IS in Action and
Other Jihadi Actors
On 6 June, the Libyan National Army (LNA) affiliated 116 Brigade said it had apprehended a jihadist cell, composed of fighters who fled from Benghazi, during an anti-terrorism raid in Sebha. The 166 Brigade, which is led by Masud al-Jeddi, claimed that one of those arrested, Masoud al-Tarhouni aka Abu Uwais al-Libi, was an IS member and resident of the Salmani area in Benghazi. On 10 June, one of the four IS members said to have been killed on 26 May by local security forces from Bani Walid was identified as Derna resident Abdul Moeed Jaber al-Kawwash, aka Nimir al-Dernawi. Al-Kawwash, who is reportedly only 17 years old, travelled to fight in Syria in 2013 before returning to Derna in 2014 after injury.
On 7 June, the Misrata Municipal Council issued a statement banning the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) from re-entering Misrata city with their weapons and demanding that the BDB hand over individuals implicated in terrorism to state authorities. On 6 June, leaders of the GNA-aligned, Misratan-led al-Bunyan al-Marsus Operations Room, the Misrata Military Council, and the Municipal Council joined forces to order BDB units positioned at the Baghla junction, located on the road south of Abu Grein, to disband, surrender their weapons and handover their leader, Mustafa al-Sharksi. On 9 June, another video was released depicting Captain Mahmoud al-Werfalli, a hardliner Salafist commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Special Forces (Saiqa), ordering the execution of four prisoners.
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here.
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