The recent controversy surrounding Haftar, combined with international media reports of an imminent western intervention, is threatening to weaken and complicate local anti-ISIS coalitions, in both Eastern and Western regions of Libya. In Eastern Libya, a number of tribes, including the Magherba and Drissi tribes (Hijazi’s tribe), are beginning to question the structure and leadership of the LNA. Hijazi himself …

In Benghazi, the LNA conducted heavy artillery shelling against Sabri, Benghazi on 18 Jan, after the recent assault by ISIS killing 5 LNA soldiers on 17 Jan. LNA Bomb disposal efforts are also ongoing, and the EOD units continue to dismantle aerial bombs to harvest TNT for making their own improvised grenades. In Tripoli, anti-ISIS efforts spearheaded by the Deterrence …

Local political conflicts in Libya are slowly transforming from a web of tribal and local militia conflicts, into a more binary conflict between local allies and ISIS. However, the consolidation of these alliances continue to be inhibited by deep political divisions, which have the potential of fragmenting unity against ISIS, fuelling its recruitment and expansion. In Ajdabiya, tensions between the Federalist …

The ongoing IS attack on Sidra, while representing a grave local and international threat, also represents an important opportunity for the formation of a genuinely Libyan Anti-ISIS coalition… After the HoR-affiliated, Federalist-dominated PFG successfully pushed ISIS out of Sidra on Monday, the head of the force, Ibrahim Jadhran, issued a heated statement attacking Haftar, saying that he is the other side of the ISIS coin, implicitly accusing him of destabilizing Ajdabiya via the latest LNA offensive against local Islamist militias in the city.