Libya Updates 6/12/17

ISIS battles militia in control of Libya's oil wealth
1/4/16

The branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Libya said Monday it had detonated two car bombs at a checkpoint near the country's oil fields and clashed with fighters allied with the internationally recognized government there.

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The militant group has capitalized on chaos in Libya following Qaddafi's death. The country is now divided under two separate administrations; a Western-backed government based in the east, to which al-Jadhran has remained loyal, and a separate leadership based in the capital city of Tripoli, with ties to Islamic extremist groups.

[link to www.cbsnews.com]

What became of the faces of Libya’s uprising?
1/5/16

Hillary Clinton, then US secretary of state, helped Obeidi obtain asylum in the US. She was eventually settled in Boulder, Colorado in July 2011, where her new life took on more twists and turns.

She abused alcohol and committed minor offences – it was only a matter of time before the law caught up with her. In September 2015, Obeidi was sentenced to six years behind bars after being found guilty of assault.

When she was in Libya, she was claimed to be the victim of the former regime. Now in the US, she is the aggressor and a convicted criminal.

[link to www.thenational.ae]

Turkish Forces Launch Operation on Drugs Ship off Libya
1/6/16

Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish forces, acting on a tip, have conducted an operation on a Bolivian-flagged ship in international waters off the coast of Libya and seized 13 tons of marijuana. It was Turkey's first anti-narcotics operation in international waters.

[link to abcnews.go.com]

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13 tons of pot? OK......not really a narcotic, but good for them.
IF it was really pot on that ship. It's Turkey we're talking about here....

Ending the Libyan Free-For-All
1/5/16

Libya’s civil war has stalemated. Middle Eastern states are flooding the country with guns and money to bolster militias fighting for its two governments: the secular “Dignity” centered in Tobruk and its rival “Dawn,” an Islamist government based in Tripoli and Benghazi. Egypt and the UAE backed Dignity forces when the civil war re-escalated; Turkey and Qatar supported Dawn’s coalition. A proxy war ensued.

In between the areas controlled by the Tobruk and Tripoli-based forces, militants exploited the chaos. A tendril of the Islamic State put down roots around the northern coastal city of Sirte–the town Muammar Gaddafi once called home. Also active in this area are troops loyal to Ansar al-Sharia, the perpetrators of the 2012 Benghazi attacks. Refugees fleeing the violence entrust their lives to human traffickers to ferry them across the Mediterranean, often with fatal consequences.

[link to www.diplomaticourier.com]

Op-Ed: Libyan government again fails to obtain quorum to vote on LPA
1/5/16

Tripoli - The internationally-recognized Libyan government, the House of Representatives(HoR) met again today to approve the Libya Political Agreement(LPA) and the associated Government of National Accord(GNA) but failed to achieve a quorum.
This is now four times that the HoR has met and failed to obtain a quorum. Apparently, they met yesterday as well and did not get a quorum. Of course no one bothered to report on it. Kobler least of all will do so. At least the Libya Herald has finally reported the failure.

[link to www.digitaljournal.com]

Analysis: Is Sirte the New capital of the 'Islamic Caliphate'?
1/6/16

Security threats in Libya are increasingly a burden on regional and international security. Alongside politico-security clashes between different local actors, Libya has also witnessed the expansion of the Islamic State (ISIS) group.
This situation did not lead to the weakening of IS in Syria and Iraq, but rather offered an arena for the militant group in North Africa.

[link to english.ahram.org.eg]

Libya’s Migrant-Smuggling Highway: Lessons for Europe
1/6/16

Although Libya is not the main source country of the migrants heading to Europe, it has for long embodied a key transit node of the so-called Central Mediterranean route, which had been frequently used by migrants before the outbreak of the civil war in Syria. With a little exaggeration, one could say that it is a major transfer point for the vast majority of African migrants heading for the Old Continent. While before the escalation of the situation in Syria, the local population of the destabilized Libya accounted for a significant part of the total number of migrants, it was then largely replaced by Syrians who were benefitting from this migration route due to cheaper illegal commissions for smugglers, and also because the Eastern Mediterranean route across Turkey was at that time not yet sufficiently established. Currently (since 2014), the Syrians have given their preference for the above-mentioned Anatolian route but their numbers have been replaced by the migrants mainly from Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan who have now used the Libyan migration hub even more. The Eritreans are, however, represented the most in the long term.

[link to eubulletin.com]

Islamic State Poses Growing Threat to Libya’s Oil Industry
1/6/16

The scope of Islamic State’s attacks on Libya’s eastern oil ports expanded on Wednesday, Libyan officials said, with at least five oil tanks set on fire amid fears the group could inflict long-term damage on the North African nation’s energy industry.

The attacks stoked fears the radical Islamist group plans to undermine the financial viability of a peace agreement between two rival militia groups vying for control of Libya by destroying the country’s main source of revenue.

[link to www.wsj.com]

Fires erupt at Libyan oil ports after Islamic State attacks
1/6/16

Three days of Islamic State (Isis) attacks on Libya’s biggest oil terminals have started fires that have spread to five massive oil storage tanks, a guards spokesman said on Wednesday.
Ali al-Hassi said the Petroleum Facilities Guards were still in control of the neighbouring ports of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, where at least nine guards were killed and more than 40 injured near the ports’ perimeters on Monday and Tuesday.
Hassi said guards had recovered the bodies of 30 Isis fighters and had captured two military tanks and other vehicles from the militants.

[link to www.irishtimes.com]

Thanks Op .I had wondered about Libya

You're welcome.
Libya seems to slip between the cracks, even though so many issues center around it. Benghazi, migrant trafficking, continued strife between the so-called governments, the growing ISIS presence......

I'll keep an eye on it.

No easy options for West to dislodge IS from Libya: analysts
1/6/16

And would any NATO country be prepared to send troops into the vast desert country?

"IS has clearly established a foothold in Libya, and it's a matter of growing concern for the United Kingdom and other NATO countries, so it (military intervention) is certainly possible," Malcolm Chalmers of the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank said.

"The question is what the scale and nature of an intervention might be, and that will depend very much on how the threat develops over the next month."

[link to news.yahoo.com]

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Some NATO countries were prepared to (and did) bomb the living hell out of the place a few years back. Which of course caused all of this mess in the first place.
Maybe they won't be so eager to send troops into the quagmire they helped create.

Libya truck bomb targets police recruits in Zliten
1/7/16

A spokesman for the ministry of health of the rival government based in the capital, Tripoli, told the BBC that 47 people were killed and more than 100 people were injured in the blast, which was reportedly heard 60km (40 miles) away in Misrata.
Other news agencies have put the death toll at 50.
It is being reported that it was a water truck rigged with explosives which caused the bombing

[link to www.bbc.com]

Daesh Surges Towards Libyan Oil Fields

The head of the Libyan armed forces has called for the deployment of warplanes in an attempt to stem the surge of violence and destruction at the hands of Daesh militants who are making progress towards the country\'s main oil field in Sidra.

Read more: [link to sputniknews.com]

Who are James and Joanne Moriarty? Our story intro
9/24/13

[link to www.libyanwarthetruth.com]

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Statements about Benghazi begin at 56:41
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Thread: Muammar Gaddafi had 2 American Christians raise the cross in the Libyan Capital + Thread about Texas Christian couple experience in Libya (TRUTH) (Page 2)

Mainstream Media Finally Takes Interest in Massive Discrepancy Between Hillary Clinton and the Benghazi Families
1/4/16

Ultimately, Kessler gives the controversy a "No Rating" on his fact-checking scale, which seems appropriate given what we know, and the reporting he has done to move the story further. His kicker:

Clearly we cannot come to a resolution that would be beyond dispute. Readers will have to come to their own conclusions based on the evidence we have assembled.

It's a shame, and a revealing one, that it took this long for the mainstream media as a whole to take seriously this story. Kudos to Glenn Kessler for breaking the ice.

[link to reason.com (secure)]

Zliten Attack: Truck Bomb Kills at Least 60 at Libya Police Training Center
1/7/16

TRIPOLI, Libya — A massive truck bomb exploded near a police base in the western Libyan town of Zliten on Thursday, killing at least 60 policemen and wounding around 200 others, officials said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but a local ISIS affiliate has been trying to gain a foothold in Zliten, spreading westward from its central stronghold of Sirte along the North African country's coast.

[link to www.nbcnews.com]

Thank you for this thread! I've been to Libya in recent years for work, and for better or worse it's very much a part of me now. I went to be part of reconstruction (please no stone-throwing; I understand the ethical ramifications and moral ambiguity of reconstructing something that you, in effect, broke) efforts and the continued escalation of chaos and violence saddens me greatly. Cheers though for turning our attention to a locale that will most certainly occupy our headlines again in the near future.

Turkey is producing heroine in their labs too

That's more believable.
Turkey isn't lurking around Libya looking for reefer stashes. I'm sure there's more to it, and we'll never find out.

You didn't break anything, nor did I. Nor was there much we could do to stop this criminal destruction by NATO of a sovereign nation. They don't listen to us. Never did.
All we can do is hope to clean up their mess, and keep their crimes in the light until some kind of justice is served.

Clinton’s hypocrisy clear in Libya mess
1/7/16

Here’s what Clinton said on the question of Libya:

“The United States and our international partners are also proud of our own contributions. When (former Libyan Prime Minster Muammar) Gaddafi threatened Benghazi, we assembled an unprecedented coalition that included NATO and Arab countries, and acted quickly to prevent a massacre. We sought and won local, regional and international support, including the backing of the U.N. and the Arab League. And after deploying our unique military capabilities at the outset, the United States played a key role in a genuinely shared effort as our allies stepped up. As time went on, our coalition grew even stronger.”

Well, yes. But then what happened? Did the Department of State step in to stabilize Libya when terrorists began to take over? Did the Department of State work to shore up the Libyan government of which Clinton was so proud? Did the Department of State step in to own the spiraling terrorism problem of which Benghazi was only a part? No!

[link to www.charlotteobserver.com]

Residents say ‘slaughter to start any day’ after IS seizes Libya town
1/7/16

Residents of Ben Jawad, a coastal Libyan town that fell to the Islamic State (IS) group this week, have spoken of their fears that the militants could soon start carrying out mass executions.

A resident who spoke to Middle East Eye on Thursday said that the militants had rounded up 150 local men believed to have links with former police and military authorities and that the killing could start “any day” now.

“IS entered the town very forcefully, taking over all government buildings, the schools, the hospital and the bank,” Mohamed, who would not give his full name due to security concerns, told MEE. “They arrested 150 men - mostly former military and police, and held them in one of the government buildings. They even arrested those who had previously been forced to sign IS repentance documents, apologising for having worked for government institutions.”

Ben Jawad fell to IS on Monday, with the militants raising the black flag and declaring it to be the fourth town in Libya under IS control – bringing the group’s coastal territory in Libya to over 300km.

Mohamed said that although a few of the men had since been released, they and their families remained under house arrest.

[link to www.middleeasteye.net]

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Sounds like the operation of a precision paramilitary group. Funny how no one, not in Syria, Iraq, Libya, or Afghanistan, can repel these guys at the outset.

Recordings reveal Qaddafi foretold rise of radical Islam, Euro invasion
1/7/16

Doomed Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi delivered a prophetic warning in 2011, saying Islamic terror would spread across North Africa and hit Europe if he was removed from power, newly released phone transcripts revealed Thursday.

Speaking to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Qaddafi said "[jihadists] want to control the Mediterranean and then they will attack Europe," British media reported.

A British foreign affairs committee investigating the Qaddafi ouster released the transcripts of two phone calls to Blair, both of which reportedly took place on February 25, 2011. Qaddafi fled the Libyan capital city of Tripoli that summer, and rebels killed him in October.

[link to www.foxnews.com]

The Top Ten Myths in the War Against Libya
8/31/11

Since Colonel Gaddafi has lost his military hold in the war against NATO and the insurgents/rebels/new regime, numerous talking heads have taken to celebrating this war as a “success”. They believe this is a “victory of the Libyan people” and that we should all be celebrating. Others proclaim victory for the “responsibility to protect,” for “humanitarian interventionism,” and condemn the “anti-imperialist left”. Some of those who claim to be “revolutionaries,” or believe they support the “Arab revolution,” somehow find it possible to sideline NATO’s role in the war, instead extolling the democratic virtues of the insurgents, glorifying their martyrdom, and magnifying their role until everything else is pushed from view. I wish to dissent from this circle of acclamation, and remind readers of the role of ideologically-motivated fabrications of “truth” that were used to justify, enable, enhance, and motivate the war against Libya—and to emphasize how damaging the practical effects of those myths have been to Libyans, and to all those who favoured peaceful, non-militarist solutions.

These top ten myths are some of the most repeated claims, by the insurgents, and/or by NATO, European leaders, the Obama administration, the mainstream media, and even the so-called “International Criminal Court”—the main actors speaking in the war against Libya. In turn, we look at some of the reasons why these claims are better seen as imperial folklore, as the myths that supported the broadest of all myths—that this war is a “humanitarian intervention,” one designed to “protect civilians”. Again, the importance of these myths lies in their wide reproduction, with little question, and to deadly effect. In addition, they threaten to severely distort the ideals of human rights and their future invocation, as well aiding in the continued militarization of Western culture and society.

[link to www.counterpunch.org]

IS admits Zliten slaughter
1/7/16

IS has this evening claimed responsibility for today’s massacre at the Zliten security training school.

One internet site among a number used by the terrorists said that the suicide bomber who drove the explosive-filled water truck onto the parade ground was a Tunisian, whose nom de guerre was Abu Yakin Tunisi.

[link to www.libyaherald.com (secure)]

Thanks OP for spreading the Facts and truth.

Truth and facts?.....so elusive. We do what we can.
I can only go by what they show us. I try to put out as much info as I can find, from all sides of the story, and let people decide for themselves.

ISIS Moving In On Libya’s Oil Fields, Recruiting Engineers To Boost Revenue
1/7/16

For the last two years, Libya has been at the mercy of rival governments and local militias, resulting in the deaths of some 4,400 people and an economy on the verge of complete collapse. Last month, the two major rival political factions signed a U.N.-brokered unity government deal hoping to gain international legitimacy and end the conflict. But Libyans are not confident the deal will succeed and many fear that ISIS has made any chance of lasting peace even slimmer.

[link to www.ibtimes.com]