In Benghazi, intense fighting and indiscriminate, punitive shelling were registered in the Laithi, Buhdeima, Gharyounis and Gawarsha districts throughout the whole week. On Thursday, the Head of the Sa’iqa Special Forces Wanis Bukhamada and other OD commanders from Benghazi reiterated that there is no room for any dialogue in the city and that only a military solution will be pursued in this arena.
In Sirte, isolated clashes continue to erupt between Misratan forces belonging to the 166th battalion and local cells of the IS. For the time being, both sides appear to prefer avoiding an all-out confrontation: the IS cells due to their limited military capacities and the 166th battalion to avoid engulfing the city in a house-by-house fight on the model of what occurred in Benghazi.
At the military level, changes in Qatari and Turkish relations with Saudi Arabia due to succession and cabinet reshuffles have meant that Qatar and Turkey are supplying less aid to Libya Dawn than they were a few months back. Conversely, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates continue to actively support the Tubruq-based camp in general and Khalifa Haftar and OD in specific. Although such support is partially limited by the persistence of the UN arms embargo, the Egyptian and Emirati governments have likely provided the OD camp with military materiel and provisions as late as last week, when military helicopters for night-time operations and other armoured vehicles were delivered to Tubruq.