Libyan actors
Tracking developments of Libyan Actors in Libya’s security space including armed group activity, state security operations and political activities pertaining to Libya’s security.
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, one of Khalifa Haftar’s sons, at Rajma. On 18 April, Aganin met with the House of Representatives (HoR) Speaker Aqeela...
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 – including the movement of foreign fighters and rampant arms trafficking – and its destabilizing implications for Libya.’...
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 Tubruq port. The vessel was reportedly a Russian Ivan Gren-class landing ship which sailed from Tartus in Syria,...
HoR member hosts militia leaders in Zawiyya
On 12 April, House of Representatives (HoR) member Ali Abu Zuriba held a meeting in his house in Zawiyya with the commander of the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade (TRB) Ayoub Abu Ras, the deputy commander of the Stability Support Apparatus (SSA) Muhammad Hassan Abu...
SSA-Rada tensions continue despite truce following Eid clashes in Tripoli
On 11 April, the Judicial Police – which is allied with the Special Deterrence Force (Rada), arrested two members of the Stability Support Apparatus (SSA) led by Abdul Ghani al-Kikli (aka al-Ghinaywa). The SSA then arrested two members of the Judicial Police. As a...
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 allegations that 83 migrants on a boat adrift in Maltese waters had been ‘forcibly intercepted’ by the Libyan Coastguard...
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 training the 444 Brigade (commanded by Mahmoud Hamza), the 111th (Misrata) ‘Halbous’ Brigade (the former brigade of Libyan...
Anti-Dabaiba sentiment rising in western Libya as militia leaders meet
On 12 April, Nasser Ammar, the commander of the Support Force of Operation Burkan al-Ghadab (Operation Volcano of Rage; formed to oversee the defence of Tripoli against the LNA attack in 2019- 20), indicated that a major military operation would soon take place in...
Security tensions persist amid clashes in Zawiyya and militia meetings in Tripoli
On 4 April, the Special Deterrence Force (Rada) held an Iftar in Mitiga to commemorate the repulsion of the Libyan National Army's (LNA) attack on Tripoli launched on 4 April 2020. Many militia leaders from Tripoli, Zawiyya and Zintan reportedly attended and agreed to...