Libya Updates 6/12/17

LNA has taken Benghazi’s Ganfouda: report
1/25/17

A Libyan National Army commander has announced victory in the Benghazi’s Ganfouda district though it appears that some terrorists are still holding out in small group of high-rise apartments.

The victory proclamation from a senior officer in the Zawia Martyrs’ Brigade has not yet been confirmed by LNA sources.

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

Did Obama Defeat ISIS in Libya?
1/28/17

Does that mean the Obama administration achieved its goal of saving Libya from ISIS, and preventing the creation of a new safe haven for ISIS jihadis driven from their shrinking kingdom in Syria?

"This was the largest remaining ISIS presence in Libya," a U.S. defense official said of the two jihadi encampments taken out in the airstrikes. "They have been largely marginalized but I am hesitant to say they've been completely eliminated in Libya."

[link to www.nbcnews.com]

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Merkel says no EU migrant deal for Libya without political stability
1/28/17

Any deal with Libya to control migration similar to that reached with Turkey cannot be signed until a semblance of political stability has returned to the country, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today.

She warned that agreement could only be reached “when the unity government is really a unity government and has control over the entire country and we can talk about human rights issues and standards.”

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

Migrant crisis: EU leaders agree plan to stop Libya influx
2/3/17

In their declaration on migration, the 28 EU leaders said: "A key element of a sustainable migration policy is to ensure effective control of our external border and stem illegal flows into the EU."
The plan includes:

Increased training and equipment for the Libyan coastguard

Stepped up efforts to block smuggling routes

Better conditions for migrants at Libyan reception centres

More EU involvement with countries near Libya to slow the influx

Supporting local communities on migration routes and in coastal areas to improve their socio-economic situation
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However, analysts say a similar result is unlikely in the immediate term in the central Mediterranean because of the continuing instability in Libya.

[link to www.bbc.com]

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Now that a sufficient amount of 'migrants' have inundated the EU and other nations, it hardly matters.
The flow was a direct result of the sham 'intervention' and outright destruction of the Libya government and infrastructure. Stability is not even close.
We're going on 6 years now since NATO started destroying the nation and people of Libya, under the guise of 'humanitarian intervention'.

Watch Libya for the First Sign of Trump-Putin Collaboration
2/3/17

Under Muammar Qaddafi, Libya was a Russian ally, a playground for Russian energy companies, and a buyer of Russian weapons. When he fell in 2011, the Russian state railroad monopoly lost a lucrative contract to build a rail line along the Mediterranean coast, one of many voided Russian investments.

[link to www.bloomberg.com (secure)]
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The 'Cold War' may have ended, but I don't see any difference......

Clashes erupt west of Libya's capital
2/2/17

[link to www.libyaobserver.ly (secure)]

Libya sees new threat from ISIL after defeat at Sirte
2/10/17

ISIL militants have begun attacks on Libya’s oil and water pipelines, posing a deadly new threat to the country, Libyan defence officials say.

The extremist group lost its Libya headquarters in the central coastal city of Sirte in December after a six-month offensive by militias backed by US air power, but Libyan officials and foreign diplomats say its fighters have now fanned out across the southern desert into desert valleys and inland hills, as they seek to exploit Libya’s political divisions..

Three separate ISIL groups have been identified based in different parts of the Sahara, and, say officials, they are striking at the country’s vulnerable oil and water infrastructure.

[link to m.thenational.ae]

Libya: Why the EU is looking to Russia
2/10/17

But what is Russia's stake in the volatile North African nation?

One Libyan figure may prove to be central to any negotiations: Gen. Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have been fighting Islamists and control a chunk of the country's east. He's already been talking to Russia.

[link to www.cnn.com]

Libya still in the mire as another anniversary passes
2/15/17

In the absence of a strong regular army, the oil-rich country with long, porous borders has turned into rich terrain for smugglers of arms and people from sub-Saharan Africa desperate to reach Europe via perilous Mediterranean crossings.

Also stepping into the void have been jihadists, especially the Islamic State group which has seized swathes of Libya, although it was expelled in December from its bastion of Sirte, a city on the Mediterranean.

Hopes for a recovery and return to an era of security raised by a Government of National Accord (GNA), set up under a December 2015 agreement brokered by the United Nations and signed in Morocco, proved short-lived.

It set up shop in Tripoli in March 2016 but has failed to extend its authority, even in the capital which is controlled by dozens of militias of shifting allegiances.

The authority of the GNA headed by Fayez al-Sarraj is challenged by a rival administration in east Libya, much of which is under the control of armed forces commanded by controversial Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

[link to www.newvision.co.ug]

Haftar rejects meeting with GNA Prime Minister, Al-Serraj in Cairo
2/14/17

The leader of the eastern forces of Operation Dignity, which is an operation appointed by the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), Khalifa Haftar, refused to meet the Government of National Accord’s Prime Minister, Fayez Al-Sirraj, in Cairo, Egypt.

The meeting, according to Egyptian sources, was scheduled to be held on Tuesday morning, however, Haftar seems to have refused to meet with Al-Serraj and the meeting was delayed.

The sources added that Haftar rejected to meet Al-Sirraj after he finished his prolonged discussions with the Egyptian Chief of Staff, Mahmoud Hijazi.

[link to www.libyanexpress.com]

Libya’s rivals fail to meet in Cairo to discuss settlement
2/14/17

CAIRO — Two leading Libyan rivals — the head of the U.N.-brokered government and the country’s most powerful army commander — failed to meet as planned in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss a political settlement for the war-torn nation.

A spokesman for the unity government had earlier said that Fayez Serraj’s planned meeting with Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter could lead to a “180-degree turn.

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

Mafia, Guns And Clans: The Big Libyan Oil Heist
2/13/17

This smuggled oil is making its way into Europe, and Libya authorities say it has cost the state US$360 million so far, at a time when the country is producing only 715,000 barrels per day, down from its Ghaddafi heydays of 1.6 million bpd.

The post-Ghaddafi chaos has created some great business opportunities in both human trafficking and oil smuggling.

[link to m.nasdaq.com]

Libya PM regret 'missed opportunity' to meet rival
2/16/17

Sarraj said Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control much of eastern Libya, had refused to meet him on Tuesday in Cairo "without justification or reason".

The parties had missed "another precious opportunity that we hoped would be the beginning of a solution to the state of division and suffering" in Libya, he said in a statement.

"Intransigent political stances and oversized egos" were preventing a resolution to the conflict, he said.

[link to www.news24.com]

Libya Sends New Request for Military Training to NATO
2/16/17

As the West and neighboring Egypt seek to stabilize Libya, NATO has offered support to the Tripoli-based government but a request from Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Seraj in May last year was seen as too broad.

Seraj's Government of National Accord (GNA) has been trying to formulate plans for unified Libyan security forces since arriving in Tripoli in March, but has made little progress in asserting its authority over rival factions. It is unclear if an Egyptian-brokered roadmap can help heal divisions between Seraj and Khalifa Haftar, a powerful eastern-based military commander.

Now NATO has a detailed call for help from Seraj, official said.

"We have said for some time that we are ready to help Libya, but any assistance has to be based on a request from the Libyan government. This is the request we received yesterday," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference.

[link to www.usnews.com]

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Hasn't NATO 'helped' Libya enough already?
What are they going to do now, help the UN puppet government fight Haftar's forces for control of Libya?
Look who is on each 'side' to get a better picture.
Stay tuned....

funny...we all need a sense of humor nowadays.....

Egypt's FM in Tunisia for trilateral talks on Libyan crisis
2/19/17

According to a Tunisian foreign ministry statement Friday, the initiative, which was proposed by Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, aims to tackle the results of consultations the three countries conducted with Libyan factions to reach a convergence of views between them and lay the foundations for a consensual political solution to the crisis.

[link to english.ahram.org.eg]

Bodies of 74 migrants heading to Europe wash up in Libya
2/21/17

The bodies were found near the western Libyan city of Zawiya on Monday, Red Crescent spokesman Mohammed al-Misrati told The Associated Press, adding that he feared more might surface. He said a torn rubber boat, the kind that usually carry up to 120 people, was found nearby.

The Red Crescent's branch in Zawiya said there are bodies still floating out at sea but it has no means to retrieve them.

The International Organization of Migration said the traffickers took the engine and left the boat to drift. Another 12 migrants remain missing and are "presumed drowned," and a sole survivor was transferred to a hospital in a coma, the U.N. migration agency said on Twitter.

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

As Haftar Moves Closer To Russia, Will Libya Become The Next Syria?
2/21/17

Libya’s returning oil wealth could bring back cheap fuel, food and foreign goods in a subsidy-based system in the most optimistic scenario. But as oil prices and production rise, the future of new political developments hangs in the balance in a growing power struggle between Russia and the United Nations.

Last week, the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya announced plans to reshuffle its leadership, which it hoped would be a way to bring influential General Khalifa Haftar—the GNA’s key rival—into the Tripoli-based organization’s ranks.

Cairo hosted members of both parties to discuss cooperation between Haftar’s House of Representatives/Libyan National Army based in Tobruk and the GNA – which vowed a “180 degree turn” in relations if Haftar agreed to take a role within its hierarchy. But the meeting never happened.

[link to finance.yahoo.com]

Trial of Libyan Gadhafi Regime Members Found Flawed
2/21/17

The trial was a major effort by the Libyan judiciary to hold people accountable for crimes, including grave violations of human rights during the 2011 revolution, which toppled former dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

But in the end, the U.N. report determined the trial did not do what it was meant to do. The report calls the trial procedure flawed and unfair. For example, the report says defendants were held incommunicado for prolonged periods and allegedly were subjected to torture — charges that were never investigated.

[link to www.voanews.com]

Aid group: 13 migrants suffocate in Libya shipping container
2/23/17

CAIRO — Thirteen African migrants suffocated inside a shipping container while being transported over four days between two Libyan towns, a Red Crescent official said Thursday.

Osama al-Fadly, head of the Red Crescent in Libya, told The Associated Press that the deceased were among 69 migrants, many from Mali, who were packed into the container.

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

Rival factions reach tentative ceasefire in Libyan capital
2/25/17

Al-Burki and Ganiewa armed brigades announced late on Friday a tentative ceasefire deal in Abu Salim neighborhood following 2 days of heavy fighting.
Both groups agreed to allow a neutral force to be deployed in the neighborhood to separate the conflicting sides.

[link to www.libyaobserver.ly (secure)]

Libya - Joint Statement by the Ambassadors of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States to Libya
2/25/17

'We condemn the use of violence and any threat levelled against Prime Minister Sarraj and Libyan institutions, as was the case in the attack of February 20th 2017.

We further call on all parties to cease violent acts which result in the loss of civilian lives, and undermine the prospects for political and social reconciliation of the country.

We reaffirm our position that Libyans should decide their own future, and we stand ready to support their efforts to build a strong, prosperous, and unified Libya and implement the Libyan Political Agreement’s vision for a peaceful transition to a new, elected government.'

[link to reliefweb.int]
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Hypocrites.

Car bomb targets military convoy in Libya’s Benghazi
2/26/17

The explosion comes just after 4 days from the assassination attempt of Chief of Benghazi Security Department, Salah Huwaidi by a car bomb.
Sources claimed the car bomb attack on Al-Saiqa convoy came in retaliation for Salah Huwaidi’s failed assassination attempt. Huwaidi’s Criminal Investigation Department accused Al-Saiqa affiliates of being behind the car bomb that targeted Huwaidi’s convoy 4 days ago.

[link to www.libyaobserver.ly (secure)]

Kremlin condemns NATO's barbaric Libya
'intervention' ahead of PM visit
3/1/17

Russia is interested in Libya finally becoming a working state after this barbaric intervention that was conducted from outside, that led to catastrophic consequences from the point of view of the Libyan state and the future of the Libyan people,” Peskov said. “That is why we are interested in the swift development of a durable power in Libya that can begin the process of restoring and recreating the state.”

[link to www.newsweek.com]

'Isil 'regrouping in southern Libya with support of al-Qaeda and preparing for further attacks'
3/1/17

Isil and al-Qaeda have never attacked each other here and now we have evidence that they are actively cooperating,” Mr Barghathi told the Daily Telegraph. “Al-Qaeda is providing logistics and support to help Isil re-group and launch attacks.”

Mr Barghathi said that Belmokhtar, the infamous one-eyed al-Qaeda leader thought to have been killed in 2016, was believed to be alive and leading the remnants of Isil forces who escaped a Libyan offensive to retake Sirte last year.

[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

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Belmokhtar the One-Eyed? Belmokhtar the Immortal? Belmokhtar the .....Give Me A Break This Shit's Getting Harder to Believe by the Day

Ignoring History: America's Losing Strategy in Libya
2/28/17

ISIS is not defeated in Libya, and American security remains at risk. Libya is missing from the policy discussion even as the Trump administration reconsiders America’s strategy in multiple theaters. It became an invisible conflict again after the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) lost control of its former stronghold, Sirte, in December 2016. U.S. airstrikes on ISIS training camps in January 2017 degraded the group, but should remind us that all is not well. Libya remains an important theater of war against ISIS.

Nor can the U.S. hope to contain Libya’s problems in Libya. America’s interests there transcend al Qaeda, ISIS, and other Salafi-jihadi groups. The Libyan conflict has serious implications for the U.S. and its allies in Europe. The war itself exacerbates the migrant crisis that is destabilizing Europe. Russia is also engaging in Libya as part of a larger plan to roll back the influence of the U.S. and NATO in the Mediterranean. Libya is part of Russia’s efforts to woo Egyptian President Sisi away from the U.S. and the Gulf states. It is an important theater of global geopolitics as well as of counter-terror operations.

[link to www.criticalthreats.org (secure)]

Dozens of people feared dead in shipwreck off Libya
3/3/17

Up to 25 people attempting to cross the Mediterranean are feared dead following a search operation off the coast of Libya that ended with the rescue of 115 others, according to local authorities.

Libya's coastguard said the victims' rubber boat sank around 3am (05:00 GMT) on Friday, some five kilometrers off Tajoura, just east of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, because it was overloaded and taking on water.

[link to www.aljazeera.com]

Libya's Biggest Oil Port Seized in Blow to Production Surge
3/3/17

The Benghazi Defense Brigades, a militia that’s not allied to the United Nations-backed government in Tripoli, took control of the Es Sider terminal on Friday afternoon, according to people with knowledge of matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. The facility had previously been under the control of eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.

“That is a considerable blow to Haftar,” said Mattia Toaldo, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “We have to see if there is an immediate impact on exports. But for confidence in Libya’s production it’s a blow.”

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

Amid Libya's chaos, human traffickers have free rein
3/2/17

Libya's militias have become increasingly powerful amid the power vacuum since Muammar Gaddafi's toppling in 2011. The militias control the human trafficking trade, and many young Libyans lacking work are eager to join.

"We are realising that more and more young people are attracted by these crimes," the man said. "The young people need money, and the smugglers provide them with this money. Nobody cares if migrants arrive in Europe alive or if they die drowned in the sea ... they are worse than murderers."

[link to www.aljazeera.com]

Military operation of Benghazi brigades in Libya’s oil region draws mixed reactions
3/3/17

Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB) launched early on Friday a surprise attack on Dignity Operation forces in the oil crescent region in central Libya and took control of Sidra port and Ras Lanuf Airport, in addition to Ben Jawad and Nofaliya towns.

The attack is part of a military operation called “Return to Benghazi” aimed at facilitating the return of Benghazi IDPs to their city.

The operation was met with mixed reactions. In Tripoli and Misrata, demonstrations were held Friday evening to support the operation.

[link to www.libyaobserver.ly (secure)]

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Ygiui Gyiuhojo
This incident is further proof of Heftar's incompetnece. How can this 75 year old failure of a man even conceive ruling the entirety of Libya when his shaky control over the pockets in the east is crumbling before our very eyes?

I hope that this sends a strong signal to his foreign backers to reconsider their position, and contemplate compromise.
Like · Reply · 19 mins
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