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Instability in Libya

Libya to Hold Elections

  • Government of National Accord leader Fayez Seraj said that Libya should hold parliamentary and presidential elections by the end of this year (Reuters)

Russian Private Military Company Backing Haftar’s LNA in Libya

  • A report claims the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, has three hundred personnel operating in Libya in support of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), led by General Khalifa Haftar (Telegraph)

Libyan Rivals Agree to Hold National Elections

  • During a recent meeting, internationally-recognized Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar agreed on the necessity of holding national elections in Libya (Reuters)

Libyan National Army Attacks Civilians in Southern Libya

  • An attack carried out by forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), killed at least nineteen civilians in the southern Libyan city of Murzuq as the LNA continues a push to gain control of the Sharara oilfield (Al Jazeera)

Libyan National Army Captures Sharara Oil Field

  • Khalifa Haftar, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), announced yesterday that his forces captured the country’s Sharara oil field from Libya’s National Oil Corporation. Clashes resumed today in the area between the LNA and troops that support the rival Tripoli-based, UN-backed government (Bloomberg)

Six Killed in Libya by Islamic State Militants

  • The UN mission to Libya said that Islamic State militants killed six people that were captured during an attack on a town on October 28 (Associated Press)

Four Killed in Attack in Central Libya

  • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on the town of al-Foqha yesterday, during which four people were killed and ten were kidnapped (Reuters)

One Hundred Fifteen People Killed in Libya’s Tripoli

  • Libya’s health ministry reported that 115 people have been killed since late August in clashes between opposing factions in Tripoli (Reuters)

Rockets Fired at Libya’s Tripoli Airport

  • The Tripoli Youth Movement claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Tripoli’s only functioning airport yesterday. There were no reported casualties (Al Jazeera)

Gunmen Attack Libya’s National Oil Corporation

  • Armed men attacked the headquarters of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli yesterday. Two gunmen were killed and at least ten NOC staff were wounded. In a statement, the interior ministry indicated the gunmen belonged to the Islamic State (Reuters)

Hundreds Escape Tripoli Jail

  • Some four hundred prisoners fled a Tripoli prison as clashes between militias in the Libyan capital entered their ninth day. The UN-backed government declared a state of emergency in response to the fighting (Guardian)

Ceasefire Reached in Libya’s Tripoli

  • A ceasefire is in force in Libya’s capital Tripoli after three days of fighting between rival armed groups left at least five people dead and homes, markets, and mosques destroyed (Al Jazeera)

Clashes Erupt Between Rival Factions in Libya’s Tripoli

  • Clashes broke out between rival armed groups over control of Libya’s capital Tripoli yesterday. At least four people have been killed and seven others wounded (Al Jazeera)

Libyan Court Hands Down Death Penalty

  • A Tripoli court sentenced to death forty-five men accused of firing on demonstrators in the capital during 2011 Arab Spring protests as a show of loyalty to dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi (Libya Herald)

Militias Evict Nearly Two Thousand People in Libya’s Tripoli

  • Militias evicted nineteen hundred internally displaced persons from Triq Al Matar settlement in Tripoli, according to the UN (UNHCR)

Libya Reopens Oil Export Terminals

  • Armed factions in the east returned control of four oil terminals to the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation after a weeks-long takeover, ending what amounted to a blockade and enabling the resumption of oil exports (Reuters)

Libyan National Army Captures Derna

  • The self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, declared victory yesterday over local militias and Islamist militants in the eastern city of Derna (Reuters)

Libyan Oil Corporation Warns of Damage to Facility

  • The National Oil Corporation said a militia attack at the Ras Lanuf terminal has halved its oil storage capacity at the port (Financial Times)
  • The self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, announced an offensive yesterday against the militia (Al Jazeera)

Rival Libyan Factions Agree to Election Timetable

  • At an international conference in Paris yesterday, rival Libyan political leaders agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in December, though no envoys from either Libyan side have yet signed the agreement (New York Times)

Attack on Libyan Electoral Commission Kills Twelve

  • Militants assaulted the electoral commission in Tripoli today, in an attack involving suicide bombers that killed at least twelve and wounded seven others (Associated Press)
  • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it sent the fighters to target “apostate ballot stations” (Washington Post)

Libyan Military Leader in Hospital, France Says

  • France’s foreign minister confirmed that Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who opposes the UN-backed government in Tripoli, is receiving treatment at a Paris hospital. An unnamed European diplomat told media that Haftar had suffered irreversible brain damage (Al Jazeera)

U.S. Strikes Al-Qaeda Target in Southern Libya

  • The U.S. military carried out its first drone strikes against al-Qaeda militants in southern Libya, killing two militants, U.S. Africa Command said (New York Times)

Libya Unable to Hold Free Elections, HRW Says

  • The human rights group said Libya “couldn’t be farther away” from respect for the rule of law and that political rights of Libyans should be guaranteed before the country holds general elections (Human Rights Watch)
  • The UN’s top official in Libya said holding elections in 2018 is “vital” (Voice of America)

Gaddafi’s Son Announces Candidacy in Libya

  • A spokesperson for the Libyan Popular Front party said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, whose location remains unknown, will run for president in the next Libyan election. The son of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court and was sentenced to death in absentia by a Tripoli court in 2015 (Middle East Eye)

Bombing of Benghazi Mosque Kills Two and Wounds Fifty-Five

  • A twin bombing inside a mosque in Libyan National Army–controlled Benghazi killed two and wounded at least fifty-five during Friday prayers (Reuters)