Libya - Weekly situation report 31 May - 6 June

The battle for the liberation of Derna is still going on. Fighting intensified this week. LNA forces have progressed rapidly in several neighbourhoods in the urban area. According to LNA spokesman, 75% of the city has been captured to DPF militants. In southern Libya, armed groups believed to belong to Chadian opposition and Benghazi Defend Brigade attempted to storm Tamanhint airbase in the hand of LNA. LNA and local forces in Brak al-Shati are on high alert after suspicious military movements were reported in the area, to anticipate a possible attack on the military infrastructures by Chadian and other foreign militias. In western Libya, a US Air Force drone carried out an air strike 30 km southern Bani Walid targeting a car and killing four people including Abdul Ati Ashtewi Abustah, one leader of Islamic State in Sirte. Two Sirte residents were killed between Waddan and Zillah by presumed ISIS militants. Many ISIS movements have been reported toward Haruj and Tmassah. In the Oil Crescent area, ISIS members carried out an attack on police station in Qanan.

This report includes :

- Situation in southern Libya

- Situation in eastern Libya

- Situation in western Libya

- Coast guards activities

- Foreign military flights

- Demining activities

3,99€

Libya - Weekly situation report 24 - 30 May

On 29 May, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a summit in Paris about Libya designed to bring together GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, President of the HoR Agilah Saleh, President of the HCS Khaled Mishri, and Commander of the LNA, Marshal Khalifa Haftar. After the summit, it was announced that an agreement was found to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on December 10th, 2018. On May 24th, a VBIED detonated on Jamal Abdel Nasser Street beside the Kashafa Park and near Tibesty Hotel in Benghazi killing eight people and wounded 20. This attack is the second VBIED explosion in less than 18 months and the fourth in Benghazi this year. In Derna, LNA took control of al-Fatayah neighbourhood, western entrance of the city and Temsket. At least 13 LNA members were killed and 21 wounded this week increasing the death toll to about 45 killed in four weeks of fighting. Seven civilians were killed by a landmine while trying to get out of the city.

This report includes :

- Situation in southern Libya

- Situation in eastern Libya

- Situation in western Libya

- Coast guards activities

- Foreign military flights

- Demining activities

3,99€

Libya - Weekly situation report 17 - 23 May

The past week, ISIS proved again that its members were still very active in the Ajdabiya region by attacking two LNA military checkpoints in the southern axis. Heavy fighting are still ongoing around Derna. According to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Libya (OCHA), since the latest escalation of armed conflict in Derna on May 15th, at least six civilians were killed and 14 injured. In three weeks of fighting, the death toll in LNA ranks increased to 39, including 15 during the past week. In Tripoli, four improvised explosive devices (IED) ready for detonation were dismantled at the highway in Abu Salim area and near the ministry of justice in Souq Tulata. Seven members of the People's Front for the Liberation of Libya (linked to Saif Islam Gadhafi) were arrested in joint operation.

This report includes : - Situation in southern Libya - Situation in eastern Libya - Situation in western Libya - Coast guards activities - Foreign military flights - Demining activities 3,99€

Libya - Weekly situation report 10 - 16 May

Fighting between Libyan National Army brigades and "Derna Protection Force" (former Derna Mujahideen Shura Council) militants are still ongoing in and around the city of Derna. Following the latest reinforcement, LNA Omar Mukhtar Operations Room has now about twenty brigades in the area (on almost hundred LNA units). LNA claimed seized Al-Hila, al-Fatayeh, suburbs of Sie Aziz, Sie Aoun, al-Khabta and the Haysha camp. Ground forces are supported by LNA Air Force and UAE Wing Loong drones and AT-802s turboprop aircraft flying from al-Khadim airbase in al-Marj. In Sebha, fighting continued in and around the historic castle which was partly destroyed. Since the beginning of May, more than 31 people have been killed and 121 wounded in the clashes. In western Libya, several networks of migrant traffickers were dismantled by Zuwara Police Forces seizing several boats and engines.

This report includes : - Situation in southern Libya - Situation in eastern Libya - Situation in western Libya - Coast guards activities - Foreign military flights - Demining activities 3,99€

Libya - Weekly situation report 3 - 9 May

AQIM is preparing to broadcast a statement from Libya to Mauritania threatening “Western companies and particularly France who plunder these countries”. In Derna, LNA forces lost about ten soldiers in fighting with DMSC militants. During the commemoration of the 4th anniversary of Dignity Operation, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar declared zero hour campaign for Derna. ISIS militants carried out a suicide attack at Gate 90 east of Sirte using three vehicles; only one detonated, the two others escaped. Three people were killed : one LNA member and two civilian. In Benina airbase, the ceremony for the 4th anniversary of Operation Dignity took place on May 7th with 7,000 LNA members. Libyan Coast Guards rescued about 900 illegal migrants off western Libya coasts between May 4th and May 7th.

This report includes : - Situation in southern Libya - Situation in eastern Libya - Situation in western Libya - Coast guards activities - Foreign military flights - Demining activities 3,99€

Libya - Weekly situation report 26 April - 2 May

On May 2nd, two ISIS suicide bombers attacked and blew themselves up inside the Higher National Election Commission Headquarter in Ghout Shaal district of Tripoli. Sixteen people were killed (including 5 HNEC employees and 4 members of the security forces) and nineteen other wounded. UAE might have been involved in airstrikes in Derna using a drone (Wing Loong) on Monday 30th according DMSC spokesman. On April 29th, a Libyan Air Cargo company C-130 Hercules coming from Mitiga, chartered by Oil Repsol company crashed due to technical failure after taking off from Sharara oilfield near Ubari in southwestern Libya. Three crew members were killed and one wounded. This Libyan Air Cargo C-130 has had another incident three days before the crash when the main cargo door opened during the flight.

This report includes : - Situation in southern Libya - Situation in eastern Libya - Situation in western Libya - Coast guards activities - Foreign military flights - Demining activities To access to the full PDF report (1,501 words, 11 pages), please contact Arnaud Delalande

Libya - Weekly situation report 19-25 April

Despite LNA spokesperson, Ahmed al-Mesmari, announced on Wednesday that Marshall Khalifa Haftar will arrive to Benghazi on Thursday 26th, uncertainties remain about his health and his ability to lead the Libyan National Army in the near future. The coming battle for the liberation of the city of Derna will test the cohesion of this army. Despite the ceasefire, fighting resumed around the city of Sebha. In Tripoli, Mitiga International Airport was shelled again by Bogra militia. In Bani Walid area, the LNA Air Force carried out three air-strikes on a camp occupied by the so-called ‘Benghazi Defence Brigades’ near al-Saddada. In Derna, fighting between LNA and DMSC militants increased.

This report includes : - Situation in southern Libya - Situation in eastern Libya - Situation in western Libya - Coast guards activities - Foreign military flights - Demining activities To access to the full PDF report (1,708 words, 14 pages), please contact Arnaud Delalande

Libyan National Army Air Force MiG shot down over Derna

The Libyan National Army Air Force has lost a new aircraft over Derna today, shot down by Derna Mujahidine Shura Council (DMSC) militants. The pilot, Adel Al-Jihani, and the co-pilot, Wael Al-Wakwak, ejected but Al-Jihani died from his wounds shortly after it was detained by DMSC. According to LNA spokesman, the aircraft was a MiG-21, but other LNA sources claimed it was a MiG-23. The fact that the crew took off from Tobruk airbase would confirm that it would indeed be one of the three remained MiG-21UMs of the fleet (serial number 073, 076 or 117).

Edit 30 July 2017 : It seems that the pilot, Adel Al-Jihani was a MiG-23 pilot and has been executed in retaliation of previous airstrike performed by him ... The lost aircraft is therfore MiG-23UB '8008'

MiG 23 shot down by MSCD in al Hamar, south #Derna, reportedly by SA18 #missile #Libya video of wreckage cannot be verified pic.twitter.com/G2M7pYh82Z

— Viraj Pattni (@intlsec) 29 juillet 2017

Video of the supposed crash site

Egypt Has Joined the Air War in Libya

On May 26, 2017, armed men traveling in pickup trucks gunned down 28 Coptic Christians and wounded 26 as the Christians were on their way to visit a monastery in Egypt’s Minya province. Islamic State has claimed its responsibility for the attack. That same evening, Egypt announced that its air force had carried out six air raids on ISIS camps near the Libyan city of Derna. Cairo suspects that the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated coalition of Islamist militias that formed in December 2014, supported the murders.

The strikes involved F-16C/D Block 52s covered by at least two Rafales. Weirdly, the Egyptian government posted a video supposed illustrating the operation, but the footage actually depicts a later strike on the city of Hun.

Egypt Has Joined the Air War in Libya - The skies are getting crowded