Category: Egypt

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On 27 May, Misrata operations room in coordination with the central regions criminal investigation apparatus undertook a raid in Abu Grein, arresting alleged IS supporter Faris Belhaj (alias Khattab).

On 28 May, the Misratan Central Counter-Terrorism Force arrested seven alleged IS members in a safe house in Abu Grein. Weapons and other communication equipment were confiscated.

On 28 May, IS was observed south of Sirte in the late evening and early morning of the following day.

On 30 May, IS published a second set of “Diary of a Mujahedeen” photos, which supposedly portrays its members’ daily lives in the Fezzan.

On 3 June, IS claimed to have attacked the Libyan National Army (LNA) Checkpoint 400, on the road linking Jufra to Sebha, in the Fuqaha area. An official from the Jufra Municipal Council stated that the LNA forces successfully defended the attack without any loss of life.

On 2 June, two vehicle-borne IEDs targeting the LNA’s Awilat al-Dam and Omar al-Mukhtar Operations Room headquarters left as many as 18 people injured. Remnants of Derna Protection Force (DPF) were initially accused of undertaking the attacks. However, on 3 June, IS claimed responsibility for the 2 vehicle-borne IEDs attacks conducted on 2 June as part of the group’s ongoing “war of attrition.”

=&1=& On 28 May, the Libyan National Army (LNA) transferred former Egyptian Special Forces officer turned Egyptian jihadist, Hisham al-Ashmawy, over to Egyptian authorities. Ashmawi was captured by LNA forces in Derna on 8 October 2018.

On 30 May, alleged member of the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries Abdel Salam Abou Rzaiza (aka Bou Khashm) was killed in clashes against Libyan National Army (LNA) forces on Tripoli Airport Road, in southern Tripoli. Abou Rzazia is said to have been a member of the SCBR “Warrior Brigade.”Abou Rzazia was reported to have been a member of the Rafallah al-Sahati battalion and participated in the clashes against the forces under the command of Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi from 2014 through to 2016.