Press conference by Martin Kobler stopped when Tripoli authorities told him he had no permission to host media conference.

The United Nations’ special delegate to Libya Martin Kobler was “humiliated” by the Tripoli authorities today Saturday, when his press conference was interrupted and told he needed permission to hold it at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport.

Libya Herald reported that Kobler was cut short at his separately organized press conference by the Tripoli administration’s Foreign Media Department head Jamal Zubia.

“When you want to hold a press conference you have to take permission from the Foreign Media Department because we are responsible. By law, all the people (journalists/media) who are here, I must cancel their accreditation because this is the law,” Zubia said.

“OK. We apologise and please do not cancel their accreditation. Thank you very much. Thank you,” a bemused Kobler replied.

Kobler then promptly ended his press conference and left the hall at Mitiga airport heading straight to his waiting jet and flew out of Libya.

It is not clear exactly why Zubia decided to take such a course of action, but analysts felt that it was probably a reaction of frustration to Kobler’s decision not to hold a joint press conference with the General National Congress in Tripoli.

Kobler has refused to concede any ground to the GNC on renegotiating the Libyan Political Agreement and its Government of National Accord, the newly recognised Libyan government sanctioned by the UN Security Council.

He left Tripoli with the GNC refusing to accept the Skhirat agreement.

There was also a reported invitation by GNC president Abu Sahmain to Kobler to visit Martyr Square this evening to witness the anti-Skhirat demonstrators. Unsurprisingly, Kobler failed to turn up at the set-piece spontaneous public demonstration.

Libya Herald said that the UN obtained landing permission at Mitiga airport from the Tripoli-based Libyan Civil Aviation, ostensibly making Kobler an official guest of the GNC and its president Abu Sahmain.

Kobler arrived in Tripoli with the power, authority and weight of the UN, the international community and UNSC Resolution 2259 behind him, which grants him “free interaction with all interlocutors and to take necessary steps to ensure the security of as well as the unhindered movement and timely access for the UN and associated personnel”.

Libya Herald said the “irresistible tide” of the new GNA was frustrating hardliners inside Tripoli’s GNC-Libya Dawn coalition “which seems to be unravelling and spiraling out of control in the 30-day countdown to the formation of the GNA.”

maltatoday.com.mt

In security vacuum left by fall of Gaddafi a volunteer police force has joined together to take on people traffickers.

It’s early in the morning and Islam Halab is putting on his military uniform, including a mask that reveals only his eyes. Fully covered and all in black, he’s about to go to work as a volunteer policeman in his home city of Zuwara in eastern Libya.

Along with more than 130 others, Halab is part of a self-organised anti-crime unit fighting to reinstall law and order since civil war engulfed the country following the death of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

“We’re not allowed to perform any task without wearing this uniform, including the mask,” says Halab. “At first, we wore [it] to hide our identities for safety, especially since even our families didn’t know we were members of this team. But now, after three years, most of us have become well-known by the people in the city.”

Conflict between rival militias has left Libya deeply divided, with vast regions split under the rule of various Islamist and nationalist groups and armed gangs taking control on a smaller scale. Left in a security vacuum without a reliable police or army force to protect them, frustrated citizens in Zuwara have joined together in a bid to take back power.

Known locally as the Masked Men, or Masked Force, the group is loosely affiliated with the government’s criminal investigation centre. Its volunteers include doctors, engineers and former policemen, and members say that what they lack in combat and field experience, they make up in their desire to restore stability to their country.

“Respecting time and order on the team is essential,” says Halab. “Those who are proved to be violating these instructions will be fined, imprisoned or even sacked.”

AQ, another member who asked to remain anonymous, says it’s a stressful job. “All members try to avoid [a leadership] position since it involves huge responsibilities and pressures, not to mention the confrontations with the families of criminals, which is no easy task.”

Although at first they wore masks to conceal their identities for fear of retribution attacks, they’ve since become openly celebrated for their fight against crime, which has helped bring down the number of armed robberies, burglaries and drug deals in the city.

Trafficking

The biggest issue facing the coastal city is smuggling – drugs, alcohol, fuel, but mostly people. The Masked Team says it has made a breakthrough in its investigation of human traffickers, an increasing problem as the refugee crisis intensifies and thousands of migrants assemble to make the Mediterranean sea crossing to Europe.

Halab and his fellow volunteers recently arrested at least 25 traffickers, he says, with more being detained each day.

But the group has faced criticism, too. Some residents feel uncomfortable that they operate without official permits, and are untrained. But AQ tries to assuage their fears. “We only started our job after getting a permit from the ministry of the interior.

“We started our first mission on the very first day of getting it. We arrested a raft of criminals who set the city’s security directorate on fire. Anyone can verify these facts directly from the ministry,” he says.

Team members don’t have other jobs, and often struggle to make ends meet. They are paid between 500 – 800 Libyan dinars per month ($358-$572), but the payments are often late. “Once, I distributed uniforms to my colleagues, but one of them [was left with] a big one,” says Halab. “I told him to [alter it] as there was no extra. However, he told me in private that he didn’t have enough money.

“He was one of the most tenacious and dedicated members of the team. He did not have another source of income. Those who spread rumours that we gain a lot of money ignore or do not know these facts.”

‘We can’t do everything’

In 2013, the Masked Force set up independent headquarters in an abandoned factory built by Chinese investors, and equipped it with offices and cells to receive prisoners.

“In the beginning, we worked with the state’s apparatuses in Zuwara, especially the police and security directorate,” says AQ. “A while later, however, we found that imbalances and favouritism were rampant there. Some of them did not want to have a secure and stable country; [they wanted] to take advantage of chaos.”

Soon after they set up on their own, they were attacked by armed men, says AQ.

“I did not expect to survive that day. I was sitting with my colleagues at the front gate when an RPG grenade hit us. At first, we did not realise what was going on. I took up my weapon and prepared myself.

“I saw one of my colleagues flying through the air from the explosion. Then, another grenade fell. We expected that the city was being attacked from outside because the grenades were coming from the south.” Many of the force were injured in the bombing.

Despite suspicions about their motives from some parts of the community, the men are largely supported by the city’s residents. Their popular appeal was evident at a peaceful march staged by locals in October, to reaffirm support for the team’s efforts.

It’s the fight against human smugglers that city residents appreciate the most, AQ says. “Two years ago, [our] team arrested traffickers and referred them to the prosecution,” he says. “However, they were released after they paid fines that were more like bribes and they went unpunished, which caused [us] to stop going after them. However, when [refugee] corpses started appearing on the city’s beaches recently, we had to return to address this issue.”

August marked the team’s most significant victory, when they captured some of the smugglers alleged to be responsible for the drowning of up to 300 people, an event widely reported in international media.

They’ve since developed a clear action plan to tackle traffickers, but to implement it they’ll need more support. “We are working, believing in our cause and will continue to work,” says Halab. “[But] we cannot do the tasks of all security, monitoring and [government] services.”

theguardian.com

Libya’s new government will curb illegal migration, the Libyan Charge d’Affairs in Italy told AGI. Azzedin Al-Awami said it will be able to act, with the support of the EU, when the Treaty of Friendship and Partnership between Italy and Libya is renewed.

“Libya has more illegal immigrants than other countries, because of the size of the sea and land frontier, which stretches for over 7,000 kilometres,” he said in an interview. He stressed that, “from a military point of view, Italy could limit itself to providing logistical support to the legitimate Libyan army”.

The Italian government will “have to demonstrate its ability to talk with Libyan parties with a grassroots base in society … not just with factions supported by the armed militia groups”.

There were still obstacles to forming a new Libyan government, “the biggest being the presence of armed militia with control over some areas, and the different needs of the factions” and the regional powers, “as well as the lack of political experience to … work with equilibrium on the constitutional declaration with regard to the mechanisms for forming a government and gaining a confidence vote.”

Russian airstrikes could send ISIS forces towards Israel; Syrian regime could also retake areas near the border.

The IDF is preparing for the possibility that Russian air strikes will push Islamic State forces, currently around 40 kilometers away from the Israeli border, towards the Golan Heights in the coming months.

Additionally, the IDF’s 210 Habashan Division, which defends the Golan Heights, is also closely watching an ISIS-affiliated militia, made up of some 600 members armed with tanks, mortars, and other weaponry, called Shahaha Yarmuk, which could decide to launch an attack on Israel in the future.

Both the Islamic State and Shahada Yarmuk are fighting al-Qaida’s Al Nusra Front in Syria, and the ongoing battles between them, as well as battles with the Syrian regime, mean there is no likely immediate threat of an attack by the array of global jihadists in the area.

There are a few thousand Al-Nusra Front members on the Syrian Golan Heights near Israel, including near Mount Hermon.

The jihadist-salafi forces had attempted in recent months to move towards the Lebanese border, but were blocked by a Hezbollah offensive aimed at defending the Shi’ite organization’s home turf of Lebanon from their approach.

Similarly, attempts by Syrian jihadists to seize the Quneitra to Damascus road have failed since Russia’s air campaign to save the Assad regime began – the same air campaign that might result in the Islamic State retreating southwards, towards Israel.

Intelligence-gathering activities within the IDF’s Northern Command have increased dramatically to keep up with all of the recent events, and track the capabilities and intentions of every armed group in southern Syria.

Security sources have described the intelligence task as very challenging.

According to IDF intelligence assessments, the foreign elements in Jabhat Al-Nusra, who make up some 15% of the organization, are more keen to attack Israel, while the majority – local Syrian members – resisted the idea, due to their connection to the land, family members in the area, and reluctance to open yet another front. It remains unclear whether this reluctance is sufficient to prevent an Al-Nusra attack on Israel in the future.

To that end, the IDF’s 210 Division is preparing its responses to a host of incidents, from strategic terrorist attacks such as attempts to get bomb-laden vehicles into Israel, to rocket fire, to cross-border infiltration attempts.

Shuhada Yarmuk, described by security sources as “Shuha-da’ash” in reference to its connection to the Islamic tate, is located just 10 to 15 kilometers from the Israeli border, and is under close Israeli monitoring. The organization rules over some 40,000 Syrians, and though it is affiliated with ISIS, it maintains some autonomy as well.

The radical Islamist organization lost its leader in a Jabhat Al-Nusra twin suicide bomb attack on its headquarters in recent weeks, but receives assistance from ISIS when needed, including funds and weapons.

In revenge, the organization blew up a vehicle containing a Jabhat Al-Nusra commander just 400 meters from the Israeli border on the northern Golan Heights.

Additionally, security sources said they are prepared for the possibility of a return to the northern Golan area by Syrian regime military forces in the coming months, due to Russian and Iranian support, creating a situation in which the northern Golan is bordered by Assad loyalist forces and the southern Golan is bordered by Salafi-jihadi organizations.

As part of the IDF’s preparations, field commanders have been given greater autonomy to make real-time decisions during potential cross-border incidents, the border fence has been beefed up with a new layer, mounds have been dug, and an array of border intelligence sensors feed control rooms around the clock.

Separately, security sources, referring to recent threats by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah to revenge the killing of terrorist Samir Kuntar in Damascus, said they are taking the threats to attack very seriously, while adding that Nasrallah is also taking into account Israeli counter-threats to respond forcefully to any attack.

jpost.com

Tunisian authorities have detained 11 individuals involved in the recruitment of new members for Daesh the Tunisian Interior Ministry reports.

eturbonews.com

Attacks by armed groups in Algeria have declined in recent years as the country ramps up its anti-terrorism fight.

Dozens of top African police officials met in Algiers this month to ratify legal documents related to the creation of Afripol, the pan-African law enforcement agency expected to begin operations next year.

Algeria has played a leading role in the establishment of Afripol, which provides a mechanism for cooperation and coordination among African police services. The agency’s headquarters will be based in the Algiers neighbourhood of Ben Aknoun.

According to Algeria’s national security chief, Major-General Abdelghani Hamel, this marks the start of a new phase in the country’s battle against “terrorism”.

“Afripol can provide an added value to the regional and international police cooperation, and bring a police response to the global threats in a changing environment,” Hamel said in a statement.

The increased push for security cooperation among African states comes as Algeria continues to be sealed off from its neighbours. Most of Algeria’s 6,000km of borders are closed and under military control, with the exception of its border with Tunisia.

“The army has been relatively successful in stopping the flow of both fighters and arms trafficking, whereas neighbouring countries – such as Mali, Libya and Tunisia – have been increasingly infiltrated by Islamist fighters,” a retired military officer told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.

The oil-producing country has also managed to keep relatively low the number of Algerians joining up with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. Fewer than 200 Algerians have joined ISIL in Syria and Iraq, compared with 1,500 Moroccans and up to 3,000 Tunisians, according to the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence.

“The jihadi ideology is significantly less appealing to the Algerian people, especially the young population … given Algeria’s lingering conflict between the government and the Islamist rebels, in what became known as the Black Decade,” Akram Kharief, an Algerian journalist who specialises in defence and security issues, told Al Jazeera, referring to the country’s civil war in the 1990s. 

Geoff Porter, head of North Africa Risk Consulting, concurred, noting: “Algerians have had more exposure to jihadi ideology and its failures and, as a result, have not been lured to fight with [ISIL].”

However, Romain Caillet, an expert on armed groups who consults with various international organisations, said there was no way to say with certainty that this type of ideology was on the decline in Algeria, noting Algeria has also exported “terrorism” to other parts of Africa.

“Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was substantially founded by ex-fighters of the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which succeeded the Islamic Armed Group,” Caillet told Al Jazeera. “Despite considerable investments in counterterrorism over the past 25 years, Algeria has not yet eradicated Islamic terror.”

Still, data shows that attacks by armed groups within Algeria have decreased over the past two decades. A total of seven deaths related to “terrorism” were recorded in 2014, a 92 percent decline over the previous year and the lowest level since 1993, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace’s 2015 Global Terrorism Index.

After the deaths of 25 Islamist fighters in an army sweep in Bouira province, east of Algiers, last May, Ramtane Lamamra, the foreign minister, said: “Only remnants of terrorism are left in Algeria.”

According to Kharief, around 1,000 hardened Islamist fighters remain engaged in a “guerrilla” war against the Algerian regime – which they do not see as legitimate – but they have had a difficult time recruiting new members. “The Islamist rebels also face logistical problems, as they continually have to move to new hideouts,” he said.

Algerian authorities, who say they have contained the fighters to three zones – including the northeastern mountainous region of Kabylie and areas bordering Libya and Mali – have been aggressively pursuing them, raking Kabylie for the former leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

Authorities have also made a push this month to target Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate), an al-Qaeda breakaway group that pledged allegiance to ISIL, killing several members and destroying dozens of hideouts, according to the defence ministry. Jund al-Khilafah today has fewer than 30 fighters in Algeria, security sources told Al Jazeera.

“There are at least two components to effective counterterrorism,” Porter said. “One is policing, and the other is intelligence. Algeria does a very good job at both. The perimeters that security services have established around Algiers have been very effective in recent years.”

Regardless, security forces in Algeria will remain on continuous alert in the days and months ahead, as the threat of attacks remains high throughout the volatile region.

In July, al-Qaeda’s North African branch claimed one of the deadliest attacks in years, an ambush of a military convoy in Ain Defla that killed 11 soldiers on Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The attack came after ISIL released a video titled “A message to the Algerian people”, in which three bearded fighters warned that Algeria would “pay a heavy price” for combating extremism in the Maghreb.

The recent Paris attacks have also prompted concern in the country, with an increased security presence in Algiers.

“According to France’s intelligence, a terrorist attack was likely to be carried out in Algiers following the Paris massacre,” Kharief said. “The Algerian government has responded to a request made by the French authorities to enhance both security and surveillance in the French offices, including France’s embassy… [and] the security system has been reinforced everywhere in the capital.”

Citing the random nature of such attacks, Kharief noted that no security measures can be entirely relied upon to keep the country safe.

“From ISIL’s perspective, Algeria has become the Western countries’ closest ally in Africa,” he said. “It has also emerged as a world leader in the struggle against terrorism. That makes Algiers a symbolic target.”

aljazeera.com

According to Moroccan website Le360, Morocco’s intelligence also helped to disclose the shelter of November 13 Paris attacks’ mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud, located in Saint-Denis, a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris. Abaaoud was killed on November 18 during an anti-terrorist raid in Saint-Denis.

The information provided by the Moroccan security services helped to foil several terrorist attacks in Europe, Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) chief Abdelhak Khiame said Monday.

“Several attacks, recently planned in some European states, including France, Spain and Belgium, were foiled due to exchange of important information between the Moroccan security services and their European colleagues,” Khiame said in an interview to the Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure.

On November 13, extremists wearing explosive belts and carrying automatic weapons attacked several sites across Paris, killing at least 130 and injuring over 350 at restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and in the vicinity of the Stade de France sports arena. The Islamic State (IS or Daesh in Arabic) terrorist group, which is outlawed in Russia, claimed responsibility for the attacks in the French capital.

sputniknews.com

An anti-Islamic State Islamist group in the Libyan capital released a propaganda video detailing the confessions of five captured militants who say they took part in a half-dozen attacks in Tripoli. Their testimonies suggest IS is relying on inexperienced fighters for the bulk of its operations in the North African country, and that it is facing manpower challenges.

Even so, European governments remain highly alarmed at the quick rise of the terror group in Libya, and say that in the last six months IS may have nearly doubled the number of fighters there to 5,000.

The nearly hour-long video was released by the so-called Special Deterrence Force, a controversial 700-member Islamist militia under the command of 35-year-old Abd al-Rauf Kara, a Tripoli native.

Its narrator condemns the terror group, saying, “Islam has never been a terrorist religion.”

But security analysts say the testimonies of the five militants, all but one under the age of 30, suggest Islamic State militants are in the early stages of their buildup — at least when it comes to Tripoli — and may have trouble infiltrating fighters into the Libyan capital.

“If the information presented in this video is accurate, it is a testament to the weakness of IS operating in Tripoli, showing that they relied on a small group of inexperienced and untrained members for the bulk of their operations within the capital,” said a security analyst who asked not to be identified.

“Simultaneously, it underlines the ability of a disposable group to conduct targeting within a major city that lacks any unified security forces,” he added.

Gaining media attention

The five captured militants say they were involved in a number of attacks, including the bombings last year of the Egyptian and Emirati embassies and two security buildings in the Libyan capital, and attacks this year on the Algerian embassy and the U.N. mission. One of the militants says the aim of the Algerian embassy bombing was to attract publicity.

The importance of gaining media attention is mentioned several times in connection with the other attacks, too.

All the attacks received media coverage, adding to the sense of Western foreboding about the Islamic State’s rapid presence in Libya.

Earlier this month, a group of U.N. experts said in a report that the Islamic State has had trouble expanding in Libya due to a shortage of fighters.

While noting that Libya — which has been divided for more than a year between two rival governments, as well as by other factions — represents the most vulnerable of countries in the region, the U.N. experts said the group faces several constraints in Libya, including the fact that, “It is only one player among multiple warring factions in Libya.”

Rushed training, planning

The U.N. analysts said the terror group is having problems forming and maintaining alliances with local militias. According to the report, the IS affiliate relies on about 800 Libyan veterans who have returned from Syria and Iraq, but that most of the rest are locally recruited, and they appear to have little training. One of the militants in the video noted he had just days at a training camp.

Planning for the operations seems as rushed as the training — the attack on the Tripoli security directorate took just two days, the militants say, and the bomb consisting of rockets packed into a car failed to detonate properly when triggered by a cellphone call.

Kara’s Special Deterrence Force has clashed several times with IS, most notably last January when his men were the first on the scene to battle jihadists who had stormed the landmark and killed 10 people as they went looking for Westerners to slaughter. An American security contractor staying at the hotel was killed in the attack.

The captured militants on the video released by the SDF only provided “material assistance” for the Corinthia Hotel attack — a far more sophisticated operation that was carried out by more experienced fighters.

Threat of growth

But in an exclusive interview with this correspondent several months ago, Kara, who rarely speaks with Western journalists, warned that IS in Libya is likely to grow exponentially unless order is restored to Libya quickly. He estimated that IS has about 2,000 fighters in Libya — although some of his lieutenants put the number closer to 3,000. Some Western officials think IS may have as many as 5,000 fighters now.

In recent weeks, the terror group has been using social media accounts to call for more jihadists to go to Libya. Abdulrahman Moftah Almzogee, the youngest of the militants on the SDF video, says that the recent recruits he saw in Sirte were “mostly Libyans and Tunisians,” but there were others from European countries, including Britain, Spain and Russia.

voanews.com