Eye On Jihadis in Libya Weekly Update: May 15

Posted on May 16, 2018 by libyaanalysis

On 11 May, local sources from Sirte reported that IS fighters were seen moving in the valleys, southeast of the city. A senior official of the Sirte Protection Force said that their force mobilized patrols along the coastal highway at the city’s main exits in anticipation of an attack.
On 14 May, 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians killed by IS in Libya in 2015 were returned back to Egypt. The deceased were transported by Libyan Afriqiyah Airways from Misrata to Cairo. The bodies of the 20 Egyptians and another man, believed to be from sub-Saharan Africa, were discovered near Sirte in October 2017.

Other Jihadi Actors

On 12 May, the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC), who currently controls the city Derna, announced it was dissolving itself and changing its name to the ‘Derna Protection Force’. On 15 May, the Libyan National Army’s (LNA) Omar Mukhtar Operations Room claim to have completely captured al-Hila, south of Derna, as a part of on going operations to take the city from the DMSC.

A weekly update of ISIS’s actions, the Western response, and developments pertaining to Libya’s other militias is available by subscribing here. To read about Western countries’ responses to ISIS in Libya this week, click here, and to read about the developments within the anti-ISIS Coalition of Libyan militias, click here. To read all four sections of this week’s Eye on ISIS in Libya report, click here.