ISIS in action

The ISIS campaign to advance from Sirte to the ports in the oil crescent region has entered full swing with the 4 January attack on Sidra terminal. The attackers used  two suicide trucks (VBIED’s), one destroying the main checkpoint to the terminal and the other in the airfield strip. The new ISIS offensive seems to […]

ISIS told residents that anyone caught celebrating Libya’s independence day, Christmas or New Year’s Eve would be punished. Last week, a young local who participated in the revolt against ISIS in the summer was also executed…. New reports suggest that the group is using land in Harawah previously owned by Col. Abdallah Mansour, a Qadhafi loyalist, as training grounds for their fighters.

Rumors are rife throughout Sirte and local social media regarding the arrival of key ISIS personalities from Iraq…. In Tripoli, a Sufi Zawiya (shrine) was bombed in the city center area of Abu Meshmasha in the late hours of Monday 21 December.

Establishing a New Social Contract for Sirte: A recent edition of Dabiq, the official magazine of IS, published an interview with the current ISIS leader in Libya, Abu Mughira, shedding light on how its senior leaderships view the strategic value of Libya to its overall expansion. In the article, Abu Mughira underscores Libya’s location and resources as the key pillars for the ISIS expansion in the country, adding that all Muslims have a right to these resources, and that control over them will lead to economic breakdowns for Europe, especially Italy.

In Tripoli, pro-GNC militias captured an alleged member of ISIS last week. The captive, a Tunisian, detailed ISIS activities throughout Libya, implicating Murad Al-Gumati, leading to his murder by the Tripoli Rada militia (AKA special deterrence forces or – قوة الردع الخاصة). The incident follows on last week’s assault on an official of the religious affairs ministry who was accused of having ISIS affiliations. Although the Rada enjoys popularity in the capital as a keeper of law and order (such as these concepts are understood in Libya) the Salafist affiliation of Rada’s commander, Abdulraouf Kara, may have encouraged him to provoke a “black-on-black” fight between Islamist militias that are pro and anti-ISIS.

IS assassinated two more security officers Ajdabiya, bringing the number killed this month to twelve. The killings reinforce the local and tribal divisions in the Oil Crescent and threaten serious regional instability.

ISIS continues to try to consolidate its hold of Sirte and reportedly clashed with Misuratan forces between Sirte and Jufra.

ISIS continues to find ways to get supplies into Benghazi. ISIS assassinations od Salafi imams in Ajdabiya continue.

Unidentified jets bombed ISIS targets while ISIS continued is executions in Sirte.