Other 15 Nov 2016

Nov 15, 2016 | Other Jihadi Actors

In Benghazi, fighting is ongoing in the Imarat al-Saneya area of Ganfuda in the south west of the city, with heavy artillery and airstrikes deployed throughout the week. Intermittent fighting is also ongoing in the central Benghazi areas of Sabri and Souq al-Hout where militants from the Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council (BRSC) and ISIS are still resisting LNA advances. The BRSC launched Grad missile attacks on residential areas in Benina, near the military airbase used by LNA forces. The LNA retaliated with airstrikes against BRSC positions.

Wisam Ben Hamid, the leader of the BRSC and Ansar al-Sharia coalition fighting Haftar in Benghazi, gave an interview to Al Jazeera on 13 November. Ben Hamid downplayed fears that his ‘revolutionaries’ were overrun, promising that victory against Haftar is near, and that they remain steadfast on their path to ensure that Libya is only governed by Sharia law. BRSC media published pictures of its forces targeting LNA soldiers in Guwarsha and central Benghazi areas throughout last week, as well as pictures of what it says are ‘UAE drones’ bombing Ganfuda on 12 November.

In Derna, the LNA’s Omar al-Mukhtar Operation Room raided a Derna Mujahedeen Shura Council (DMSC) arms cache on 11 November in a farm in Naga, an area west of the city, and retrieved a large weapons supply including S-5 rockets, mortar shells and ammunition.  The raid came the day after the DMSC issued an ‘important warning’, declaring that the area from Fataieh University to Martuba is a military zone. The statement warned all civilians not to use any of the main or side roads and disclaimed all responsibility for any injuries or damages to passers-by thereafter.