Following a meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in St. Petersburg Friday, President Vladimir Putin told a news conference that Russia will work constructively with the international community on a settlement in Libya.

“I told the Italian prime minster that Russia would be working very constructively together with the entire international community proceeding from the interests of the Libyan people. It will by no means bring about any dissonance in this joint work, but seek a solution that will be acceptable to all,” Putin said.

Putin said the situation in Libya was very difficult saying that “the government, the parliament, armed groups, tribal interests, economic, ethnic and other aspects… It is rather difficult to reduce all this to a common denominator”.

On his part, the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has praised Russia for helping to resolve conflict in Libya. Mr. Renzi expressed gratitude to Mr. Putin for helping reduce violence in the country.

tripolipost.com

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met Mohamed Taha Siala, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Libya on Friday (17 June 2016).

They discussed the political and security situation in Libya. The Secretary General said he was encouraged by the progress made by the Government of National Accord led by Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj and conveyed NATO’s support for the political dialogue process led by the United Nations.

During their meeting, they also addressed NATO’s possible assistance to Libya in the defence and security field, which would be part of the international efforts to help the country address existing security challenges.

In line with the decisions adopted by NATO Heads of State and Government at the 2014 Wales Summit, NATO stands ready to assist Libya in the field of defence and security institution building, if requested by the Government of National Accord and in complementarity with the United Nations and the European Union.

The meeting of the Secretary General and Minister Taha Siala is part of the ongoing discussions on how NATO can help Libya develop its defence and security institutions.

It follows a recent conversation of Mr. Stoltenberg and Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj and contacts between NATO and Libyan officials.

media-alerts.com

At least ten people were killed on Thursday when a suicide car-bomb went off near a police checkpoint in Libya’s northwestern city of Misurata, according to Libya’s National Forces Alliance (NFA), a political bloc that supports the country’s UN-backed unity government.

The attack, which occurred at the Abu Grein police checkpoint in southern Misurata, left a number of other people injured, according to an NFA statement issued shortly afterward.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Libya has been locked in a state of violence and 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 capital Tripoli — each of which boasts its own military capacity and legislative assembly.

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 six-year political standoff.

http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/

farsnews.com

At least 16 Libyan militia fighters have been killed in two attacks by the Islamic State group as pro-government forces try to dislodge the extremists from Sirte, their last stronghold in the country, officials said on Thursday.

The bombings were part of a wave of suicide attacks launched by IS to stall the initially fast progress of the anti-IS forces, who are led by militias from the western city of Misrata.

IS counter-attacks have killed nearly 180 militia fighters since the offensive began in early May.

In recent weeks, the militias have managed to take over large areas of Sirte, including the air base, the port, and a number of barracks. Videos and pictures from the city showed militiamen knocking down a central stage used by IS militants to behead and shoot opponents. Officials said that they have cornered the militants inside a small area of town around the sprawling convention center that the group turned into its headquarters.

However, some of the militants appear capable of striking from behind front lines, possibly by disguising themselves among the families escaping the fighting, said Ahmed Hadia, the head of the media center of the anti-IS operation.

On Thursday, the spokesman of Misrata hospital, Abdel-Aziz Essa, told The Associated Press that 10 fighters were killed and seven injured when a suicide bomber struck a police station in the early hours in Abu Grain, a village located on a crossroad that connects the coastal cities with the south.

A day earlier, Hadia said that the operation room has lost contact with a six-member scouting unit inside Sirte. Hours later, IS posted pictures online of the bodies of young men in uniform in the back of a pick-up truck, and described them as members of the Misrata forces. Hadia said that two of the men were identified as belonging to their forces.

He said that the IS fighters who had managed to escape Sirte “could be a more serious threat than the fighters we are currently surrounding.”

ap.org

The head of international Libya conference for cyber terrorism, Abdel Qader Erhaim, said that the scientific committee began preliminary preparations to take in scientific participations from Arab countries, specialized industrial companies and international experts, referring that Algeria was the first to participate, followed by Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco.

The committee also communicated with USCUA of the United Nations specialized in cyber crimes. The committee is to host five international experts as official spokespersons from five different countries, along with Libyan international experts.

The head of the media committee, Ashraf Fakhry, said that a proactive session will be held on “social media and its role in combating cyber terrorism. The session will also discuss the role of new technologies in raising the awareness of security men about social media to eliminate terrorist acts, using scientific, security ad sharia approaches to combat terrorism”.

The conference to run on 26-27 July in Al-Baida, based on decision No. 82 ratified by the head of judicial experience and research department of the justice ministry affiliated with the Interim Government.

libyabizinfo.com/

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing Member States, acting nationally or through regional organizations, to inspect vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya they believe are carrying illicit weapons.

The SC resolution number 2292 condemns the flow of arms and related materiel into Libya, including to terrorist groups, saying it made the decision to authorize such inspections for 12 months from Tuesday.

The resolution, introduced by the United Kingdom with support from France and Spain, said that the inspections would be authorized “provided that those Member States make good-faith efforts to first obtain the consent of the vessel’s flag State prior to any inspections,” and called upon all flag States of the vessels to cooperate with such inspections.

In the resolution, the Council reiterated its grave concern at the growing threat of terrorist groups in Libya proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), the growing trend of groups associating themselves with it, as well as the continued presence of other Al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups and individuals operating in the country.

The Council also underlined the importance of coordinated international support to Libya and the region to address the issue of unsecured arms and ammunition in Libya and their proliferation, including through their transfer to armed groups in violation of the arms embargo.

The Council also expressed concern that the situation in Libya is exacerbated by the smuggling of illegal arms and related material in violation of the arms embargo, underlining its concern at the allegations of violations of the arms embargo by sea, land, or air.

Further, it expressed concern that such arms and related material are being used by terrorist groups operating in Libya, including by ISIL.

A day earlier the Security Council today decided to extend until 15 December 2016 the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), encouraging the operation to re-establish a permanent presence in the country through a phased return.

The current mandate was set to expire on 15 June.

In its resolution number 2291 on the situation in Libya, the Council expressed its support for the ongoing efforts of UNSMIL and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to facilitate a Libyan-led political solution to the challenges facing Libya.

The 15-member body also recalled its resolution 2259 (2015), which endorsed the Rome Communiqué of 13 December 2015 to support the Government of National Accord as the sole legitimate Government of Libya, and welcomed the arrival in Tripoli on 30 March 2016 of members of the Presidency Council of the Government of National Accord, led by Prime Minister Fayez Serraj.

tripolipost.com/

The forces of Al-Bonyan Al-Marsous operation, affiliated to the Government of National Accord (GNA), is witnessing a fierce resistance from the militants of the Islamic State group (IS) in the city of Sirte as it is trying to enter IS-controlled residential areas in the center of Sirte.

The operation’s forces made rapid progress in its military operations over the last week, accompanied by heavy air and artillery strikes and were able to regain control of the airport and seaport.

But this progress seemed to slow down with the arrival of forces to the outskirts of the residential area from the center of the city of Sirte to its north as the IS snipers on the roofs appeared in the war scene.

The IS depends mainly on car bombs driven by suicide fighters from residential areas to the spots of governmental forces.

libyaprospect.com

US special operations troops have been stationed at two outposts in Libya since late last year to try to enlist local support for a possible offensive against ISIS, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing US officials.

Two teams totaling fewer than 25 troops are operating from around the cities of Misurata and Benghazi to seek potential allies and glean intelligence on threats, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, the newspaper reported.

ISIS – aka the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh – has been building up forces in Libya as a potential “back-up capital” in case the terrorist group is driven out of its main base in Syria. ISIS is thought to have several thousand fighters in Sirte, but the group has had trouble expanding to other areas of Libya.

Still, ISIS has wasted no time building up its operations in the notoriously unstable country – the group has reportedly set up propaganda “media points” in the city and started imposing its strict laws, like requiring women to wear Islamic veils in public and permitting public executions.

The US special operations forces are trying to help local forces fight ISIS while taking advantage of foreign air power, according to the Post.

“These types of activities can be the difference between success and failure in what the administration refers to as areas outside of active hostilities,” William F. Wechsler, who was a senior Pentagon official overseeing Special Operations activities until last year, told the Post. “You’re mapping local networks, both friendly and unfriendly.”

Local forces are now reportedly preparing for an assault in ISIS in Sirte.

But the political situation in the country is tenuous and could hamper attempts to effectively beat back ISIS. The country is split between opposing factions, which have separate command centers overseeing anti-ISIS operations, according to the Post.

American officials told the Post that if these factions don’t coordinate their assault against ISIS, then the terrorist group could end up growing stronger.

An unnamed senior US official told the Post that the US military has “been working with our allies to urge focus on ISIL and not fueling rivalries across the country.”

businessinsider.com