On Friday 2 January, 14 soldiers belonging to the 168th Battalion of the Libyan Army were killed. The soldiers were manning a checkpoint in a village located 600 kilometres south-east of Tripoli. Members of a local Islamic State (IS) cell claimed responsibility for this attack where also three civilians were killed.
Pictures published online by the Cyrenaica media branch of IS portray IS-aligned fighters in Benghazi distributing aid and food supplies to Libyans and foreign workers living on the outskirts of Benghazi as well as in temporary camps for people displaced by the ongoing fighting.
Photos and details of a publication were issued by the ‘Barqa Governorate’ of the IS. The Cyrenaica-based IS cell published a number of photos portraying apartments and cars belonging to supporters of Khalifa Haftar’s Operation Dignity burned and destroyed by member of the radical Islamist organisation.