ISIS in action

On 7 February, GNA Foreign Minister Mohamed Siyala participated in the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Intentional Coalition for Defeating ISIS.

On 31 January, the Sirte-based 166 Battalion arrested Khalifa Barq, a notable leader of Ansar al-Sharia and ISIS loyalist.

On 27 January, a Tunisian government delegation travelled to the Libyan Red Crescent branch in Misrata to complete repatriation procedures for children whose Tunisian parents fought for ISIS in Sirte.

On 17 January, the LNA claimed to have killed the commander of ISIS’s desert brigades Mahdi Rajab Danqou. On 17 January, the Libyan Red Crescent branch in Misrata called on the Tunisian government to accept six children whose Tunisian parents fought for ISIS in Sirte in 2016.

On 7 January, Rada released information on individuals suspected of orchestrating recent ISIS attacks in Tripoli and the Oil Crescent. On 8 January, Fathi Bashaga suggests ISIS is operating freely in the greater Tripoli region. On 10 January, unconfirmed reports suggesting two ISIS fighters were arrested in Tripoli. On 9 January, the body of the former leader of ISIS in Libya, Abu Nabil al-Anbari, was uncovered in a mass grave in Derna.

On 1 January, LNA forces undertook security operations around Ghadduwah that resulted in the rescue of as many as 20 civilians captured by ISIS fighters during attacks by the group on al-Fuqaha and Tazerbu late last year.

On 27 December, ISIS’s al-Naba newsletter no. 162 outlined details of the group’s attack on the Libya’s Foreign Ministry in Tripoli on 25 December. On 23 December, thirty-four bodies of Ethiopian Christian nations killed by ISIS in 2016 were discovered in Sirte.

On 25 December, four ISIS fighters undertook a suicide attack on Libya’s foreign ministry in Tripoli, killing three people and wounding at least 21 more.

On 13 December, ISIS distributed leaflets threatening to attack security institutions and personnel in Rajban and Zintan.