Other — 22 March 2016

Mar 22, 2016 | Other Jihadi Actors

Non-state actors (including ISIS) seemed to focus more on the media and propaganda war over the last week, as opposed to field combat. The media arm of the Derna Mujahedeen Shura Council (DMSC), Al Salsabeel Institution, released a video on 20 March of the interrogation of captured ISIS members. The video revealed the identities of 16 ISIS members that were responsible for a slew of 2015 assassinations and bombings in the city. While the conflict between ISIS and the DMSC is ongoing, ISIS continues to hold strategic high ground south and east of Derna.

Ansar al-Sharia (AAS) released photos of their counterattack against the LNA near the cement factory in the Hawari area of Benghazi. The steady LNA advance throughout the last four weeks seems to have halted there, and AAS is putting up fierce resistance. AAS also published a new poster for a forthcoming video titled ‘Crusade on Libya’, attacking the Government of National Accord (GNA) as the latest Christian crusade. Meanwhile, AAS in Derna published a video calling on Muslims to ‘ribat’, or remain vigilant against a possible LNA attack. The Free Libya Martyrs Brigade, a militia under the Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council (BRSC) coalition also published a video featuring battlefronts in the western area of Benghazi.