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Zintan Military Council confirmed that Gaddafi son, Saif Al Islam, has been transferred to a new prison under the supervision of the city's Social Council.

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Libyan hiker, Al-Busairy Abdelsalam Al-Busairy, has arrived in Derna today as part of his trip around Libya advocating for peace and unity among Libyans under the slogan "Forgiveness and Reconciliation for Libya" Al-Busairy was received by the city's municipal and civil societies' officials and Derna residents. He and his companion were later invited to be honored at a small celebratory event in the city.

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Illegal Immigration Fight Authority has announced opening a new migrants detention center in Sawani dsitrict, in the suburbs of Tripoli.

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Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB) has agreed to release captive fighters from Dignity Operation after Khalifa Haftar had agreed to allow water supplies to enter into the besieged area of Ganfouda. The deal was struck after Haftar had tasked the mayor of Benghazi with carrying out the negotiation with the BDB.

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Misrata Municipality and the citys MPs said on Saturday that their city is not part of the conflict in the oil crescent region.

In a statement, they called on the UN-proposed Presidency Council and Petroleum Facilities Guard to shoulder their responsibilities and protect Libyas oil resources.They also confirmed the right for Benghazi IDPs to return to their city.

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Elders and revolutionary fighters of Tajoura district, Tripoli, said on Friday that the return of Benghazi IDPs to their city is a legitimate right. They also expressed support for Benghazi Defense Brigades and urged eastern residents to join them.

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Rival armed groups in Abu Salim district of Tripoli have reached a final agreement to settle their differences and establish peace and stability in their areas.

Burki and Ghaniewa brigades promised not to use force again in the district and to work together for the benefit of the locals.

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75 House of Representatives members have refused the voting of their fellow MPs in rejection of the Libyan political agreement.

The said in a letter to the envoys of UN, AU, EU and Arab League to Libya that the vote, held on March 07 by 38 members, is illegal.

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News Roundup - Sat, Mar 11, 2017 - The Libya Observer

Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command, raised the alarm Thursday aboutRussian interference in Libya during a Senate hearing onCapitol Hill.

It is very concerning, senator,"Waldhauser said in response to Arizona Sen. John McCain's question about Russian involvement in the region. "General Haftar has visited, as you said, on the carrier with the Russians. He's also visited in the country of Russia. Also, this week it's reported in the open press, [Prime Minister Fayez al-] Sarraj from the Government of National Accord has also visited Russia.

In January, Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar a former general whose militia opposes the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoliwas invited onto the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov for a tour and video conference with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Haftars Libyan National Army has been waging a battle against ISIS militants and rival political factions in the Libyan city of Benghazi.

The situation in Libya right now is highly fractured, Waldhauser told lawmakers.

Powerful militias with varying political allegiances have been waging battle for control of Libyas coastal cities and oil infrastructure since the overthrow ofMoammar Gadhafiin October 2011.

It's difficult to say who is the most powerful partner right now inside Libya, Waldhauser said. "If you took polls, you would see that the Libyan National Army has got great support in the ... east, and the GNA has support in the west.

The fractured state of Libyas government has created chaos around the region and invited meddling from outside foreign agents and terrorist groups, to include ISIS.

Senator, Russia is trying to exert influence on the ultimate decision of who becomes, and what entity becomes, in charge of the government inside Libya,"Waldhauser told South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. "They're working to influence that decision."

The power vacuum created after the collapse of the Libyan state,with the U.S. and Russia backing rival militia leaders along the Libyan coast,has led to comparisons to the conflict in Syria. AndRussia is seeking to exert its influence over Libya much as it has in Syria, Waldhauser said.

The U.S. air campaign targeting ISIS fighters in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte this past fall aided a militia out of the nearby city of Misrata, which backs the Western-supported, U.N.-backed Government of National Accord led by Sarraj. The Misratan forcespushed ISIS fighters out of Sirte and into the desert, butthe group still poses a threat to the region.

The status of ISIS in Libya is they are right now regrouping,"Waldhauser said. "They're in small numbers, small groups."

In a Feb. 17 interview with The Associated Press, Waldhauser said massive Jan. 18 airstrikes against ISIS camps in southern Libya killed more than 80 Islamic State militants and generated significant intelligence, including critical computer data, documents and information from prisoner interrogations, which the U.S. could use to track and target more fighters.

Alluding to those airstrikes in his Senate testimony, Waldhauser said Islamic State militants have "scattered again now; they're in small groups, trying to regroup."

See the rest here:
AFRICOM commander voices concern over Russian meddling in Libya - Military Times

Libya Herald

Barasi warns oilfield fighting will harden division in Libya Libya Herald The battle for the central oil crescent terminals will only deepen divisions in Libya, former deputy prime minister Awad Al-Barasi has told the Libya Herald. He criticised elements of the Presidency Council's (PC) government of national accord (GNA ... BDB hails Italian statement on oil crescent, calls Egypt to be neutralThe Libya Observer all 3 news articles »

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Barasi warns oilfield fighting will harden division in Libya - Libya Herald

Written by Rashmi Rajput | Mumbai | Updated: March 11, 2017 4:48 am Tabrez Tambe

THE BROTHER of an alleged Islamic State (IS) recruit from Maharashtra has written to the Indian ambassador in Libya, seeking help in locating and rescuing his brother from the war-torn country. In an email sent in January, Saud Tambe said his brother Tabrez, 28, who had been booked by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) last December under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, had moved to Egypt and later Libya for a job.

On January 26, I sent an email to the Indian ambassador in Libya stating that my brother had moved to Egypt in January last year for a job. Ali, a Saudi Arabian national, had helped him land the job. Subsequently, Ali took him to Libya for training. However, in December, we got a call from Tabrez, saying he was stuck in a war-torn region and that we should seek help from the authorities to get him back to India, he told The Indian Express.

While Saud claimed he didnt know the name of the company where Tabrez was employed in Libya, he said his brother called in March to inform the family that he was moving to Libya for training. After that, said Saud, calls from Tabrez dropped until December, when he made the last call for help.

However, the ATS probe has revealed that while Tabrez left India in January, claiming to have bagged a job in Egypt, he moved to Libya within a month. While the probe confirmed that Tabrez called his mother in March 2016, investigators say it wasnt to tell the family that he was moving to Libya for training but to inform them that he had joined the IS and that they shouldnt check on him. However, they say, he did call in December to say he was stuck and needed help.

After his graduation from Mumbai University, Tabrez did a diploma course in air cargo management. He has two brothers, besides Saud, and a sister. The family, which is from Harnai in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, moved to Mumbra near Mumbai in 2009 and has been staying on rent.

The ATS probe has also revealed that Tabrez had booked a return ticket to India, allegedly to avoid suspicion. Tambe made a booking through an online travel portal. We interrogated the Delhi-based representative who made the bookings. The investigation has revealed that he booked a return ticket just to show that he intended to return to India. However, our investigation has revealed that the plan to go to Egypt for employment was an alibi; the real purpose was to leave India to join the IS, said an ATS officer, adding that the investigators were combing Tabrezs social media profile and questioning his friends.

In Mumbra, Saud said he doesnt believe his brother could have joined the IS. We cannot speak about the ATSs investigations. My brother has been cheated with the promise of a job. There is an FIR against him and we want the courts to decide if he is really a terrorist. But we believe that he has nothing to do with the IS and that he is stuck in Libya and needs to be rescued, he said.

Originally posted here:
Brother of 'IS recruit' seeks help from Indian envoy in Libya - The Indian Express

A general view of an oil refinery in Libyas northern town of Ras Lanuf. Photograph: Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images

Militias have captured a string of key Libyan oil ports in the fight against eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, sharply escalating the countrys civil war and throwing international peacemaking efforts into doubt.

The Islamist Benghazi militia struck at al-Sidra, Libyas biggest oil port, and Ras Lanuf, its biggest refinery, overnight on Friday, forcing Haftars Libyan National Army to retreat.

Army spokesman Col Ahmad al-Mismari said the militias had overrun the main airfield at Ras Lanuf, with the army pulling back to avoid damage to oil facilities.

He said the Benghazi defence brigades, militias originally from Benghazi who were driven out of the city by Haftars forces last year, attacked the ports from four directions on Friday.

Airstrikes failed to halt the drive, in which militia units entered the ports in fighting that has left at least nine dead. Renewed strikes were launched against the militias on Saturday morning, while army reinforcements massed for a counter-attack in what has become a see-saw struggle to control Libyas vast oil wealth.

The attackers were armed with modern tanks and a radar to neutralise our air force, Mismari said. But the battle is ongoing. The situation in the oil crescent remains under control.

Haftars forces seized al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf, together with nearby ports Brega and Zueitina in an offensive last September that dealt a major blow to the UN-backed Gvernment of National Accord, whose militias had controlled them.

Haftar supports Libyas parliament, based in the eastern town of Tobruk, which opposes the GNA in Tripoli, and both sides have made gaining control of the ports their priority.

The Tripoli government denied involvement in the attack, condemning it as a military escalation and called for all sides to cease fighting.

Britains ambassador to Libya, Peter Millet, tweeted his concern that the battle may shatter the countrys oil industry. I follow with great concern fighting in the oil crescent which threatens Libyas oil and the lives of civilians, he said.

The oil ports have been the focus of months of fighting, with the Benghazi defence brigades launching offensives against them in December and February that were broken up by airstrikes.

Exports from the ports are the main source of hard currency for a country whose economy is in tatters after enduring chaos and violence ever since the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The fighting also risks opening a divide among outside powers, with Haftar backed by neighbouring Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia, while the GNA has support from the United States, Britain and most European Union powers.

In recent weeks Russia has been trying to broker talks between the two governments to form a power-sharing administration with a prominent role for Haftar.

The move was backed last month by the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who said: Thats the crucial question: how to make sure that Haftar is in some way integrated into the government of Libya.

The United Nations has also been mediating a plan to restructure the GNA to incorporated Haftar, while the GNA itself is struggling in Tripoli, with its forces fighting street battles against militias from a third would-be administration, the salvation government, for control of the capital.

With reinforcements pouring into the oil ports fighting on Saturday, hopes of a peace deal may be vanishing. No room for political negotiations in the near future, tweeted Libyan analyst Mohamed Eljarh. Todays developments make political solutions even more difficult to achieve.

The rest is here:
Libyan militias capture key oil ports and refinery - The Guardian