On 24 August, after several months of unannounced communication Saddam Haftar, son of Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar, and the commander of the LNA-aligned Tariq Bin Ziyad Brigade (TBZ), Lieutenant-Colonel Omar Morajea’ al-Megrahi, met with commander of the leader of the Misrata-based 166 Brigade, Colonel Mohammed al-Hassan (Mohamed al-Hsan), in al-Shuwarif to discuss the formation of a joint unit. The joint force, composed of the TBZ and 166, would operate to secure the central region from al-Shuwarif through to Mizdah with a focus on the GMMR pipeline through to al-Hasawna wells.
