An Egyptian soldier was shot dead on Sunday evening by unidentified gunmen who attacked a military checkpoint at the entrance to Rafah city in the northern Sinai Peninsula, according to Egyptian security sources.

The sources told  Ma’an that the soldier was hit in the upper extremities and shortly thereafter succumbed to his wounds.

At least 11 soldiers were killed as Libyan government forces pushed deep into the last Daesh stronghold in the northern Sirte city.

Akram Kleo, a spokesman for the Musrata hospital, said 11 corpses were admitted to the hospital on Saturday.  “More than 30 injured soldiers were also rushed to the hospital,” he told Anadolu Agency on Sunday.

According to Kleo, the casualties occured during Saturday’s clashes with Daesh militants in neighbourhood Number Three, the last Daesh stronghold in Sirte. He said most soldiers were killed in car bombings carried out by Daesh militants.

Mohamed al-Ghosri, a spokesman for the government’s ongoing anti-Daesh campaign, said nine soldiers were killed and 15 others injured in two car bombings in Sirte on Saturday. “Daesh has sent in five car-bombs in an attempt to attack our forces, but we have thwarted their attempt,” he said. The spokesman said that between 70-100 Daesh militants are only left in neighborhood Number Three.

For weeks, forces aligned with the UN-backed unity government have been fighting Daesh militants in an effort to recapture Sirte, which was overrun by the terrorist group in 2015. Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a bloody uprising ended with the ouster and death of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, one in Tobruk and another in Tripoli. Late last year, Libya’s rival governments signed a UN-backed agreement to establish a unity government in an effort to resolve the country’s ongoing political standoff.

middleeastmonitor.com

Moroccan intelligence services and security forces have helped France to avoid a full-scale terrorist attack

Moroccan security forces uncovered a “major attack” being prepared by two acknowledged members of Islamic State.

Redouane Dahbi and Ayyub Sadki, both French citizens of Moroccan origin, underwent an interrogation by Moroccan security forces before being extradited to France on August 26.

The investigation revealed their plan to attack crowds in the Republic Square in Metz, France.  The two terrorist suspects were planning to use firearms, vehicles as weapons, and trigger fires in the downtown center of Metz.

Both plans had elements similar to the attacks in Paris in November 2015. Numerous suicide bombers hit the out of the Stade de France in Saint-Denis during a football match, and several mass shooting in restaurant, cafes and at a concert in the Bataclan Theatre.

The used of a truck as a weapon was similar to the more recent attack in Nice, France.  On Bastille Day, July 14^th, a terrorist used a massive truck to mow down people watching fireworks.  The French Tunisian driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was gunned down but not until the truck killed 86 and injured 303 people.

“The investigations of the Moroccan security services reported that they wanted to hit the Republic Square in the heart of Metz,” said the private Arabic-language Assabah yesterday.

Dahbi was  also found to be planning a terrorist attack on a big nightclub in Metz and a restaurant frequented by homosexuals similar to the attacks which occurred in Orlando Florida in June.

Morocco’s security forces uses a proactive strategy and effective cooperation with other intelligence agencies to maintain social order and stop terrorism.

Morocco has not had a large-scale terrorist attack since 2003 when 33 people were killed in Casablanca. Twelve suicide bombers were involved in the attack and came from the poor suburbs of Sidi Moumen.  Another attack in 2011 in Marrakesh in which 17 people were killed.

In August, French President Francois Hollande sent a cable to King Mohammed VI praising Morocco’s commitment to fighting terrorism and radicalization.

“On this special occasion, I wish once again ensure Your Majesty of my commitment to further develop the exceptional partnership that characterizes the relationship between our two countries. I also extend to Your Majesty the renewed expression of the true friendship of France for the great Moroccan people”, the French president said in the cable.

moroccoworldnews.com

According to Libyan media, Algeria has been planning on constructing a wall 120 kilometres long along its border with Libya.

Algeria has been stepping up its security measures in pursuit of countering terrorism within its borders. The wall will be three meters high with barbed wire lined along the wall. Algeria is hoping that this wall will keep out ISIS and weapons smugglers crossing through Libya’s desert.

Reports of this nature were spreading last year, however, the Algerian government made no effort to begin building the wall. Recent increases in kidnappings and attacks by armed groups and criminals has given a sense of urgency to begin the building of the wall.

Geoff Porter, president of North Africa Risk Consulting, said Algeria is trying to avoid having to trespass “on another sovereign territory” in hopes of protecting its nation instead of being actively engaged in eliminating external threats.

The Tunisian government said it also plans to construct a fence about 160 kilometres long along its borders with Libya in hopes of keeping ISIS out of Tunis, especially after the terrorist group attacked a beach resort in Sousse and a museum in Tunis in 2015. Reports have indicated that the ISIS criminals who carried out the attacks in Tunis were trained in Libya.

libyangazette.net

Several islamists who have a relation with the terrorists killed, Wednesday in the El Karma neighbourhood, were arrested Thursday by security and military forces in Kasserine, a security source said to TAP correspondent in the region.

A security campaign was launched in the El Karma and Ezzouhour neighbourhoods by military and security forces to hunt down terrorists, according to the same source.

tap.info.tn

Gun camera footage from British Army Apache attack helicopters show a strike on a military communications facility and troop concentration at Al-Watiya in western Libya

UK missions over Libya were undertaken as part of NATO’s Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR, to enforce UNSCR 1973 and protect Libyan civilians at risk of attack.

The Ministry of Defence has recently announced a $2.3 billion deal to purchase 50 latest generation Apache attack helicopters for the British Army.

The new Apaches are understood to be much more capable than their predecessors.

The AH‑64E model of the helicopter can also carry more weapons while being more fuel efficient, allowing it to operate in more demanding conditions for longer. Built by Boeing and already in service with the US Army, are being purchased via a Foreign Military Sale with the United States Government.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:

“This deal will give the British Army an outstanding helicopter at good value for money for the UK taxpayer.

It is part of our plan for more ships, more aircraft, more troops available at readiness, better equipment for special forces, more being spent on cyber. That plan, backed by a rising defence budget will enable us to deal with the increased threats to our country.”

According to the Ministry of Defence, the support and training arrangements for the new Apache AH-64E helicopters represent a further opportunity for UK suppliers. The proposed arrangements for these services will be finalised over the next year, with contracts being placed toward the end of the decade. It is envisaged that these future arrangements will support around 350 jobs, a comparable number to that required to support the existing Apache fleet.

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

Investigations led by the Central Bureau for Judiciary Investigations (BCIJ) with ISIS extremist supporters extradited to Morocco from France on August 28, 2016, revealed their complete adherence to ISIS’s strategy and terrorist ideology, the Interior Ministry said Thursday

One of those arrested was recruited by an ISIS’s leader on the Syrian-Iraqi scene, who called him to suspend his plan to join this hotbed of tension, in order to coordinate large-scale terrorist operations in France on behalf of the “Islamic state,” the ministry added in a statement.

As part of this terror plot, this individual scouted out several public and sensitive sites in France, his country of residence, particularly those frequented by a lot of people during weekends, with a view to perpetrating attacks using firearms or vehicles with the intention of ramming into crowds or triggering fires to kill the biggest number of people possible.

Moreover, the individual has joined ISIS’s broad campaign of incitement within ISIS supporters to carry out large-scale terrorist attacks in Morocco by targeting vital areas and elements of the various security services, in response to the fight led by these services against ISIS terror cells and ISIS-supporters at the national and the international levels.

The two men will be brought to justice pending the completion of the probe led under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor’s office.

moroccoworldnews.com

Ibrahim Jadhran has gone from an alleged car thief imprisoned in Colonel Muammar Qadhafi’s most notorious prison to a warlord in charge of a powerful militia sitting on billions of dollars of oil money.

Now he’s one of the most important players in an effort to end the chaos that has torn Libya apart since Qadhafi’s overthrow in 2011: He has thrown his weight behind the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), signing a breakthrough deal to reopen Libya’s oil ports.

Jadhran is the chief of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG), a militia force of more than 20,000 men that is supposed to protect the country’s vital oil industry. Speaking in the large boardroom of his office complex in the deep-water port of Ra’s Lanuf, in the oil crescent of central Libya, he spelt out his supposed conversion.

“I am a Muslim but I consider myself a moderate,” said Jadhran, who had shed his normal military uniform for a dark suit. “And it is because of that I chose the middle … The area where we sit now is in the middle of Libya. It is my country’s security valve and it is the beating heart of Libya’s wealth.”

His voice matters both because of the men and the money he controls. Jadhran has been an extremely skillful player in the turmoil of post-Qadhafi Libya as militias, tribes and rival governments — an internationally recognized one in the eastern city of Tobruk, and a more Islamist one called the General National Congress (GNC) based in the capital Tripoli in the west — battled for control.

In mid-2013, Jadhran closed two major oil export terminals, demanding the GNC government give eastern Libya more autonomy, particularly over oil revenues, and branded the former management of the National Oil Company corrupt.

His brand of maverick separatism increased and, in March 2014, he allowed an oil tanker named the Morning Glory to set sail from the eastern port of Sidra under the North Korean flag. It was promptly stopped and boarded by the U.S. Navy.

Jadhran claims the Morning Glory crude oil shipment had been authorized by the Tobruk government, but the Tripoli government tried to stop the tanker, and the incident led to the ousting of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

Now Jadhran denounces all sides. He accused the GNC of being dominated by Islamic extremists. Jadhran in turn was accused of not doing enough to stop ISIL when the terror group seized part of the central Libyan coast that had been under the control of his forces.

Jadhran is also critical of the eastern legislature in Tobruk, which he claimed was seeking a military dictatorship under General Khalifa Haftar, who led an assault on the GNC government and remains a powerful warlord.

“We stood by the government, but at the time the National Congress started to lean toward the Islamists and then the parliament [House of Representatives in Tobruk] leaned towards the militarization of the state and the return of a dictatorship. So we saw that we were the only ones standing in the middle,” said Jadhran.

Jadhran supported a national political dialogue and it was this process that led to the December formation of the new U.N.-backed government in Tripoli. “We released a statement of support three hours after the GNA was formed despite the fact it was almost political suicide to support its newly-born presidential council,” he said.

Call to arms

Others point out that Jadhran’s loyalty to the GNA came at a price, the payment of his 20,000 plus PFG forces of all their back salaries.

Mattia Toaldo, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, is critical of what he called Jadhran’s “opportunistic choices” but is pragmatic about his importance to Libya’s political future.

“Jadhran remains in the eyes of many Libyans a very controversial figure,” he said. “Yet, the truth is that along with Defence Minister Mahdi Al-Barghathi, he’s the only easterner who supported the GNA from day one and the GNA needs not just the oil he sits on but his loyalty.”

That support for a new and internationally recognized government, complete with a signing ceremony — attended by tribal leaders — to reopen the ports is something of a change for Jadhran. He’s been embroiled in his country’s violent politics since the war that ousted Qadhafi.

The son of an army officer, the muscular 34-year-old had spent the previous six years in the notorious Abu Slim prison, where he was sent at 22 for a life sentence for what he says was his political activism, but which records suggest was for car theft. However, Qadhafi never called anyone a political prisoner and inmates were branded pretty thieves, traitors or spies.

“I was released three days after the spark of the February 17th revolution,” said Jadhran. “Because the demonstrators calling for change were met with live fire and mortars from the Qadhafi regime, peaceful protest was not possible and we were forced to take up arms. Young men found themselves forced to carry arms and return fire on an enemy.”

He formed a battalion of volunteers to defend Libya’s oil crescent around Ra’s Lanuf and Ajdabiya, his hometown. “I managed to gather 16 battalions under the one flag, all of which participated in the revolution.”

In a deeply divided country, Jadhran defended Cyrenaica, the east of the country that has traditionally been hostile to the Tripoli-dominated west and slowly took over Libya’s oil infrastructure.

Now he controls the four main oil ports of Ra’s Lanuf, Zueitina, Sidra and Brega, many oil wells and hundreds of miles of pipelines and says that his goal is to protect the oil wealth that accounts for 97 percent of Libya’s economic output

His forces helped oust ISIL fighters from key oil terminals and in recent weeks have led assaults on key ISIL locations along Libya’s coast. He has also followed through on his promise to allow for renewed oil exports under a unified National Oil Company.

“The issue of selling and marketing oil is strictly the business of the National Oil Company, it has been entrusted to carry out this mission by the government and the people of Libya,” he said.

This week, the House of Representatives voted against the GNA in a no confidence motion. The vote means that Jadhran’s commitment to the GNA, together with his influence in the east and control over the security of oil exports, are even more vital to Libya’s future.

So the question is, what does Jadhran want? The answer seems to be political respectability and to present the PFG as an example of good governance to encourage investment back into Libya.

“There is no doubt that I have high expectations in assuming a high and honorable position and that this position should be for the good of the people,” said Jadhran. “If Libya becomes independent, its institutions secured within a real democratic and good governance blueprint, then this will enable international investment companies to re-enter Libya.”

politico.eu

Egyptian security officials say a police driver kidnapped by terrorists this week has been publicly shot dead in Sinai

Egyptian security officials on Thursday said a police driver kidnapped this week has been publicly shot dead in Sinai by suspected jihadists from the local Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate.

The officials, quoted by The Associated Press, said three terrorists and the policeman arrived Thursday at el-Arish’s residential al-Masaeed district in a green pickup truck.

The policeman, blindfolded with his arms and legs tied by a robe, was then brought out and shot twice in the head.

He had been kidnapped by the jihadists Tuesday while driving a police car in el-Arish. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Egypt has been fighting an insurgency in the Sinai which began shortly the 2011 ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak and has gotten even worse since the army ousted former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Most of the terrorist attacks in the Sinai have been claimed by the Sinai Province terrorist group, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Among the attacks claimed by Sinai Province in recent years were the assassination of a top Egyptian police general, who was gunned down as he left his home in a west Cairo neighborhood, and a bus bombing on a tour bus filled with South Korean tourists in the Sinai.

The group has also claimed responsibility for several rocket attacks from the Sinai Peninsula on southern Israel.

inn.com

Faiez Serraj, the PM of the Libyan Government of National Accord, asked the US Africa Command to increase its military assistance during talks in Stuttgart with AFRICOM commander Thomas Waldhauser, and US special envoy for Libya, Jonathan Winer.

Libya’s unity government has asked Washington, which is backing an air campaign against ISIS in Sirte, to step up its military assistance, the US Africa Command said Thursday. An AFRICOM statement said in part:“Discussions were held on …the GNA’s desire for US assistance with future enhanced military capabilities and defence capacity building. Waldhauser and Winer reiterated their support for GNA efforts and throughout the visit, the three discussed strategic options for Libya’s future once Sirte is liberated. “

An AFRICOM Facebook post said the purpose of the meeting was to review the US government support for the GNA and also to discuss future collaboration between the US and the GNA in order to promote Libyan stability and security. Serraj had with him General Abdul-Rahman Al-Taweed who chairs the GNA’s Temporary Security Committee and also Taher El-Sonni an adviser to the PM.

The GNA requested close air support to aid BAM forces in their fight against the IS. This appears to be already being provided. They also discussed strategic options for Libya’s future once Sirte is totally captured. An AFRICOM statement said:“Discussions were held on our partnership in countering terrorism, the GNA’s desire for U.S. assistance with future enhanced military capabilities and defense capacity building, to include a desire for greater and more open military-to-military training and information sharing.”

The Al-Bunyan Al-Marsoos forces (Solid Structure, or BAM), mostly brigades from Misrata, and loyal to the GNA, began an offensive in mid-May to expel the Islamic State (IS) from Sirte and the surrounding areas. After rapid advances at first, the offensive slowed once the battle was inside the city of Sirte as the IS put up a fierce resistance causing serious losses among the BAM forces. The IS had controlled the city since June of 2015.

As of August the 1st, US bombing has aided the offensive carrying out many attacks and recently using an advanced helicopter gunship as well. There are reports that the U.S. may also have carried out an attack in the area of Bani Walid to the south-east of Tripoli. Small numbers of special forces from several countries including the US and UK have also helped out the BAM forces.

The GNA recently received a setback when the House of Representatives(HoR) defeated a vote of confidence in the GNA. According to the Libya Political Agreement (LPA), the vote of confidence is required before the GNA is activated and the HoR becomes the legislature of the GNA. However so far the HoR and its armed forces commander Khalifa Haftar have refused to accept the GNA. The GNA may be attempting to gain more military support in the hope this will make it appear stronger.

Spokesperson for the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar, Ahmed Al-Mismari said at a news conference that cities and towns under control of the GNA militias must be attacked since the HoR has rejected the Serraj government and all of its resolutions and decisions: “Any institution or city under Sirraj militias would be regarded illegal and must be attacked. The formation of Presidential Guard, foreign intervention and Sirte battle are all illegal.”

In May, the LPA Chief of Staff Abdul Raziq Nadouri threatened to attack Tripoli and liberate it from what he calls militias. The militia associated with the GNA are almost all targets of Haftar’s Operation Dignity which began back in May of 2014 but is still ongoing. Operation Dignity is intended to rid Libya of Islamists whom Haftar regards as opponents. If actual clashes break out between Haftar’s forces and those loyal to the GNA, the U.S. would be in the unenviable situation of having to choose sides. The GNA obviously hopes to gain support from the US in such a scenario.

digitaljournal.com