Western war on Libya

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Re: Libya

Ten killed as bombs hit Libya’s GNA forces near Sirte

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/08/18/480619/Libya-GNA-Sirte-Reda-Issa-Mokhtar-Khalifa

Twin car bomb attacks have claimed the lives of at least 10 fighters with pro-government Libyan forces near the city of Sirte, where they are battling the Daesh Takfiri terrorists to drive them out of the North African country.

The deadly bombings struck Gharbiyat area west of Sirte on Thursday, said Reda Issa, a spokesman for troops loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA).

The attack took place near a center used to distribute food, ammunition and other supplies to pro-GNA fighters.

Another 20 fighters were also wounded in the fatal attacks.

The death toll is expected to rise since many of the troops wounded were in critical condition.

The attacks are believed to have been conducted by Daesh militants.

Following the attack, pro-government forces launched a raid into a residential neighborhood in Sitre, killing three Daesh militants.

Sitre is the final stronghold of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Libya.

The mayor of Sirte, Mokhtar Khalifa, said on August 11 that Libyan forces had liberated 70 percent of the city from Daesh.

The large-scale military operation to retake Sirte from the Daesh terror group began in May. The pro-government forces entered Sirte in June, but their advance was slowed down as Daesh hit back with sniper fire, car bombs and counterattacks.

Libya has been struggling to contain Takfiri terrorists, who have been expanding their presence in the country following the overthrow and death of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Taking advantage of the chaos in Libya, Daesh took control of Sirte in June 2015, nearly four months after it declared presence in the city.

Libyan forces say advancing towards recapture of Sirte from Islamic State Group

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/239096/World/Region/Libyan-forces-say-advancing-towards-recapture-of-S.aspx

Libyan forces said on Tuesday they had taken one of the last districts in central Sirte held by Islamic State Group militants, battling snipers and car bombs in their campaign to recapture the entire city.

Forces aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed government in Tripoli are three months into a campaign to oust the Islamic State Group from their former North African stronghold and have encircled the militants in a shrinking section of the city centre.

Since Aug. 1, their progress has been aided by U.S. air strikes on Islamic State Group vehicles, weapons and fighting positions. The U.S. Africa Command said it had carried out a total of 48 strikes as of Sunday.

The Libyan forces are composed mainly of brigades from the western city of Misrata. After they secured key sites south of central Sirte last week, fighting shifted into neighbourhood Number 2, which the brigades said they had now captured.

"On Tuesday morning clashes erupted ... that led successfully to the recapture of neighbourhood Number 2 with the cooperation of a tank unit to confront Islamic State Group snipers," said Rida Issa, a spokesman.

"The neighbourhood is now completely under control of our forces," he said, adding that his side had also made incursions into neighbourhood Number 1, situated in the heart of Sirte, the hometown of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The Misrata-led forces had faced four vehicle-borne bombs, two of which they had destroyed on the ground before they could reach their targets, Issa said.

"One unfortunately exploded near our forces but there are no casualty figures, and the fourth one was bombed by a warplane. We do not know whether it was U.S. air strike or our air defence."

The government-backed forces have been carrying out their own, regular air strikes over the Mediterranean coastal city with a fleet of ageing fighter jets.

At least three combatants from those forces had been killed and 30 wounded in Tuesday's clashes, according to Akram Gliwan, a spokesman at Misrata's central hospital.

Islamic State Group seized control of Sirte last year, turning it into a base for Libyan and foreign militants and extending its control over about 250 km (155 miles) of Libya's Mediterranean coastline.

But it has struggled to win broad support or retain territory in Libya, and losing Sirte will be a major setback for the ultra hardline Islamist group, which has already lost ground to U.S.-backed military campaigns in Iraq and Syria.

Almost all Sirte's estimated population of 80,000 fled as the Islamic State Group imposed its rule on the city or during the fighting of the past three months.

 

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Re: Libya

More Complications For The U.S. Regime’s Path Of War, As Ex-CIA Asset, General Hifter Now An Obstacle In Libya
http://novorossia.today/complications-u-s-regimes-path-war-ex-cia-asset-general-hifter-now-obstacle/

As the US war in Libya moves into its third week, officials and analysts are seeing a lot of problems with their plans, but perhaps the biggest problem is one of their own creation, the Libyan Army and its leader, long-time CIA asset Gen. Khalifa Hifter.

Hifter was a general of Moammar Gadhafi until 1987, when he was captured by Chad. The next year, he became a US proxy for an anti-Gadhafi insurgency, and after that collapsed, moved to Virginia, with occasional trips back to Libya for other failed US-backed plots.

When NATO imposed regime change in 2011, Gen. Hifter was quick to make his grand return, and has been trying to consolidate his power ever since. He announced a coup in 2014, which didn’t amount to much, and is now at the head of the army loyal to the UN-backed Tobruk government.

Which is only just now becoming a problem for a US, which launched the war nominally to unite the country under the UN-backed “unity government,” a wholly different faction. Though so far the US is focused on bombing ISIS forces in Sirte, the long-run ambition of uniting Libya is going to eventually put the US in direct conflict with every other faction in the country, and that includes Hifter’s substantial forces. US officials are already referring to him as a “spoiler” who is getting in the way of their ambitions.

 

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Re: Libya

2.4 million people in Libya need humanitarian aid: UN

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/08/20/480807/Libya-UN-Daesh-Sirte-humanitarian-aid

The United Nations has voiced concern about the alarming conditions of well over two million Libyans, who need humanitarian aid due to the militancy in the north African country.

“More than 2.4 million people in Libya are in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Martin Kobler, the UN secretary general's special representative for Libya, in a statement marking the World Humanitarian Day on Friday.

“They lack medicines, vaccinations and suffer from poor hospitalization services. Almost 300,000 children are out of schools and almost 350,000 Libyans are displaced within the country,” he further said.
The UN official also noted the predicament of over 270,000 refugees, who are stranded in Libya after fleeing their home countries.

“The humanitarian needs created by the crisis in Libya are enormous and this should serve as an incentive for us to do our utmost to give hope to the people, particularly those in urgent need of humanitarian assistance,” he added.

Libya has been struggling to contain the militants who have been expanding their presence in the country following the overthrow and death of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Taking advantage of the chaos in Libya, the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group also took control of the northern port city of Sirte in June 2015, nearly four months after it declared presence in the city.

Libyan pro-government forces have liberated most of the city since they mounted an operation against Daesh in May.

The oil-rich North African country has had two rival governments since 2014, when politician Khalifa Ghweil and his self-proclaimed government seized control of the capital Tripoli with the support of militia groups, forcing the internationally-recognized government to move to the country’s remote eastern city of Tobruk.

However, they achieved a consensus on forming Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) last December after months of UN-brokered talks in Tunisia and Morocco, in a bid to restore order in the oil-rich nation.

 

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Re: Libya

Forces loyal to Libya’s unity government pound Daesh in Sirte

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/08/21/480964/Libya-GNA-Sirte-Deash-airstrikes

The air force units of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) have carried out a series of airstrikes against pockets of Daesh terrorists in the northern city of Sirte.

Forces loyal to the GNA said the air operations had been launched in central Sirte and its western region running to the border with Tunisia on Saturday in an attempt to block potential escape routes for the terrorists that are still holed up in the coastal city.

Sirte was Daesh’s only stronghold outside Syria and Iraq before Libyan military factions liberated most of the city in ongoing operations that began in May. Clashes occur between military forces and remaining Daesh terrorists on the ground in Sirte every now and then.

Daesh exploited the disarray that emerged in Libya following the 2011 overthrow and death of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, taking over a strip of coastal land, including Sirte, in June 2015.

Despite the formation of the internationally-recognized GNA, which emerged from two competing governments in Libya in December 2015, the country has yet to become administratively unified. Military factions allied with renegade General Khalifa Haftar continue to act on their own and without coordination with the GNA. There have been reports that Haftar loyalists have been in contact with foreign forces conducting drone operations in Libya as well.

Forces from several Western countries, including the United States, France and Britain, are in Libya in a purported drone war on Daesh.

The GNA has denounced the presence of the foreign forces, saying it violates Libya’s sovereignty.

 

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Re: Libya

Air force units of Libya's unity government launched an operation to cut off potential escape routes for militants holed up in the coastal city of Sirte, loyalist forces said.

Libya Begins Air Operation to Cut off Fleeing ISIL Militants
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950531000550

The forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA), on their Facebook page, said the surveillance operation covered central Libya as well as the Western region up to the border with Tunisia, Middle East Eye reported.

Pro-GNA forces, backed since early August by US air strikes, began an assault in mid-May to expel the ISIL group from its Sirte stronghold.

They fought their way into Sirte on June 9 and have since faced a barrage of sniper fire, suicide bombings and booby traps, but have pinned down the militants in a downtown area near the sea.

More than 350 pro-GNA fighters have been killed and nearly 2,000 wounded in the battle, according to medical sources. ISIL casualties figures are unavailable.

Sirte itself has been emptied of its residents, apart from families of ISIL militants, according to the pro-GNA forces.

Pentagon spokesman Gordon Trowbridge in mid-August estimated that ISIL militants in Sirte numbered fewer than 1,000.

While defeat in Sirte will be a critical blow, it will not be the end of Libya’s militant threat. Some were able to flee Sirte before it was encircled and are likely to try to reactivate elsewhere in Libya, officials and fighters say.

 

[angelburst29]

Re: Libya

The political crisis in Libya looks set to continue after the country's internationally recognized government rejected the fragile UN-backed unity government, extending Libya's uncertainty.

Libya's Political Crisis Continues as Tobruk Rejects UN-Backed Unity Gov't
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160823/1044547304/libya-crisis-tobuk-unity.html

The House of Representatives, Libya's internationally recognized parliament forced into exile in the eastern city of Tobruk, refused to support the Government of National Accord (GNA), despite it gaining the backing of the international community.

101 lawmakers from the 198-member parliament voted on the issue, with 61 rejecting the GNA, 39 abstaining and one MP voting in favor of the UN-backed unity government.

Parliament spokesman Adam Boussakhra said the vote was "the first time quorum has been reached in five months," but added:

"The majority of lawmakers present at the parliament session voted no-confidence in the government."

Uncertainty Abounds in Libya

The decision by the Tobruk-based legislature to reject the GNA has extended the political uncertainty in Libya, which has consumed the country since former leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011.

Following the no-confidence vote, lawmakers have given the GNA's prime minister-designate, Fayez al-Sarraj, 10 days to come up with a new government, while it is now not known whether the GNA would continue to seek the support of the eastern parliament.

The GNA, which was established off the back off UN-brokered peace talks in December last year, has been seen by many as the only way to unite Libya, which has been divided by the internationally-recognized parliament in the country's east and a rival movement located in the capital, Tripoli.

Tobruk-based parliamentarians have long protested against the conditions and make-up of the unity government, arguing that it gives disproportionate representation to armed elements that forced it to withdraw to Libya's east.

The Fight Against Daesh

The latest development also has complications for the fight against Daesh and other terrorist organizations in the country, with pro-GNA fighters, assisted by US airstrikes, reportedly wrestling back territory from jihadist groups.

Meanwhile, forces aligned to the Libya's Tobruk-based parliament, under the leadership of General Khalifa Haftar, have been engaged in longstanding conflict with Daesh in the Benghazi and parts of the country's east.

They have raised concerns about the security of the GNA, alleging that the unity government is dependent on Islamist-leaning armed groups, including some that they been fighting against over the past five years.

 

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Re: Libya

EU Anti-Migrant Smuggling Operation, Libya Sign Coastguard Training Memorandum

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160824/1044576256/eu-libya-coastguard-training-memorandum.html

The chief of the EU’s operation Sophia to prevent human trafficking and the Libyan government have signed a memorandum on training the Libyan coast guard, local media reported Tuesday.

ROME (Sputnik) — According to the Italian Askanews agency, EU Navy Commander Adm. Enrico Credendino, the chief of the EU’s operation Sophia, and representative of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) Abdalh Toumia signed the memorandum.

According to media reports, the training mission has three phases — training at sea, aboard one of the ships of the Italian Navy, in a training center in one of the EU member states or Libya, and on board of the Libyan coast guard ships in the country's territorial waters.

EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) in Libya, the United Nations and EU border agency Frontex are involved in the Libyan cost guard training program. Under the program, EU Mediterranean naval forces are to train Libyans to run a small coast guard fleet so that they could combat people smuggling under three months.

The EU operation Sophia was launched by the bloc in July 2015 in a bid to stem the flow of migrants and refugees traveling from the Middle East and North Africa, particularly from Libya, to Italy. The naval operation is said to have saved some 9,000 lives over the last year.

Thousands of people have embarked on the perilous voyage across the Mediterranean since 2015 in a bid to escape war and poverty in North Africa and the Middle East.

US military deploys SuperCobra attack helicopters to Libya

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/08/23/481399/US-deploys-attack-helicopters-Libya

The United States has deployed attack helicopters to Libya to help local forces fighting against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group, a US military official says.

The Pentagon has already deployed fighter jets as well as Special Operations troops to the North African country to purportedly assist forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) to retake the coastal city of Sirte.

Marine Corps AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters recently joined the operation, Lieutenant Commander Anthony Falvo, a spokesman for the US military's Africa Command (AFRICOM), said on Tuesday.

"The Cobras provide additional precision airstrike capability," Stuttgart-based Falvo told AFP in a phone interview. "It gives us a little bit more flexibility."

SuperCobra gunships are stationed on the USS Wasp, the US Navy’s multipurpose amphibious assault ship in the Mediterranean Sea.

Harrier Jump jet fighters are also launching airstrikes from the ship to target alleged Daesh positions in Sirte. The US reportedly conducted 77 airstrikes in the city on Monday.

Sirte, the major stronghold of Daesh outside Iraq and Syria, fell to the Takfiri terrorists in February 2015. The full recapture of the city would be a major boost to the unity government, which has come to office through support from the United Nations.

Daesh has been taking advantage of the chaos embroiling Libya since the NATO-backed overthrow and death of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

"We are there at the request of the GNA," Falvo said.

"We will continue our support for as long as it is requested. If they were to tell us tomorrow they don't need our support any more, we would end our support at that point,” he stated.

Nearly five years after the overthrow of Gaddafi, Libya has become almost a failed state, with the central government holding no sway over the country.

US President Barack Obama has authorized the Pentagon to open a new military front against Daesh terrorists in Libya after the fledgling government there asked for help with precision targeting inside Sirte.

According to American journalist Don Debar, the United States and its allies are responsible for destroying Africa’s wealthiest nation, Libya, in order to re-colonize the African continent.

Gaddafi was deposed because he “was well into the process of helping to organize a United States of Africa, an integrated African polity and economy, and was offering to bankroll it with Libya’s wealth.” DeBar, an anti-war activist and radio host in New York, told Press TV earlier this month.

“That was something that would run counter to the US plans, now actualized by installing AFRICOM on the continent, essentially re-colonizing Africa,” he said.

 

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Re: Libya

Libyan forces preparing to fully retake Sirte from Daesh

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/08/28/482023/Libya-Sirte-Misrata

Forces loyal to the Libyan unity government say they are preparing for a final “decisive” push to fully liberate the Daesh-held city of Sirte, in a months-long operation which has seen hundreds of troops dead.

The forces, mainly brigades from the city of Misrata, said on Saturday that the Sirte recapture is imminent as they have managed to bring most of the city under their control and restrict militants to a shrinking residential area in the city center.

“We are now preparing for the decisive phase (battle) which will commence in the coming hours, God willing, against the infidels to rid our beloved city from the Daesh,” a local military commander said.

Meanwhile, a Reuters video showed the Libyan troops visiting newly retaken areas and facilities and monitoring the neighborhoods still controlled by the Daesh elements.

An unnamed medical source in the Misrata Central Hospital said that the Sirte clashes have left 442 Libyan forces dead and 2,100 others injured so far.

Back in May, the loyalists to the UN-backed Government of National Accord launched a military operation to retake the city a year after it fell to Daesh.

They entered the city on June 9, and have liberated several residential districts since then. However, their advance slowed as Daesh hit back with sniper fire, bombings and mines.

Sirte’s recapture would be a major blow to Daesh, which has faced a spate of setbacks in Syria and Iraq.

Libya has been grappling with violence since a NATO military intervention followed the 2011 uprising that led to the toppling and killing of the longtime dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.

In mid-2014 militants overran the Libyan capital and forced the parliament to flee to the country’s remote east, resulting in the formation of two rival administrations in the oil-rich African state.

The two governments finally achieved a consensus on forming the unity government last December after months of UN-brokered talks in Tunisia and Morocco to restore order to the country.

 

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Re: Libya

High toll for Libyan troops battling Islamic State in Sirte

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security-idUSKCN1130TH?il=0

At least 34 Libyan fighters were killed and more than 180 wounded on Sunday as they closed in on the last Islamic State militant holdouts in the coastal city of Sirte, according to field hospitals.

Forces aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed government, supported since Aug. 1 by U.S. air strikes, have pushed militants back into a small residential area in central Sirte in a three-month-old campaign. Heavy fighting resumed on Sunday after a one-week lull.

The Libyan brigades, mostly from the city of Misrata, say they are close to victory in Sirte, but they have struggled to defend themselves against suicide bombings, sniper fire and landmines.

On Sunday several brigades stationed close to Sirte's seafront advanced several hundred meters eastwards through Sirte's neighborhood Number One, while other fighters overran Islamic State positions in street-to-street fighting to the south.

Fighters used tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns to try to blast through Islamic State sniper positions.

The Misrata-led brigades said there had been five attempted car bombings on Sunday in a "desperate attempt to disrupt the advance", though at least one of the bombs had been destroyed before it could reach its target.

The front lines in Sirte were quieter earlier this week as government-led forces said they were giving time to the wives and children of Islamic State fighters to leave the battle zone.

Almost all the city's estimated 80,000 residents left after Islamic State took full control of the city last year, turning it into its regional stronghold and expanding its presence along about 250 km (155 miles) of coastline.

The United States has carried out dozens of air strikes against Islamic State positions and vehicles in Sirte. This week the U.S. Africa Command said Marine AH-1W SuperCobra helicopters were being used in the operation, alongside jets and drones.

Libyan commanders say some Islamic State militants probably escaped around the start of the campaign to recapture Sirte in May, and their forces have been trying to secure the desert to the south and west of Sirte.

 

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Libya ships last chemical weapons stocks to Germany

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/08/30/482383/Libya-Misrata-OPCW-Daesh-Germany

Libya has shipped the last of its chemical weapons stocks out of the country under a UN-backed plan to ensure the arsenal does not fall into the wrong hands, officials say.

An unnamed senior Libyan security official said on Tuesday that the stocks were shipped to Germany on a Danish vessel on Saturday from the western port of Misrata.

"We as Libyans did not want these weapons, especially during the current security situation and with the presence of IS in the region," AFP quoted the security official as saying.

Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA), Mussa el-Koni, has confirmed the operation, which took place under the supervision of the UN-backed Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

"All of Libya's chemical arsenal has been shipped out of the country," Koni said, adding, "This is good news for Libya, and for the peace of Libya, and we thank all the countries that participated and the UN."

The deputy prime minister added that the stocks had been stored in the central Jafa area, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Sirte, where Libyan pro-government forces are battling the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

The move will ease fears that extremists such as Daesh could gain access to the weapons in the violence-wracked country.

The Danish government had earlier this month offered to send a container vessel, support ship and 200 staff to handle the operation.

In an emailed statement, the OPCW has said, "We are not in a position to disclose operational details of an ongoing effort."

The OPCW, specified, however, that the stocks in question "are industrial chemicals in wide use as well as precursor chemicals that are several stages away from being actual chemical weapons."

A German Defense Ministry spokesman said the shipment, which contains "about 500 tonnes of toxic chemical products," would arrive in Germany "in the coming weeks."

The spokesman added that the arsenal would be destroyed by GEKA, Germany's state-owned company for disposing of chemical weapons.

"These chemical products can be used to produce toxic gases or warfare agents, but are not toxic gases or warfare agents," the spokesman said.

The UN Security Council on July 22 unanimously endorsed a resolution calling on the international community to assist the destruction of chemical weapons in Libya, where Daesh has gained a foothold over the past months.

The 15-member council authorized UN “member states to acquire, control, transport, transfer and destroy chemical weapons ... to ensure the elimination of Libya’s chemical weapons stockpile in the soonest and safest manner.”

Libya, which joined the UN convention on eliminating chemical weapons in 2004, has been dominated by violence since a NATO military intervention followed the 2011 uprising that led to the toppling and killing of longtime dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.

Daesh has taken advantage of the political chaos in Libya to increase its presence there.

 

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RT EXCLUSIVE: Crew dodges ISIS suicide car bomb attack on Libyan battlefield (DRAMATIC VIDEO)

https://www.rt.com/news/358368-libya-sirte-car-bomb-attack/

New intense battle footage from Libya shows an RT crew caught in the midst of heavy fighting between government forces and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants as the journalists venture to report, risking their lives from the frontline in Sirte.

After a vehicle with RT’s William Whiteman drove past an intersection in one of Sirte’s contested neighborhoods where sounds of gunfire are heard erupting every few seconds, the journalists managed to cheat death in an attempted suicide attack. An armored car rigged with explosives rapidly approaching their positions was spotted by the government fighters.

Before the terrorist was able to trigger a powerful blast, he was annihilated by a RPG fired by one of the government fighters. The remnants of the car engulfed by flames could be seen through a smashed shutter.

“So here you can see the car bomb. This is the car bomb that went off outside. That’s what all the shooting was for. They were trying to stop it,” Whiteman said from a shelter, where he took cover when the shooting started.

The fighting, however, resumed immediately, as a mortar round hit the spot where the journalists were standing earlier. With constant blasts continuing to shake the surroundings, a window frame fell to the ground, hitting several soldiers.

“Here, we are Islam. These people [IS] are terrorists. They are killing people,” one of the fighters told Whiteman as the fierce fighting raged on.

Libya’s UN-backed government in Tripoli aided by US airstrikes has been attempting to drive the jihadists out of their former stronghold in the country since May. The US launched its air campaign in and around Sirte at the request of the Libyan government on August 1 and have since made over 100 sorties. Initially, the operation was set to end on August 30, but it was subsequently prolonged further into September.

Islamic State took control of Sirte in June 2015 amidst the instability that has plagued the country in the years following the brutal overthrow of the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

The government-backed brigades, who mostly hail from the city of Misrata, some 230 km from Sirte, where one of the command centers is located, are bracing themselves for the latest efforts to retake the coastal city.

Last week, the Pentagon claimed that the jihadists retain control over only three neighborhoods in Sirte, with the number of militants now estimated to be no more than 200.

“They’re literally with their backs against the ocean at this point,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said last Thursday.

 

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Two car bombs explode in Tripoli, no casualties: security official

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/two-car-bombs-explode-tripoli-no-casualties-security-official/

Two car bombs exploded near Tripoli’s foreign ministry and a naval base used by Libya’s U.N.-backed government early on Thursday, a security source said.

Images posted online from the bombing near the foreign ministry showed charred vehicle wreckage scattered in the middle of a street close to Tripoli’s coastal highway. There were no casualties from either bombing.

Tripoli is home to numerous armed factions that have clashed in the past, though the situation in recent months has been relatively calm.

Militants loyal to Islamic State are also thought to operate sleeper cells in Tripoli and carried out attacks there last year.

Some armed groups have helped provide security to the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). Its leaders arrived in Tripoli in March, traveling to the naval base by ship after opponents shut down the airspace to prevent them flying in.

Since then, the GNA has gradually taken control of government buildings in Tripoli, including the foreign ministry, which is close to the naval base.

The GNA is designed to replace two rival sets of institutions in Tripoli and eastern Libya, which split after a battle for control of the capital in 2014.

But the new government has struggled to impose its authority and has failed to win endorsement from power-brokers in the east. It has also been widely criticized for failing to deal with day-to-day problems in Tripoli and beyond, including a liquidity crisis and lengthy power cuts.

Libyan forces aligned with the GNA are now close to ousting Islamic State from its former North African stronghold in Sirte, about 400 km (250 miles) south-east of Tripoli.

UN Libya Envoy to Hold Talks With Russian Deputy FM in Moscow Friday

https://sputniknews.com/politics/20160908/1045102080/un-libya-russia-bogdanov.html

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Libya Martin Kobler will hold talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow on September 9, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik on Thursday.

"Yes, we confirm that Kobler will meet Bogdanov tomorrow," the source said.

Martin Kobler will present to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on September 9 his proposals regarding the situation in Libya, according to a source in Kobler’s office.

"Kobler’s Moscow visit and his meeting with Bogdanov are taking place within the framework of familiarizing the Russian side with proposals regarding the situation in Libya which Kobler will present to the UN Security Council in mid-September," the source said.

 

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Forces loyal to Libyan general capture oil terminals

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/09/11/484218/Libya-Haftar-oil-terminals

Forces loyal to Libya’s powerful general, Khalifa Haftar, who is opposed to the country’s UN-backed government, have seized control of two key oil terminals in the north.

The Libyan news agency, LANA, which advocates the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), said Sunday that Haftar's forces took control of al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf ports, located on the Mediterranean coast.

Colonel Ahmad Mesmari, a spokesman for the GNA, said clashes continued near Zuwaytina port further to the east of the so-called “oil crescent,” which is seen as key to Libya’s economy.

Haftar, a powerful general since the era of slain Libyan dictator, Muammar Gadhafi, previously fought for an internationally-recognized authority based in eastern city of Tobruk. However, he refused to endorse the GNA, which came to power in December after the United Nations managed to broker a deal between some representatives of the east-based parliament and the militants ruling the capital Tripoli in the west.

UN envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, expressed concern about the capture of the terminals, saying Libya’s oil belongs to all Libyans.

“Conflicts can only be solved through dialogue, not violence. Urge all parties to sit 2gether,” Kobler tweeted.

Ras Lanuf and al-Sidra are capable of handling 700,000 barrels of oil per day.

Libya is estimated to have oil reserves of about 48 billion barrels, which is the largest in Africa. The country's National Oil Company is in charge of managing the ailing oil sector, which has seen production plummet from 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) to just 300,000 bpd since 2010. The company is divided into two branches with one functioning from the capital under the authority of the GNA and the other based in east.

 

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U.N. launches appeal for Libya’s Sirte as forces renew push against Islamic State

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/u-n-launches-appeal-libyas-sirte-forces-renew-push-islamic-state/

(Reuters)

The United Nations launched an emergency $10.7 million appeal on Monday to help tens of thousands of people heading back to the Libyan city of Sirte amid military operations to oust Islamic State fighters from their last hideouts.

Libyan forces aligned with the country's U.N.-backed government are said to be close to capturing the coastal city, which became Islamic State's most important stronghold outside Syria and Iraq when the jihadist group took control last year.

Those who have fled the area have reported severe shortages of food and medicines as well as lootings, public beheadings, "crucifixions" on scaffolding and abductions, the U.N. relief agency said in a report accompanying its appeal.

It described the humanitarian situation in the city as "complex and acute". Military operations have triggered new displacement while many other families have returned to areas now cleared of militants.

Those heading back to Sirte face "extremely difficult conditions", the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, adding that the number living in the area is expected to rise from 48,300 to 79,400 by the end of the year.

There is an urgent need for drinking water, food and basic household items, it said. Health services lack life-saving medicines, while almost all schools need repairs, affecting around 30,000 children.

Families will also require psycho-social support, the report said.

Libya's U.N.-backed government anticipates Sirte will be recaptured within weeks following a military campaign which began in May and has been supported by U.S. air strikes.

But OCHA warned that explosive remnants and improvised explosive devices littering the city would render much of it inaccessible and hinder reconstruction.

Some $4.4 million of the appeal is to train teams to clear explosives and educate returning residents about the risks.

The campaign to recapture Sirte is only one of many challenges in Libya, where the U.N.-backed government is trying to unite a multitude of rival factions that have divided the country since the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

 

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Military helicopter crash leaves 8 dead in east Libya: Army

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/09/20/485524/Libya-Helicopter-Crash-Tobruk

A military chopper has gone down in eastern Libya, with all the eight people on board reported dead.

On Tuesday, Colonel Ahmed al-Mesmari, the spokesman for Libya’s armed forces told Libyan news website Alwasat that the army helicopter crashed in an area 40 kilometers west of the city of Tobruk,early in the morning.

There have been conflicting reports of the number of those on board and the fatalities. The cause of the crash also remains unknown.

Mesmari said the head of the office of the Libyan armed forces’ commander in chief, Idris Younis, three crew members and four other people, who he did not identify, were abroad the ill-fated chopper.

According to the army official, the helicopter was returning from the town of Ra’s Lanuf to Tobruk.

The spokesman said no further information is available on the chopper yet, adding that a search operation is underway.

However, a report by Sky News Arabia said the army helicopter was carrying seven people, five of whom lost their lives in the crash.

The report quoted army sources as saying that two officers had survived the crash.

Libya has been the scene of increasing violence since 2011, when long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled from power after a NATO military intervention.

His ouster created a huge power vacuum in Libya, leading to chaos and emergence of numerous militant groups.

Since then, the country has been wracked by violence, with the rival administrations and their allied militias battling for power.