On 12 April, Libyan National Army (LNA) forces arrested an Ansar al-Sharia (AS) figure from Sirte named Salem Abdul Qaway al-Gaddafi while hiding in the Jufra area. On 27 May 2017, AS officially announced that it had disbanded itself. AS’s leadership and fighting force had been decimated due to three years of fighting against the Libyan National Army (LNA). Interestingly, pro-ISIS media accounts celebrated AS’s disbanding as ‘inevitable’ and criticized the group for failing to unify its loyalties under the ISIS banner.
On 14 April, the Libyan National Army (LNA) Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Abdurrazaq al-Nadhouri, issued “final readiness” orders to LNA troops station near Derna heralding an impending assault on the city controlled by the Derna Mujahedeen Shura Council (DMSC). This followed a meeting of the LNA’s top brass at Labraq airbase. that included Nadhouri, commander of the LNA’s al-Saiqa Special Forces led by Wanis Bukhamada, commanding officer of the Karama Operations Room Brigadier General Abdul Salam al-Hassi, and other senior LNA military officials