Forces opposed to Libyas unity government have seized a fourth oil port, Brega, completing their takeover of vital installations in the North African countrys Oil crescent, according to military sources.

His forces fought off guards to gain control of the oil terminals at Ras Lanuf, Al-Sidra and Zuwaytania, and they finally secured Brega unopposed on Tuesday.

We have taken control of the Brega port completely and without any fighting, said Colonel Muftah al-Muqarief, who heads oil guards loyal to Haftar.

Kobler said oil installations must remain under the authority of the GNAs presidential council and stressed that Resolution 2259 Contains a clear prohibition on illicit oil exports.

Aguila Saleh, speaker of the Bayda-based parliament, said that Haftars forces would withdraw and hand over the ports to the National Oil Corporation to resume oil exports.

riskmap.com

alalam.ir/

Italy has already flown dozens of Libyan fighters to Rome for medical treatment, but the hospital will be more efficient

Italy will set up a military hospital and deploy 300 doctors, nurses and soldiers in Libya at the request of the United Nations-recognised government in Tripoli, a government source said on Monday.

The hospital near the Misrata airport will be staffed by about 100 doctors and nurses and guarded by some 200 soldiers.

It “should be a safe location, but not too far from the battle zone,” the source said.

Libyan forces aligned with the U.N.-backed government have been fighting to drive Islamic State militants out of their former stronghold of Sirte for months, but they have faced stiff resistance and suffered numerous casualties.

Italy has already flown dozens of Libyan fighters to Rome for medical treatment, but the hospital will be a faster and more efficient channel for assistance, the source said.

No further details were provided, including the exact timing of the deployment.

While France, Britain, the United States and Italy have acknowledged having special military units in Libya, this will be the first overt troop deployment by a Western nation, albeit for a humanitarian mission.

Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti and Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni may provide further details when they address parliament on Tuesday about “the situation in Libya”.

Italy has historic ties to Libya, which it colonised during the first half of the 20th century. Libya lies directly south of Italy, less than 500 km (310 miles) from the Sicilian coast.

Today, amid the chaos of civil war, people-smugglers operate in Libya with relative impunity. They have sent more than 400,000 migrants in rickety and overcrowded boats to Italy since the beginning of 2014.

trust.org

Islamic State fighters launch a new round of suicide attacks as government allied forces battle to liberate the Libyan town of Sirte

With Islamic State (IS) forces now carrying out attacks outside Sirte, the final offensive to liberate the town has been delayed while Libyan forces secure the surrounding desert area.

“Daesh are becoming active again outside the town and have started targeting us on the road between Sirte and Misrata,” fighter Hatham told MEE, using an alternative acronym for IS.

“They are planting IEDs on the road to Sirte, which have already killed two of our men, and another vehicle was targeted by an RPG.”

The attacks took place along the 150-kilometre stretch of desert highway between Sirte and the village of AbuGrain, liberated four months ago.

The Libyan forces, operating under the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), have now imposed a curfew, banning civilian vehicles from using the road between 8pm and 8am and increasing checkpoints, in an attempt to secure the road.

IS members are also upping their suicide operations outside Sirte. An attempted suicide attack on a checkpoint outside Misrata on Thursday was thwarted by Libyan troops, while a fortnight ago the militant group successfully carried out a suicide bombing on a logistics position used by Libyan forces on the outskirts of Sirte, in an area that had been liberated for several months.

“I passed an ordinary civilian BMW driven by a guy in normal Libyan clothes on my way to the front line, but I felt something wasn’t right because he was driving very fast and flashing his lights,” said fighter Mohammed.

“We heard the explosion within minutes, when he reached our petrol station and food depot, and then we realised he must have been a suicide bomber.”

Mohammed claimed the vehicles came from the area of AbuHadi, a village on the southern outskirts of Sirte where the slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was born.

Dual car-bombings in the capital Tripoli on Thursday, targeting the naval base home to the GNA and the foreign ministry, have so far gone unclaimed by any group.

This string of attacks indicates that IS presence on the central Libyan coastline had already spread into secret locations outside Sirte before the Libyan forces began their assault on the town.

The spokesman for the Sirte operation, Brigadier-General Mohammed Al-Ghassri, confirmed that the final offensive to liberate the town was being delayed to ensure that IS were completely eliminated from the surrounding areas.

This continued IS presence, he said, was also why the United States had authorised a further 30 days of air strikes on IS targets in Libya.

“We need America’s continued support because, although Daesh is confined to one-and-a-half square miles of central Sirte, some elements have spread to the peripheries,” he said.

“If we liberate the centre now, these residual Daesh fighters on the peripheries will become more active and we can expect more suicide vehicles and more IEDs. We have to secure the whole area.”

Ghassri said the final offensive was being coordinated with British and American teams that have been supporting the battle, mainly with intelligence and logistics, since early May.

Local people had claimed for months that top IS leaders were no longer inside Sirte but had relocated to other Libyan towns and villages at the outset of the war, forming new militant sleeper cells that would continue to pose a threat long after the liberation of Sirte.

Armed units are now patrolling the desert south of Sirte where IS militants are believed to be hiding.

Commander Mohammed Issa, who heads one of the main front-lines in Sirte, still insisted the fall of Sirte was imminent.

“The final offensive is now being planned, and could be in the next 72 hours,” he told MEE last week. “We realise we are fighting against a suicidal enemy, so the next battle will be really big and hard – it will be the mother of all battles.”

But, almost a week later, there had still been no major new advance.

He said the suicidal nature of IS fighters meant one militant was often equivalent to three ordinary fighters, and they were battling even more fiercely now they were compressed into such a compact area.

“IS are not fighting to live, they are fighting to die and will give this battle everything they’ve got,” he said. “We are expecting them to make serious attacks against our positions because they want to reduce our numbers to the minimum.”

He slammed European governments for not supporting the operation against IS in Sirte.

“We are not happy with the EU because they didn’t give us any help, but we know they are helping [General Khalifa] Haftar in the east, but Haftar is actually supporting terrorism because he let IS members leave [the eastern town of] Derna to come to Sirte,” he said. “We are not extremists. We are normal Muslims who believe that there should be peace and religious freedom for everyone.”

Issa pointed out that IS in Libya was a global threat, saying graffiti found in Sirte’s small port read: “This is our departure point for Europe,” and that documents discovered in IS offices showed there were a number of European militants, including French and Germans, among their ranks.

Despite delays to the final offensive, front lines in the town remain modestly active, with Libyan forces still targeting IS sniper positions. Several units also carried out a successful operation to retrieve the corpses of two dead soldiers on the edge of Sirte’s District Three – the only area still under IS control. Seven IS militants were reportedly killed and several new premises seized, including Sirte’s civil court, a bank and an ammunition storage facility.

Libyan forces are also keeping a constant watch for suicide vehicles, still one of IS’s preferred and most deadly weapons.

“A US air strike destroyed a suicide vehicle this morning,” said young fighter Ali, driving through the battle-scarred streets of Sirte’s District One. “And we have destroyed several ourselves during this last week. Because IS are running out of metal, the suicide bomb trucks aren’t bullet-proofed like before, so it’s easier for us to stop them now by shooting the driver.”

He predicted that the liberation of Sirte would take at least two more offensives to achieve, a feeling echoed by other fighters.

“We know IS don’t have many fighters left because now they leave their dead in the street whereas before they had enough men to take the bodies, because we rarely found them,” said Abdusalem. “But they know they are now fighting a desperate battle so they are using anything and everything they have against us. They are still a dangerous and difficult enemy.”

middleeasteye.net

Army official tells Telegraph terrorists on southern border are arming themselves with military vehicles, heavy weaponry ahead of likely assault

Israel is preparing for an attack by Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate, Wilayat Sinai (“Sinai Province”), within the next six months, a top military official told the UK’s Telegraph.

The unnamed official quoted by the newspaper Friday said Israel believes the group will soon use weapons and vehicles stolen from Egypt’s military to stage an attack on the Jewish state’s southern border with the Sinai Peninsula.

The weaponry includes an Egyptian tank and Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles, the officer said.

“It could happen today, tomorrow, in a month but within the next six months we will come into an engagement with Wilayat Sinai,” the official said. “In the next six months they will try to carry out an attack and try to do something against Israel.”

The group was established as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in 2011, amid the revolution that brought about the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. Comprised of extremists and former al-Qaeda fighters, it sought to fight both the Egyptian state as well as Israel.

In 2014, as the Islamic State swept into power in vast regions of Syria and Iraq, the organization pledged allegiance to the group and renamed itself as the “Sinai Province.”

The Israeli official noted that the terrorists would need to make good on the group’s founding principles in the near future.

“Many terrorist organizations use Israel as a prop but, for these statements to have any content or not be seen as empty, something must eventually happen in the field,” he said.

The last major attack on Israel’s southern border was in 2012, when terrorists belonging to the group, then still known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, smashed into Israel through the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Egypt.

The heavily armed gunmen killed at least 16 Egyptian soldiers and commandeered two Egyptian armored vehicles before attempting to cross into Israel.

One vehicle exploded at the border, but the second managed to enter Israeli territory.

The six attackers inside then managed to drive about a mile into Israel, and were traveling at 70 kilometers an hour along the road toward Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, before the Israeli Air Force was able to get a clear shot and blow the vehicle up. Gunmen who survived the blast were killed in an ensuing firefight with Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli army official told the Telegraph that Israel believed the group to be well more equipped today than it was then.

timesofisrael.com

Clashes broke out between the Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigade (TRB) and a Misratan militia near Triq Al-Sika (“Railway Road”) and in the area of the Sidi Masri roundabout.

Heavy weapons were used and the firing was random, especially in the area along the main road by Tripoli University and Tripoli Medical Centre, causing panic among passing drivers and passengers. The clashes also continued after sunset to Hay Demashque and by the government hospitality buildings there opposite the Rixos hotel, currently being used by the State Council.

The clashes followed a warning three days ago from the TRB, led by Haithem Tajouri, to people who had misappropriated land on government land between the adjoining Hadba and Abu Sleem districts to quit the area and remove buildings erected within 72 hours or force would be used against them.

Most of those who had taken over the land are alleged to be Misratans linked to the militias.

This evening at checkpoints set by the TRB near Sidi Masri district, it is reported that anyone from Misrata was being arrested. Misratans in Tripoli have been phoning each other warning them to avoid the area.

There has been growing resentment in the capital at the presence of the Misratan forces which are being used to protect the Presidency Council and equally between them and local militias.  There have already been several clashes between the TRB and Misratan militias.

libyaherald.com

farsnews.com

Tunisia’s defence minister has warned that North African countries need to be doing more to stop Islamic State fighters fleeing Libya from returning home and causing trouble. This comes as UN-backed Libyan forces work to take back the IS stronghold of Sirte, where the jihadists have been almost entirely pushed out.

An estimated 1,000 Tunisians are fighting for the Islamic State group in Libya, and the danger of these fighters going home, causing further threats to their country is actually very real, yet not exactly news.

There has been a lot of back and forth of IS fighters from Libya to Tunisia – the reason why there is an ‘almost’ wall being built between the two countries.

However, the number of them returning home could overwhelm the security forces in Tunisia.

“We’ve seen in the past just how a handful of jihadists coming from Libya into Tunisia have really carried out attacks that have had a huge impact on the Tunisian economy as well,” Olivier Guitta, the Director of GlobalStrat, an International Security and Geopolitical Risk Firm told RFI.

“There was just one fighter that was trained in Libya when he killed 38 tourists in Sousse – that, in a way, enabled to cripple the tourism industry, so the threat is very real, and on top of it, Tunisian security services do not have the wherewithal of whethering this kind of threat in such a large scale.”

On the other hand, the fighters might choose to go to other strongholds, before returning to Tunisia.

“It’s easier for them first of all to move South of Sirte, and try to go to other oasis or cities in the south of Libya, that are much more lawless than western Libya that they would have to cross before going to Tunisia,” Youssef Cherif, a political analyst based in Tunis, told RFI.

“Some of them will actually try to keep on fighting inside Libya, others will try to join the other strongholds of the organisation, of the Islamic State armed group, or even smaller extremists groups – this is southern Libya, or in countries bordering Libya in the South, like Chad, like Mali, although it’s not exactly bordering Libya but it’s a place where they often go and operate… so they do a lot of other possibilities before going to Tunisia.”

Preventing spillover

Political differences appear to be standing in the way of broader regional – and international – cooperation.

Several countries disagree on how to tackle the crisis. Youssef Cherif said their priorities are not the same, and that’s also why there’s so little cooperation.

“The countries in North Africa are very suspicious of each others, they also have different political systems: you have a military dictatorship in Egypt, you have half a democracy in Tunisia and you have a military/intelligence system in Algeria, so very different politics, with politicians, security and military officials looking at different priorities, and having different opinions on how things should be done,” he said.

Leaders of these countries often have different allies around the world, they have different opinions towards western countries, western powers, and they do not agree on who should be the partner on the international stage, to counter IS, and similar organisations, Cherif told RFI.

“And of course you have the internal problems of these countries, and that’s actually pushing them towards more isolationism – that’s why you have for example Algeria building a fence with Tunisia, at least with the Southern part of Tunisia, you have Tunisia building a fence with Libya… So the problem is the concept of isolationism rather than cooperation with the neighbours – and that’s what this latest conference in Paris tried to put forward – more cooperation and more trust.”

Political will

Collective efforts are needed, and, if it’s not already too late, something needs to be set in motion as soon as possible according to analysts.

“We need to make sure first of all that there’s political will from the different leaders, in order to put together a plan and make sure it’s implemented on the ground,” Mohamed Eljarh, a political scientist at the Atlantic Council thinktank, based in Tunisia, told RFI.

“In addition, countries such as France need to work closely with countries that have stable, or at least some sort of stable leadership, in order to help them secure borders, and make sure that there is technology put in place to make sure that the movement of smugglers, the movement of jihadists is monitored and also restricted if there is a possibility.”

But more importantly, he said there was to be political will.

“It is something that has been missing and it is only when these countries feel the threat of terrorism that they will start talking about some regional efforts to try and put an end, or try and face up the threat of jihadist groups such as IS.”

The international community has already helped when it comes to training the security forces in Tunisia, but scaling up now is going to be a long haul and will not be done overnight.

rfi.fr

farsnews.com

A military patrol affiliated to the forces of the Operation “Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous” arrested, on Sunday, one of prominent leaders of the Islamic State (IS) in the City of Sirte. The name of the IS leader is Ahmed Bassam Zidan, known as Abu-Alkattab Al-Souri.

A security source said, in a press release, that the Syrian IS leader was arrested while he was escaping to resort to one of the families in Bin-Jawad area.

Zidan was worked as a doctor in Sirte for five years, then he joined the IS group and worked in one of the medical clinics.

Earlier than that, other security sources said that another IS leader who worked in the endowments office in Sirte, named Younes Sheqaq Al-Tarhouni, was killed along with another IS leader named Hassouna Mohamed Abu-Afia Al-Furjani.

libyaprospect.com/