Mediaboss Marketing

BENGHAZI, Libya A series of military victories over extremist Islamic groups along Libyas Mediterranean coastline has forced hundreds of militants, including Islamic State fighters, to seek refuge in the vast deserts of the North African nation, already home to militias from neighboring countries, cross-border criminal gangs and mercenaries.

Libyas lawless, desolate center and south provides a sanctuary for militants to reorganize, recruit, train and potentially plot for a comeback. That is especially important at a time when the Islamic State group lost not only its urban holdings in Libya but is crumbling in Iraq and Syria.

In Libyas remote stretches near the borders with Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Algeria, Niger and Tunisia, multiple armed groups already operate freely. Arms are easily available. Human trafficking and cross-border smuggling, especially fuel, are rampant and lucrative.

Lack of effective border controls has allowed militiamen fighting the Sudanese and Chadian governments to set up camp inside Libya. Alongside them came soldiers-for-hire from places as far afield as Cameroon. Tribal and ethnic rivalries frequently boil over into deadly strife.

Militants travel back and forth near the southern borders and all the way to the central parts of the country, robbing travelling cars and attacking civilians, said Brig. Gen. Abdullah Nouredeen of the Libyan National Army. They sometimes work close to the borders since there is money to be made from smuggling and arms trading.

The migration of the militants comes after rivals drove them out of coastal cities like Sirte, Benghazi, Sebratha and Derna. Their dispersion into the desert undermines prospects for a return of stability in oil-rich Libya.

Claudia Gazzini, the International Crisis Groups senior Libya analyst, said IS militants were generally lying low in the desert south of the coastline, moving in small convoys so as not to attract attention or just going home. Others, she explained, were active around Sirte, staging occasional attacks against their adversaries.

Going forward, she said, IS remnants will likely try to influence and win over groups opposed to Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the Egyptian-backed commander of Libyas national army who has been fighting militants.

We are already seeing signs that this may have already happened, she said.

Sensing danger, Egypt has begun to closely monitor its borders with Sudan and Libya, fearing the area could turn into a major staging ground for attacks inside its territory. Egypt has said IS militants fighting its security forces in the Sinai Peninsula receive arms and fighters from Libya. It said militants behind recent deadly attacks against Christians were trained in Libya and sneaked into Egypt across the porous desert border.

Like the rest of Libya, the desert towns and villages in the countrys central and southern regions have seen law and order vanish since the 2011 ouster and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Across the country, militias many of them with Islamist ideologies have carved out fiefdoms, imposing their will on local administrations.

Some estimates put the number of full-time militiamen in Libya at around 120,000 and IS fighters around 1,000, but there is no way to independently verify these figures.

Gen. Hifter has sought to drive out Islamic militants and bring the center and south under his control but with limited success. He said he intends to seal off Libyas borders with Egypt, Sudan and Chad by early July to stop the flow of arms, fighters and migrants.

It is widely believed, however, that his forces dont have the resources to enforce order in the vast region or take on the hardened militants and militiamen there.

In a sign of desperation over deteriorating security, Libyas national oil company halted shipments to the south, after a series of hijackings of convoys delivering fuel. Invariably, the fuel surfaced later in the black market or in neighboring countries.

The following are key geographical locations for the militants and armed groups:

Zamzam Valley

Zamzam Valley is south of Misrata about 30 miles from the coast. Scores of IS militants found refuge there after they were defeated last year by militiamen loyal to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli after a months-long battle. IS fighters in Zamzam Valley occasionally launch attacks against Misrata, the hometown of the militia that drove them out of Sirte, as well as kidnap travelers or attacks checkpoints.

Al-Awaynat

This location in the remote southeastern corner of Libya close to the borders of Egypt and Sudan has become something of a mercenaries central because of the hundreds of guns-for hire stationed there. The men, mostly from Chad, Niger and Cameroon, are hired mostly to fight under the banners of different militias. They make an average of $2,000 a month when hired. Militias and criminal groups in al-Awaynat, meanwhile, make money from human trafficking, kidnappings for ransom and smuggling of weapons, drugs and fuel.

Al-Kufra

Small cells of IS and al-Qaida fighters are believed to have moved to the outskirts of this oasis city in southeast Libya in recent months. Al-Kufra has for decades been torn by a deadly conflict pitting the Arab Alzway tribes against the sub-Saharan African Tabu group, which inhabits a large swath of territory stretching across northern Chad, southern Libya, northwestern Sudan and northeastern Niger.

Alzway dominate the city and accuse the Tabu of harboring criminals and militants from Sudan and Chad. The Tabu deny the charges. Militias from both sides are involved in tit-for-tat raids that often target civilians. The conflict is widely seen as a rivalry over control of border crossings and lucrative smuggling routes.

Two brigades from Hifters Libyan National Army are stationed at al-Kufra, but they dont have the manpower or resources to enforce law and order in the vast desert area.

Sabha

Most of the hundreds of militants who managed to flee the assault on Sirte last year are thought to have made it near this town in central Libya.

It was a perfect destination. The city is virtually out of control, with several ongoing conflicts. The main players are Awlad Suleiman, an ethnically Arab tribe, and the Tabu and Twareg, all of whom have for years been vying for a bigger slice of the smuggling trade.

Anti-government militiamen from Sudan and Chad provide a pool of mercenaries for any armed group. They are also involved in cross-border arms smuggling, according to local politician Youssef Kalourki.

IS fighters in the area keep a low profile, spending most of their time in valleys and mountains outside the city.

In May, forces loyal to Hifter seized a nearby air base and several localities. It was a significant victory, but Hifters forces remain a long way away from controlling the region.

Ubari

This town southwest of Sabha saw fierce fighting among rival criminal gangs in 2015 that displaced almost the entire population. The hostilities were triggered by an attempt by several militias to control the black market in subsidized fuel provided by the Tripoli government.

Radical militant groups in the area, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, are known to be involved in the illicit trade, selling the fuel in neighboring countries for at least 10 times the price in Libya. (AP)

Here is the original post:
Militants find sanctuary in Libya's wild south | News | phillytrib.com - The Philadelphia Tribune

BENGHAZI, LIBYA (Reuters) - Benghazi's international airport officially reopened for commercial flights amid a heavy security presence on Saturday (July 15) after a three-year closure due to fighting in the city.

The first outward bound flights from Benina Airport were to the capital, Tripoli, to Amman, Jordan, and to the south-eastern Libyan city of Kufra. Flights are also scheduled to and from Tunis, Istanbul, Alexandria, and the western Libyan city of Zintan.

The flights are operated by two state-owned companies, Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways.

Benina is just east of Benghazi, Libya's second city, where fighting escalated in the summer of 2014 when forces loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar launched a military campaign against Islamists and other opponents.

Earlier this month, Haftar declared victory in the campaign as his forces battled rivals in their last downtown holdouts.

Travellers and airport staff expressed relief at no longer having to travel to Labraq airport, a four-hour drive east of Benghazi, which had replaced Benina as the main airport for the eastern part of the country.

In recent months, some official and cargo flights had already been flying from Benina. There is also a military airport at Benina, which continued operating throughout the conflict as Haftar's forces targeted their rivals with air strikes.

Tripoli's international airport was badly damaged by fighting in 2014, and flights have since operated out of the smaller Mitiga airport near the centre of the capital.

Read more:
Libya's Benghazi airport reopens after 3-year closure during war - The Straits Times

DUBAI -- OPEC member Kuwait said on Friday it would be premature to cap Nigerian and Libyan oil production as the two African countries' output needed to stabilize further.

The market is on a recovery track due to rising global demand, Kuwait's OPEC governor Haitham Al-Ghais told Reuters.

In an effort to eradicate a supply glut, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is curbing output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) until March 2018, while Russia and other non-OPEC producers are cutting half as much.

But oil prices have fallen more than 15 per cent this year due to still-booming supplies and stubbornly high global stocks, which remain way above OPEC targets despite the cut agreement.

A ministerial committee from OPEC and non-OPEC countries, which is headed by Gulf OPEC member Kuwait, meets in Russia on July 24 to discuss compliance with the cuts, from which Nigeria and Libya are exempt due to years of output-sapping unrest.

"All this talk about putting a production cap on Libya and Nigeria is premature," Al-Ghais said. "Data so far is showing that the real spike in production only happened in June."

The official added that output had increased on average by between 300,000 and 500,000 bpd from the two countries combined since the start of the supply-cutting agreement in January 2017.

He said representatives from Libya and Nigeria had been invited to a technical OPEC/non-OPEC committee meeting on July 22 ahead of the ministerial gathering, to give presentations on production from both countries.

"We have to look at the sustainability and stability of production from those countries," said Al-Ghais, who also heads the technical committee. "We need to wait and see more production data before we can make any decision."

The technical committee could make recommendations on Nigeria and Libya, which the ministerial committee would then review. The latter cannot take production decisions but can make recommendations to OPEC and other participating producers, which are scheduled to meet formally in November.

Al-Ghais said that despite production increases from Libya and Nigeria, there were signs of market rebalancing including U.S. government data showing a large drop in stockpiles.

"We feel that the market is on the right way of correcting itself," he said. "Demand will pick up and we expect to see stronger demand in the third quarter."

Originally posted here:
Premature to cap Libya, Nigeria oil output: Kuwait's OPEC governor - BNN

Libya is struggling to control its long borders with Sudan, Chad and Niger.

Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti on Thursday proposed a pact with Libya to combat human trafficking during a visit to Tripoli to meet mayors of cities affected by the scourge.

"We will make a pact to liberate our lands from traffickers," Minniti told 13 mayors from south Libya, urging them to mobilise against people smugglers.

Libya is struggling to control its long borders with Sudan, Chad and Niger.

Cities in south Libya have become the first stops for many illegal immigrants' journeys to Europe.

EU interior ministers on July 6 pledged to back an urgent European Commission plan to help crisis-hit Italy, which has been overwhelmed by a wave of migrants arriving by sea from North Africa.

"We have a moral duty to eliminate this traffic that has caused deaths... and extraordinary and unacceptable pressure on my country," Minniti said.

Fayez al-Sarraj, leader of the internationally backed Government of National Unity, said "Libya will do its best to relieve the pressure on the Italian coast", according to a tweet by Rome's embassy to Tripoli, the only Western diplomatic mission to have reopened in the Libyan capital.

Minniti also visited Tripoli in May to hand over four patrol boats repaired in Italy as both countries fight illegal immigration.

The situation has worsened since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with smugglers exploiting the chaos to increase the flow of illegal migrants to Italy just 300 kilometres away.

Italy has been urging its EU partners to make a "concrete contribution" to dealing with the crisis both in terms of trying to limit departures from Libya and also taking in some of those who survive the perilous journey.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni warned last week that Italy did not have "unlimited" capacity to keep taking in people, having already accepted around 85,000 of the 100,000 people who have arrived this year.

Read the original here:
Italy proposes Libya pact to curb illegal migration - New Vision

WASHINGTONThe Pentagon has expanded the criteria for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary medal to include the U.S. campaign against ISIS in Libya.

The geographic criteria for the medal highlights the extent of the American operation to remove ISIS from the Libyan city of Sirte.

The U.S. military operation to liberate Sirte from ISIS was conducted from Aug. 1, 2016 until Dec. 19, 2016, and authorized under the Obama administration. The operation was dubbed Operation Odyssey Lightning.

Service members who participated in Operation Odyssey Lightning from Aug. 1 to Dec.19, 2016 the date Libya ended operations in Sirte, are eligible for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary medal.

Odyssey Lightning was launched with the support of Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) the current U.N.- and U.S.-backed government that came into existence after extensive political negotiations in December 2015.

The operations primary objective was limited in scope to the removal of ISIS in Sirte, according to officials at U.S. Africa Command. However, the criteria for the GWOT Expeditionary medal for the Libya operation includes Algeria, Chad, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Libya, Niger, Spain, Tunisia and the Mediterranean Sea from the Straits of Gibraltar.

Despite the limited scope of the operation to liberate Sirte, the size and scale of U.S. air support assets needed to assist Libyan ground forces combating ISIS was quite large.

The expansive geographic criteria for the GWOT-E in Odyssey Lightning is a result of regional and offshore U.S. supporting assets to include air, intelligence, strike aircraft and surveillance assets, according to Maj. Audricia Harris, a spokesperson for the Pentagon.

"At any given time there are approximately 5,000-6,000 U.S. personnel on the continent [Africa]," said Robyn Mack, a spokesperson for AFRICOM. Most of those forces operate out Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.

The prosecution of U.S. operation against ISIS in Libya was similar in design to Operation Inherent Resolve, where a U.S. led coalition is battling ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

The U.S. has thousands of U.S. troops and supporting air assets outside of Iraq and Syria supporting operations against ISIS to include Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, and Bahrain, according to Harris. Overall, U.S. ground forces in Syria are small in comparison to the tens of thousands of support personnel and air assets outside Iraq and Syria with roughly 5,000 troops in Iraq and a force manning level set at 500 in Syria.

However, the expansive criteria for the Odyssey Lightning campaign also highlights an expanding role of U.S. forces in north Africa and ISIS reach in the region, according to Emily Estelle, an expert covering Libya at the American Enterprise Institute.

It reflects AFRICOMs recognition of the extent of ISISs network in northern Africa. Sirte served as ISISs hub in Africa, from which the group both recruited militants and sent fighters to neighboring states in the Maghreb and the Sahel, Estelle told Military Times.

The U.S. footprint in north Africa has been steadily growing over the last several years because of threats posed by a host of non-state actors like ISIS, Boko-Haram, and al-Qaida offshoots operating in areas of ungoverned spaces.

"We [AFRICOM] maintain several enduring locations such as Garoua, Cameroon; Chebelley, Djibouti; and Agadez, Niger on the African continent which give the United States options in the event of crisis and enable partner capacity building," Mack told Military Times.

In Niger, for instance, the U.S. built a $100 million dollar drone base back in September, primarily to keep tabs on movement of Boko-Haram, according to a report by Reuters.

This base is meant to serve ISR needs across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, and I expect the Maghreb as well, Estelle said. The benefit to [Operation Odyssey Lightning] OOL would be tracking any southward movement of ISIS personnel leaving Sirte.

As U.S. airpower pushed ISIS fighters out of Sirte, the fighters attempted to flee the city and Libya. I expect that AFRICOM dedicated ISR assets from Niger to keep track of ISIS fighters attempting to leave Libya to the south, Estelle explained.

In Chad, the U.S. has a strong relationship with Chadian forces, and it is likely the U.S. is operating small training posts and forward operating bases to monitor the movement of militants in the region, Estelle said.

Algeria has a more tenuous relationship with the U.S., but the U.S. has provided Algeria with access to U.S. intelligence to combatal-Qaidain the Maghreb, or AQIM. In turn, Algeria has opened its airspace to U.S. and French air assets, Estelle said.

It is not entirely clear if the U.S. has ever conducted airstrikes or operations outside of Libya in support of Odyssey Lightning. When asked by Military Times, a spokesperson for AFRICOM responded that "asmall number of U.S. forces have gone in and out of Libya to exchange information with local forces and they will continue to do so as we strengthen the fight against ISIS and other terrorist organizations."

Much like the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. brought to bear the force of tens thousands of U.S. ground forces without having to put a large footprint on the ground in Libya. Outside air assets and small surveillance outposts throughout north Africa and the Sahel assisted in the operation to liberate the city of Sirte from ISIS.

Odyssey Lightning was temporarily reinstated at the request of the Libyan government on Jan. 18, 2017 to strike a couple of ISIS camps outside of Sirte. "The ISIS terrorists targeted included individuals who fled to the remote desert camps from Sirte in order or reorganize," Mack said.

Read more from the original source:
US troops eligible for medal for US operation against ISIS in Libya - Military Times