Abu al-Hassan Rachid al-Bulaydi, head of Islamic law council for terror group, said killed by Algerian troops.

A leading figure of the North African affiliate of al-Qaeda has been killed in an ambush by Algerian soldiers, one of 109 terrorists killed by Algerian security forces in 2015, the country’s Defense Ministry said Sunday.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, said that Abu al-Hassan Rachid al-Bulaydi, head of the Sharia Committee, was killed on Friday “as a result of an insidious ambush by the apostates,” according to a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The statement said he was killed in the Tizi Ouzou region east of Algiers.

The Algerian Defense Ministry said late Friday that two “dangerous terrorists” had been killed that afternoon near Azeffoun, in the northeast of the Tizi Ouzou region but didn’t fully identify them.

The ministry statement said the two had been members of terrorist groups since 1994, three years after the start of a bloody Islamist insurgency in Algeria.

AQIM grew out of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat and changed its name when it joined the al-Qaeda network in 2007 under the leadership of Abdelmalek Droukdel, who is believed to be holed up in the mountainous Tizi Ouzou region while overseeing a southern front in the Sahel.

The once-feared AQIM is now blamed for sporadic attacks in Algeria, often targeting soldiers in the Tizi Ouzou region.

The Defense Ministry said that in 2015 security forces eliminated 109 “terrorists” and arrested 36 others while seizing large quantities of arms and munitions, and close to 2 tons of explosives.

An estimated 200,000 people were killed in violence that began when Islamist extremists took up arms after the army canceled 1991 national elections that a fundamentalist group was poised to win. AQIM’s ranks were considerably thinned by an amnesty offer a decade ago for fighters without blood on their hands. It is unclear how many fighters remain.

timesofisrael.com

In a major political development, Faiez Serraj, the prime minister-designate of the internationally-supported Government of National Accord, has won the approval of a key group of Benghazi members of the House of Representatives (HoR), following a meeting with them in Cairo yesterday.

The group comprised Ziyad Daghim, Essam Al-Jihani and Essa Al-Araibi, who last October that he would support the GNA but only if it agreed not to remove Khalifa Hafter as head of the armed forces. Also present were one of Serraj’s two deputy prime ministers for eastern Libya, Ali Al-Qatrani.

The Libya Herald has been informed that at the meeting the position of Hafter was not an issue. The main demands of three HoR members were that the new government give its complete support to the existing Libya National Army (LNA), assuring it of funding, supplies and weapons in the fight against terrorism, plus unlimited funding for the reconstruction of Benghazi. They also demanded that, in addition to a third of government ministers coming from each of the country’s three historic provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan, all ambassadors be appointed on the same basis.

In what appears to be a coordinated move, the demands largely mirror those in a statement yesterday from eastern mayors and elders and in discussions by a number of eastern Libya tribes who met yesterday in two separate meetings. However, an additional condition for supporting the GNA was that Hafter remain as head of the LNA.

In one of the tribal meetings, in Ain Lali south of Beida, HoR president Ageela Saleh who was present was told that providing that were the case, he had to support the GNA.

It is thought the development will strengthen Serraj’s position considerably.

Meanwhile, back in Cairo, in another boost for him, Serraj officially met with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi who congratulated him on his appointment and told him that his government would have Egypt’s fullest backing, especially in the fight against terrorism and the re-establishment of security. The Egyptian president also stressed the importance of the Libya army and police and ensuring that the HoR remained a cohesive body.

It was Serraj’s first visit to Cairo since the signing of the Libyan political Agreement in Skhirat on 17 December.

Serraj has also been in touch with the Italian and German foreign ministers, Paolo Gentiloni and Frank-Walter Steinmeier who likewise congratulated him on his formal appointment at Skhirat as prime minister-designate and assured him of their countries’ support to restore stability in Libya.

In a related development, Libya’s current foreign minister Mohamed Al-Dairi has also given his strongest support so far to the GNA. Almost all Libyans backed it, he said in a TV interview. Political Islam, he added, had almost no public backing in the country but those who advocated it were welcome to join in the national reconciliation process.

libyaherald.com

The US and NATO are preparing to carry out new military operations on Libyan territory: the Western powers are pressuring the newly formed Libyan “unity government” coalition, assembled last week under the nominal leadership of the Maltese government, to approve strikes against ISIS targets in the country, according to the British newspaper.

The first task of the “unity government” should be to issue “a direct call for help from the West,” the European Union’s Libyan ambassador said. UK Prime Minister David Cameron called on the new coalition to serve as “one unified, representative government in Libya in the fight against Daesh [ISIS].” The Gulf regimes will also send forces in support of the imperialist-backed “unity government,” British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby vowed that Washington would support the new governmental coalition with “full backing and technical, economic, security and counterterrorism assistance.” In his end-of-the year press conference Friday, President Barack Obama hinted at the plans for a new US-NATO military intervention in Libya, saying the country now faced “a very bad situation” as a result of the failure of the NATO coalition to “rebuild government there quickly” after the 2011 war.

The so-called “unity government” does not include either of the two regimes that currently claim sovereignty over Libya. Nor does it include numerous other factions that are heavily involved in fighting on the ground, where at least six major tribal-based militias are struggling for control of portions of the strategic Mediterranean coastline. These include the Libyan National Army, Ansar al-Sharia, the anti-Islamist Cyrenaica militia, Islamic State, the Shura Revolutionary Council, and the Libya Dawn coalition of so-called “moderate Islamist” and Berber militias.

Far from securing any real unity or stability, the new government has been cobbled together to fabricate a legal fig leaf for another military onslaught against Libya by the imperialist powers, which seek to exploit the political chaos produced by the 2011 war to carry out another round of neocolonial predations against Africa and the Middle East. Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa.

Last week, Western media reported a mounting threat from the growth of a Libyan branch of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), claiming on Sunday that ISIS militias were on the verge of seizing the key town Ajdabiya. Media reports asserted that such a victory would give the militias control over a substantial portion of Libya’s oil wealth.

The sinister nature of the war preparations are underscored by the complete silence of the US media on these developments. A looming escalation in Libya, opening up a new front in a spreading war that already encompasses Iraq, Syria and Yemen, is to be launched behind the backs of the American people without any public discussion or debate.

A US Special Forces mission in Libya ended in a debacle last week, with the commandos making a hasty withdrawal after meeting with unexpected hostility from local forces, according to the Guardian .

The US troops, deployed to “foster relationships,” were reportedly withdrawn soon after deployment when it became clear that Libyan forces in control of the area were hostile to the US presence. Before departing, the US soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes and carrying rifles equipped with silencers and high-tech optics, stopped for a group picture outside a Libyan airport.

On Sunday, NBC News informed readers that US commandos have been operating secretly in Libya for “some time now,” moving “in and out” of the country, according to comments by unnamed US officials.

It was already well established that US Special Forces conducted extensive operations inside Libya prior to 2011, as the US and NATO sought to mobilize Islamist militias for wars against the Libyan and Syrian governments. The NBC story, one of a handful of reports produced last week before the story was buried by the American press, underscores the fact that US forces have continued to wage secret operations in Libya since the official end to the war.

The evidence of US covert operations in Libya comes amid the preparations of the imperialist powers for open air and ground operations to be carried out in the name of fighting Islamist jihadist forces. These are the same militia American and European intelligence agencies and their regional allies such as Saudi Arabia financed and armed in the war that saw the overthrow and murder of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and were then deployed against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

The most aggressive proposals for new operations in Libya have been advanced by London, which has worked with Italy to contrive a strategy that would send sizable ground forces to occupy portions of Rome’s former colony. Britain is preparing to deploy 1,000-plus troops as part of plans to train new Western-backed militias and link up with pro-Western political elements, according to Al Alam .

Earlier this month, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls made clear that France would launch its own renewed operations against Libya, declaring “[W]e have an enemy, Daesh, that we must fight and crush, in Syria, in Iraq and tomorrow without doubt in Libya.”

Last week, in a report to the United Nations, the British government claimed that ISIS viewed Libya as “the best opportunity to expand its so-called caliphate,” and that the Islamist group had established new safe zones and staging areas in North Africa in response to escalated operations by the Western powers in Syria and Iraq.

The French military is already carrying out reconnaissance missions in preparation for the new campaign, including scouting operation over the city of Sirte, which was reduced to rubble by the 2011 bombing campaign. With the media blaring reports that hundreds of ISIS fighters have massed in Sirte, the city appears to be coming into the crosshairs of the Western powers once again.

The “war against ISIS” has become the all-purpose pretext for a new imperialist carve-up of the Middle East and North Africa.

axisoflogic.com

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to attend an emergency meeting of the Arab League to discuss Turkish intervention in Iraq, state news agency MENA reported.

The UN Security Council endorsed a UN-brokered agreement among Libya’s warring factions to form a national unity government, a deal Western powers hope will bring stability and help to combat a growing Islamic State presence, according to Reuters.

Libya’s UN ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, said Libyan authorities have no plans to request Western air strikes against Islamic State militants anytime soon, if at all. He dismissed media reports citing him as saying the resolution would lead to a swift Libyan appeal for Western military intervention.

The unanimously adopted resolution, drafted by Britain, made clear that Libya’s future unity government should be the sole representative for the North African country, where competing governments have long vied for power.

Four years after Muammar Gaddafi’s fall, Libya is deeply fractured, with a self-declared government in Tripoli and an internationally recognized one in the east, each backed by coalitions of former rebels and militias. Hardliners in both Libyan factions reject the peace deal.

The resolution said the council welcomed the formation of the so-called Presidency Council in Libya and urged it to a form a unity government within 30 days as called for in last week’s agreement.

It also urged the Presidency Council to finalize interim security arrangements necessary for bringing stability to Libya and called on UN member states to “respond urgently to requests for assistance” from Libya’s unity government.

This did not mean Libya wanted U.S., British, French or other countries conducting bombing sorties against Islamic State militants in Libya.

Dabbashi said Libya may eventually want air support from Western countries in the fight against Islamic State but suggested that such a request, if it comes, was not imminent. The priority was strengthening Libyan security capabilities with Western training and lifting the UN arms embargo, he said.

panarmenian.net

The French government is preparing for military action against the Islamic State in Libya in the first half of 2016 and is seeking to form a coalition with European allies, Le Figaro reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources close to the Defense Ministry and the army’s command.

While France supports the United Nations-brokered peace deal signed between Libyan factions on Dec. 17, the French army is also setting up a provisional military action plan, Le Figaro reported, citing the Defense Minister’s entourage.

Italy would be ready to participate in a coalition to fight IS in Libya, while France is in talks with the U.K., Gulf States and North African countries including Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, the newspaper said.

bloomberg.com

A military court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and other leading Brotherhood figures including Mohamed al-Beltagy and Safwat Hegazy to 10 years.

In the case, dubbed as “Suez events” by the media, which involves 199 defendants, the court sentenced 56 defendants said to be supporters of former president Mohamed Mursi to high security imprisonment of 3 to 7 years.

The court also handed life imprisonment to 90 defendants in absentia and 50 others were acquitted.

The verdict is subject to appeal.

The public prosecution accused the defendants of inciting violence and rioting in the province of Suez following the dispersal of Rabaa al-Adaweya and Nahda square sit-ins in August 2013.

In the aftermath of the dispersals, violence broke out in several parts of the country. In Suez, at least 30 people were killed in the violence, dozens of military personnel were injured and a military vehicle and several churches were set ablaze.

Mursi and Badie are among several leading Brotherhood figures who have been put on trial after the July 2013 ouster of Mursi after mass protests against his rule.

Egypt listed the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation in December 2013 and insists it is behind the wave of militancy which has targeted security personnel since July 2013.

albawaba.com

It was coincidence that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave his usual “threatening speech” on Monday night after the Defense Ministry announced its successful trial of the David’s Sling missile defense system. However, there is a connection between the two events. David’s Sling is a system for intercepting  medium-range missiles which was developed in answer to the threat posed by the missiles and rockets in the hands of the Shi’ite Lebanese organization.

Nasrallah said in his speech that his organization sees Israel as being responsible for the assassination of Hezbollah operative Samir Kuntar, vowing to avenge the attack at the time of his choosing. It is likely that because of Hezbollah’s involvement in the civil war in Syria, which exacts a high price from the group, the retaliation is not a top priority for the organization. However, there is no doubt that the group will try to take revenge with terror attacks abroad against Israeli targets and also with attacks on the Golan Heights from Syria.

On Monday, the Defense Ministry’s Israel Missile Defense Organization announced that it had successfully completed the last phase of trials for the David’s Sling, concluding the five-year long development of the system. The system is now scheduled to be delivered to the Air Force, which has already begun training the first crews to operate it, and it will likely be operational by the end of 2016, but not before its interception accuracy is tested thoroughly. According to the defense establishment’s plan, the system’s batteries will be deployed at four sites throughout the country.

The system, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the US defense company Raytheon, was partially funded by the US government. Originally, the David’s Sling was intended to intercept rockets with a range up to 200km. and to serve as a second layer of defense between the Iron Dome (which had its interception range increased from 40km. to 70km.) and the Arrow, which is intended to shoot down ballistic missiles outside of the atmosphere. However, since then, the David’s Sling has been equipped with additions and technological advancements that will enable it to intercept missiles carrying warheads with dozens of kilograms of explosive materials at greater ranges and even higher altitude.

The head of the program at Rafael, whose name is kept secret, said Monday that the idea behind the system is “to enable interceptions, even of precise missiles, at a great altitude of hundreds of kilometers, far from the area being shielded.” The system was developed to intercept drones as well.

With all of the praise for the technological breakthroughs, it is impossible to ignore the problems and challenges the system presents, if and when it faces the real test – missiles being fired at Israel. Among the massive stockpile of more than 100,000 rockets and missiles at Hezbollah’s disposal, there are a few thousand missiles that fit the definition “medium-range.” Even if most of them are destroyed by the Israel Air Force before they have a chance to be fired when a potential war starts, the organization will still be left with enough missiles to launch at multiple targets in Israel at ranges reaching as far as the nuclear reactor in Dimona.

The big challenge for David’s Sling will be to intercept barrages of rockets with maneuvering capabilities, and that’s before taking into account the cost. The system is a very expensive one. While one Iron Dome interceptor missile costs some $70,000, the estimated cost of a David’s Sling interceptor missile is approximately a million dollars. Therefore, if the issue of cost vs. cost effectiveness is important, but not critical in the case of Iron Dome, when it comes to the David’s Sling, the issue of cost will play a considerable part in deciding  when to operate the system.

jpost.com

Libya’s self-proclaimed government in Tripoli is grateful to Russia for its consent and readiness to help the crisis-hit Libya in its fight against terrorism, Prime Minister Khalifa Ghawi told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Tripoli government’s delegation held a meeting with the Russian Foreign Ministry’s officials in Moscow.

“We have asked the international community, and first of all, Russia, an important country helping the Libyan people to confront terrorism and radicalization, to provide logistical and military support in the fight against terrorism. The Russian response was that they were ready to help any country [in this respect],” Ghawi said after the meeting.