established, and electricity, education and medical treatment became free at the point of use. Much of this was funded by Libya's sizeable oil wealth — in 1973, he took control of foreign-owned oil fields in the country, nationalising them in order to benefit the public.


demonstrations in Wirshiffana, west of #Tripoli #Libya, celebrating anniversary of 1969 coup d'état carried out by Gaddafi

Western powers would finally get their apparent wish in 2011. The "Arab Spring" swept across the Middle East and North Africa, and Gaddafi's Libya was gripped by civil war. Zealous insurrectionists, among them many Libyan exiles, flooded into the country from all over the globe — and with the help of a NATO air campaign, led by the US, UK and France, the Colonel was deposed, his gruesome murder at the hands of rebel forces recorded and televised by mainstream news outlets the world over.

while presented by politicians and journalists alike as a spontaneous, popular rebellion, subsequent exposures suggest the brutal elimination of Gaddafi might not have been quite so impromptu or proletarian.

In the wake of the May 22 Manchester arena bombing, it was revealed the UK government operated an effective "open door" policy allowing Libyan exiles and British-Libyan citizens to travel untrammelled to the country, for the express purpose of insurrection. Among them was the father of Manchester attack bomber Salman Abedi himself.

In essence, several former rebel fighters now back in the UK claimed they were able to travel to Libya "no questions asked," and their voyages were actively facilitated by authorities. Many had been subject to "control orders" — effective house arrest — as soon as the Libyan "civil war" began, these restrictions were lifted and their passports returned.

One individual en-route to the war-torn country even alleged he was detained at an airport by security officials, and asked by an MI5 officer whether he was "willing to go into battle." When he responded affirmatively, he was told British government had no issue with anyone who wished to fight against Gaddafi, and given a number to ring if he was ever detained by UK authorities in future.

Libya Today

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Have you seen this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...red-Libya.html

[anatta]

Have you seen this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...red-Libya.html

hurricane threw me off line..etc.
Top secret British police operation to stop refugee boat jihadis is scuppered by Libya after militia storm base

Nawasi Brigade storm UK’s National Crime Agency operations base in Tripoli
Hard-line jihadis and gangsters who make up the militia are now coastguards
They are working with people-smugglers for a cut of their vast income
Security fear terrorists are coming into Europe by hiding in migrant boats