On 25-26 May, the African-European Conference on Migration, organized by the Government of National Stability (GNS), took place in Benghazi. In his...
International actors
Our archive of international activity in Libya’s security space including military operations, the presence of foreign operatives and diplomacy pertaining to Libya’s security.
Paris meeting looks into establishment of Libyan Army – LNA joint force
On 24 May, information about a meeting of representatives from France, the USA, Italy and the UK in Paris was leaked. The aim of the meeting was to...
GNU protests Greek seismic surveys in area claimed by 2019 Libya-Turkey MoU
On 21 May, it was reported that the Government of National Unity's (GNU) Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) had submitted the week before a note of...
Western diplomats renew focus on countering Russian presence in Libya
On 16 May, UK Ambassador to Libya Martin Longden met with Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi, stressing that all...
Dar al-Ifta calls for jihad against Russian ‘occupation and invasion’
On 14 May, the Dar al-Ifta issued a statement in which it said that the Russian armed presence on Libyan soil is considered ‘an occupation and an...
ICC to conclude investigations by end-2025 and issue new arrest warrants in Libya
On 14 May, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan briefed the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Libya, noting that the ICC had...
Libyan Navy delegation concludes US training in Accra
On 10 May, the US Embassy thanked a Libyan Navy delegation for participating in US Naval Forces Africa’s 2nd annual African Maritime Forces Summit...
Italy bans surveillance and rescue planes over the Mediterranean
On 8 May, the German Search and rescue organisation Sea Watch launched an aerial surveillance mission from the Italian island of Lampedusa, in...
GNU and LNA delegations in Moscow as Russia deepens relations with eastern and western Libya
On 7 May, the Russian Special Envoy for MENA and Africa, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov, received the Chief of Staff of the...
Meloni and Haftar discuss Italy-LNA partnership in Benghazi visit
On 7 May, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travelled to Benghazi where she met Libyan National Army (LNA) Commander Khalifa Haftar. According...
Meloni in Tripoli as Italy ramps up anti-migration efforts
On 7 May, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Tripoli to meet with Prime Minister Abdul Hameed Dabaiba. They discussed issues of mutual...
Libyan military officials participate in US-sponsored African Land Forces Summit in Zambia
On 6 May, the US Embassy said that last week, a delegation of military officials from throughout Libya participated in the African Land Forces...
Trabelsi discusses Ras Ajdir reopening with Tunisian authorities
On 5 May, Prime Minister Abdul Hameed Dabaiba met with Government of National Unity (GNU) Minister of Interior Emad Trabelsi to discuss progress at...
Trabelsi takes part in Rome migration meeting
On 2 May, Government of National Unity (GNU) Minister of Interior (MoI) Emad Trabelsi led a delegation from Libya to an International Coordination...
EU Operation IRINI releases figures for April 2024
EU Operation IRINI released its figures for April 2024, noting it had inspected 628 ships by radio call and had inspected eight ships on board with...
US and EU call for investigation into Dughman’s death
On 29 April, US Special Envoy Richard Norland and US Charge d’Affaires Jeremy Berndt met with Osama Assed, Director of the Libya Centre for...
Paris organizing meeting of Western security officials on Libya
On 26 April, the French site ‘Africa Intelligence’ said that Paris intends to host representatives of the US, UK and Italian foreign and defense...
Libyan Mufti says Libyans should wage jihad against Russian presence in Libya
On 24 April, Libya’s Grand Mufti Sadiq al-Ghariyani said on his Tanasuh TV channel that the presence of Russian Wagner/ Africa Corp fighters in...
Canadian police charge two Libyans over conspiracy to sell Chinese-made drones in Libya
On 23 April, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) charged two men in Montreal with participating in a conspiracy to sell Chinese-made drones and...
Al-Baour and Russian ambassador discuss bilateral ties
On 22 April, Russian Ambassador to Libya Aydar Aganin flew to Tripoli, meeting with the Government of National Unity (GNU) Acting Minister of...
UNSMIL, US call for investigation into death of activist in Rajma detention
On 21 April, UNSMIL said it was deeply saddened by the death of activist Siraj Dughman while in custody at Rajma military camp. The mission urged...
Russian ambassador tours eastern Libya
On 17 April, Russian Ambassador to Libya Aydar Aganin met with the Chief of Staff of the Libyan National Army's (LNA) Security Units Khaled Haftar,...
Russia continues to deliver military shipments to Tubruq
Reports indicate that Russia continues to deliver military shipments to Tubruq. Two Russian landing vessels (the Ivan Gren and the Alexandr...
US ‘closely monitoring’ Russian activities in Africa
In remarks to the UNSC on 16 April, US Ambassador Robert Wood said that, ‘We are closely monitoring the situation in Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Mali –...
Shipment of Russian military equipment arrives at Tubruq port
On 14 April, a video was widely circulated on social media showing military vehicles, weapons and military equipment being unloaded from a vessel in...
NGOs call on Maltese government to halt migrant pushbacks to Libya
On 10 April, twenty-two Maltese organisations and academics called on the Malta government to stop pushing back people at sea to Libya, following...
US ‘corrects’ reports on training of ‘armed groups’ in Libya
On 9 April, Africa Intelligence, Nova Agency and several other news sites reported that the American private military company Amentum had begun...
US Defense Attaché delegation visits several security posts
A US Defense Attaché delegation travelled to Misrata and al-Khoms, where they ‘made productive visits’ to the Central Military Zone, Al Khoms naval...
Ex-Irish forces accused of training Haftar forces despite arms embargo
On 3 April, the Irish Times reported that former members of the elite Army Ranger Wing within the Irish Defence Forces have been training troops...
Operation IRINI conducts three friendly visits and registers 10 suspicious flights in March
On 3 April, the Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI announced that (only) three ‘friendly visits’ to suspicious ships were carried out in March (without...
EU Ambassador and Trabelsi discuss migration as part of trilateral task force
On 31 March, EU Ambassador to Libya Nicola Orlando met with Libyan officials including Minister of Interior Emad Trabelsi, as well as AU and UN...
Egypt intelligence chief discusses political situation with Haftar in Benghazi visit
Following a visit by UN Special Envoy Abdoulaye Bathily to Benghazi, the Head of Egyptian General Intelligence Abbas Kamel visited Libyan National...
US reportedly extends its Libya sanctions regime for another year
On 19 March, the UK-based legal website, “Global Sanctions - Law, Practice and Guidance” reported that the US had renewed its existing Libya...
LNA sends pilots to Russia for training
In January and mid-February, the Libyan National Army (LNA) sent two groups of altogether six to eight pilots to Russia for training on MiG-29 and...
Libyan Coast Guard condemned after migrant deaths
On 13 March, the NGO SOS Mediterranee, on their ship Ocean Viking, rescued 25 people who had been adrift at sea on a partially deflated dinghy for a...
European diplomats continue to court GNU and Haftar for cooperation on migration
On 12 March, Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar received Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, Deputy Foreign Minister...
US State Department seeks reopening of embassy in Tripoli to counter Russian influence
On 11 March, CNN reported that in its fiscal year 2025 request, the US State Department has asked for $12.7 million ‘to enable a potential...
Saddam Haftar awarded doctorate from prestigious Egyptian military academy
On 7 March, Saddam Haftar, Commander of the Libyan National Army's (LNA) Ground Forces (and son of Khalifa Haftar), was awarded a doctorate (PhD) in...
EU support for Libyan Coast Guard back under fire as NGO says crew was attacked
On 2 March, the German NGO SOS Humanity said the crew of its search and rescue vessel Humanity 1 was threatened several times by the Libyan Coast...
Dabaiba signs another military MoU with Turkey in Antalya
On 1 March, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dabaiba arrived in Antalya, Turkey, where he attended the Antalya Diplomatic Forum at the invitation of...
US defence attache holds talks with western region military leaders
On 1 March, the US Embassy to Libya said that the US Defense Attache and his accompanying delegation had held ‘productive discussions’ with Chief of...
Dabaiba meets Hemedti in Tripoli as he continues mediation in Sudan conflict
On 29 February, Prime Minister Abdul Hameed Dabaiba received the commander of the (Sudanese) Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo aka...
Dabaiba and Menfi welcome Sudanese leader Burhan to Tripoli
On 26 February, Government of National Unity (GNU) Prime Minister Abdul Hameed Dabaiba welcomed Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto ruler of Sudan...
US Chargé d’Affairs meets with senior LNA representatives
On 22 February, the Chargé d'Affairs of the US Embassy, Jeremy Berndt met with senior representatives of the Libyan National Army (LNA) in al-Rajma....
Biden extends Libya ‘national emergency’ for another year
On 21 February, the US President Joe Biden extended the ‘national emergency’ declared in Libya for another year from 25 February 2024. The national...
Italian court rules that sending migrants back to Libya is unlawful
On 18 February, the ruling (made on 1 February) of Italy’s top appeals court, the Court of Cassation, that sending migrants rescued at sea back to...
Italy investigates Libyan human smugglers
On 18 February, the Italian newspaper Avvenire reported that there is an investigation underway in Italy against two key Libyan human smugglers –...
Amnesty accuses ISA of abuses and crackdown on personal freedoms
On 14 February, Amnesty International issued a statement accusing the Tripoli-based Internal Security Agency (ISA) of ‘an intensified crackdown on...
US reaffirms to LNA commitment to engage with Libyan military officials
On 8 February, the US Embassy to Libya’s Defence Attache Office met with the Libyan National Army (LNA) commander’s office director and chiefs of...
EU delegation discusses migration with Tripoli authorities
On 8 February, a European Union delegation completed a visit to Libya to discuss all aspects of migration, with special focus on: combating...
Dabaiba participates in Ministers of Defense conference in Riyadh
On 3 February, Government of National Unity (GNU) Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Abdul Hameed Dabaiba participated in the second meeting of...
Bathily urges western security actors to maintain peace and stability
On 28 January, UN envoy Abdoulaye Bathily met in Tripoli with more than 20 western security actors and representatives of armed formations. Bathily...
Haftar welcomes Russian Deputy Minister of Defence in Benghazi
On 28 January, the Russian Deputy Minister of Defence (MoD) Yunus-bek Yevkurov once again arrived in Benghazi - where he was warmly welcomed - for...
US delegation meets with Haftar and western security officials
On 23 January, a US delegation comprising US Special Envoy to Libya Richard Norland, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US State Department Bureau of...
Sudanese air force strikes targets close to Libyan border
On 17 January, Sudanese media reported a series of intense airstrikes in North Darfur, ‘near the border with Libya’. The Sudanese Air Force struck...
UN PoE report highlights Sudan smuggling via Kufra
The UN Panel of Experts report on the Sudan (submitted to the UN Security Council on 13 January 2024) cited members of southern Libyan communities...
UNSMIL facilitates security reform workshop
On 9 and 10 January, UNSMIL facilitated a workshop of members from the House of Representatives and High Council of State with military, security,...
Chadian rebel group UFDD returns to Chad from southern Libya
On 2 January, at least 900 rebels from the Chadian ‘Union of Forces for Democracy and Development’ (Union des forces pour la démocratie et le...
UNSMIL confirms Barghathi’s death in LNA custody
On 21 December, UNSMIL confirmed in a statement the death of former Government of National Accord (GNA) Minister of Defense Mahdi al-Barghathi and...
US meets with key actors to push for Bathily’s initiative
The US has held a flurry of meetings with key actors as part of the push for Bathily’s latest initiative to reach fruition. On 20 and 21 December,...
Drone strike destroys Russian transport aircraft at al-Jufra airbase
On 15 December, it became known that a civilian Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft, which was presumably operating on behalf of the Russian Wagner...
UN and EU call for accountability on human rights
On 10 December, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) called for...
HRW calls for independent inquiry into Derna flooding
On 6 December, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that an independent inquiry is needed to review failings in Libyan authorities’ management of...
IRINI commander says operation is a success
On 5 December, Italian Rear Admiral Stefano Turchetto, currently EU Operation Commander of Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI, praised the support given...
Russian Deputy MoD visits Haftar in Benghazi
On 2 December, Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar received the Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunusbek Yevkurov in Benghazi (on...
GNU sends Hamas prisoners to Turkey
On 1 December, the Government of National Union (GNU) released four members of Hamas - Marwan al-Ashqar, Nasib Shabir, Muayyad Abed, and Baraa...
Turkey extends troop mandate in Libya
On 30 November, the Turkish parliament approved the presidential motion extending the Turkish army’s mandate in Libya for an additional 24 months,...
Trabelsi discusses migration with EU in Brussels visit
On 28 November, the Government of National Unity (GNU) Minister of Interior Emad Trabelsi participated in the International Conference on a Global...
Libyan MoI joins Rome meeting on illegal migration
On 25 November, a meeting of the ministers of interior (MoI) of Italy, Libya, and Tunisia place in Rome on the topic of combating illegal migration,...
Erdogan seeks extension of Turkish troops’ mandate in Libya
On 24 November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan submitted a request to the Turkish parliament to extend the mandate of Turkish troops in...
GNU and Europeans discuss labour migration and cross-border crime
On 16 November, IOM Libya co-hosted a roundtable on Labour Migration Governance with the Government of National Unity (GNU) Ministry of Labour and...
Port authorities turn away vessels with previous Israel stops
On 12 November, port authorities at Mellitah port reportedly prevented the Proteus Philippa oil tanker from entering port and loading 600,000...
ICC plans to wrap up Libya investigations by end of 2025
On 8 November, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan KC provided remarks coinciding with the delivery of his Report to the...
5+5 JMC and DDR Working Group meetings held in Tunis
On 7 November, under the chairmanship of UN Envoy Abdoulaye Bathily, a meeting of the 5+5 JMC (Joint Military Committee) started in Tunis together...
Haftar and Putin reportedly pursuing defence deal
On 5 November, Bloomberg reported that a defence deal is being ‘hammered out’ between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Libyan National Army...
Wagner forces on alert as GNU forces mobilise south of Ghariyan
On 31 October, there were reports that Wagner fighters stationed at Brak al-Shatti airbase, around 300km south of al-Shuwayrif, were on high alert...
HoR and HSC demand oil export ban and departure of ambassadors over Israel support
On 25 October, the House of Representatives (HoR) demanded the immediate departure of the ambassadors of countries supporting Israel in the Gaza...
Libyans protest against Israel across country in wake of Gaza hospital attack
Following the attack on the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza on 18 October, there was an uptick in anti-Israeli anger and protests in Libya. On the...
US embassy warns citizens to stay away from anti-Israel protests
On 18 October, the U.S. Embassy warned all US citizens in Libya of further demonstrations in Libya over the Gaza conflict. They stated, ‘We...
Trabelsi meets with Algerian counterpart in Algiers visit
On 16 October, Minister of Interior Emad Trabelsi, traveled to Algiers to talk with Algerian Minister of the Interior, Local Governments and Urban...
Menfi stresses support for Palestinians and need to protect civilians in Gaza
On 12 October, Presidential Council Chair Muhammed al-Menfi received the Charge d'Affaires of the Palestinian Embassy, Muhammed Rahal. Menfi...
Dabaiba assures Abbas of Libyan support to Palestine
On 10 October, Prime Minister Abdul Hameed Dabaiba spoke on the phone with President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas and assured him of Libyan support in...
Hundreds protest in Tripoli in solidarity with Palestine
On 10 October, a demonstration of several hundred people in support of the Palestinians or Hamas took place in Tripoli. Some participants raised the...
EUBAM and GNU sign MoU on joint cooperation
On 9 October, the head of the EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) Libya Mission Natalina Cea and the Head of EU Affairs Department of the...
UK and GNU agree on technical cooperation protocol
On 9 October, the Government of National Unity (GNU) Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Abdul Hameed Dabaiba met with the British Minister of...
Libyan actors condemn Israeli authorities over violence in Israel and Gaza
Libya’s political leaders have all issued statements about the unfolding violence in Israel and Palestine. On 7 October, Government of National...
Dabaiba suspends Libyan ambassador to Belgium over embezzelment claims
On 30 September, the Belgian newspaper le Soir published an investigation in which it claims the Libyan ambassador to Belgium, Amel Jerari, is...
Putin receive Haftar in Moscow, offers more military support to LNA
On 28 September, Libyan National Army (LNA) Commander Khalifa Hafta was received by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the presence of Russian...
US State departments warns of Russia’s ‘destabilizing’ effect
On 28 September, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, referring to Libya, said that they urge any country in the world that engages with...
Amnesty warns of LNA crackdown on journalists covering Derna
On 21 September, Amnesty International called for the Libyan National Army (LNA) to ‘immediately lift all undue restrictions imposed on media and...
Norland and AFRICOM commander visit Tripoli, discuss US support for Derna disaster efforts
On 20 September, Commander of US Africa Command (AFRICOM) General Michael Langley visited Tripoli together with US Special Envoy Richard Norland and...
Haftar meets American and Italian military commanders
On 20 September, General Gennaro Vecchione, former commander of Italy's Guardia di Finanza and former coordinator of Italy's intelligence services,...
LNA cracks down on access for journalists and aid teams to disaster-hit Derna
On 19 September, all communications including internet and phone calls with Derna were down due an optical fibre cable being cut – though reports...
Haftar accompanies Russia’s deputy defence minister on humanitarian visit to Derna
On 17 September, Khaled Haftar, the son of Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar, and who now heads the east’s Supreme Security...
International aid pours in as rescue teams arrive in Libya following catastrophic storm
On 11 and 12 September, the UN and many foreign embassies and organisations operating in Libya began expressing their condolences for the tragedy...
Bathily and Trabelsi discuss security situation
On 7 September, United Nations Special Envoy to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily met with Minister of Interior Emad Trabelsi to discuss the security...
MoI announces electronic surveillance system for the border with Tunisia
On 6 September, during a press conference held at the headquarters of the Agency for Combating Illegal Immigration in Tripoli, Minister of Interior...
Political unrest continues around Israel meeting as Dabaiba’s opponents capitalise on crisis
The public anger and protest over the Rome meeting between the now-suspended Government of National Unity (GNU) Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush...
Youth of Hadba protests against Syrian mercenaries in Tripoli
During the night from 29 to 30 August, the ‘Youth of Hadba’ protested in front of the Police Officers School in the Hadba area of southern Tripoli...
Tripoli clashes show absence of command and control in western Libya, Bathily tells UNSC
In his address to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 22 August, UN Special Envoy to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily said the recent clashes in...