Eye On Jihadis in Libya Weekly Update: July 10

On 4 July, IS branch in eastern Libya, known as Wilayat Barqah, released a new video titled “The Point of Death” documenting its recent attacks against Libyan National Army (LNA) checkpoints in the Oil Crescent, the beheading of LNA soldiers, and interviews with four suicide bombers. This is the first video from IS-Barqah since September 2017.
On 6 July, in the most recent edition (No. 138) of their digital newspaper al-Naba’, IS published a photo showing the captivity of two Libyan National Army (LNA) fighters who had been abducted just over a week before. On 26 June, IS fighters kidnapped two LNA air force and air defense officers, identified as Colonels Abdullah Hamad Bouamoud Zawawi and Mostafa Nasser al-Khuraisi, while they participated in a social gathering in the desert area between Zallah and Waddan. The officers were identified by their military uniforms.


Other Jihadi Actors

Last week, the Libyan National Army’s 101 Brigade published photos that circulated on social media of senior al-Qaeda leader Sufiyan Bin Qammu amongst other al-Qaeda militants in Darnah. Qammu is thought to be a prominent al-Qaeda theoretician in Libya and is known within the group as “The Libyan Knight.”

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.
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