On 18 October, the Government of National Accord (GNA) Counter-Terrorism Force Commander, Major General Mohammed al-Zein, announced on Libyan television that four people had been arrested for connections to a terrorism group in two separate operations at Khoms and on the periphery of Tripoli. Al-Zein stated that the ISIS suspects were foreigners who intended to undertake an attack in Libya.
On 14 October, it was reported that an ISIS leader being held in Qarnadah prison, Hafez Abdul Hamid al-Barani, had died due to complications from stomach cancer. Al-Barani had joined the al Qaeda-aligned Abu Salim Brigade before splitting with the group over an alleged ideology quarrel in 2014, after which he became a commander for ISIS in Derna. The al-Qaeda aligned Shura Mujahideen then put him under house arrest in 2016. Barani was arrested by the LNA in 2018 and sent to the LNA-controlled Qarnadah prison.