In Benghazi, fighting concentrated in the al-Sabri, Suq al-Hout and Hawari districts, pitting LNA troops and local volunteers affiliated with Operation Dignity against militias and militants of the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shura Council (BRSC) and IS. The LNA took control of the Hawari General Hospital, where snipers of the BRSC used to position themselves in the past months.
Whilst the city appears to be firmly under control of the al-Qa’ida affiliated Derna’s Mujahiddeen Shura Council (DMSC), fighting rages in the city’s countryside and surrounding region, pitting DMSC militants against IS ones. Troops and battalions from the pro-Operation Dignity LNA are also active in the region, especially in the Ain Mara area and in the smaller wadis to the west of Derna. During the past week, LNA troops concentrated their efforts on combing the recently liberated Wadi Marqus, north of al-Qubbah, in a bid to stabilise the areas of Derna’s region under control of LNA affiliated groups and tribes. Consolidating control over al-Qubbah and its surrounding wadis, including Wadi Marqus, would in fact likely result in an almost complete isolation of IS militants in the broader Derna region from the organisation’s main headquarter in Sirte.