Other 25 Oct 16

Oct 25, 2016 | Other Jihadi Actors

Khalifa al-Ghwell, the former prime minister of the General National Council (GNC)’s National Salvation government in Tripoli, and his supporters continue to occupy the High Council of State’s (HCS) building in central Tripoli. On 22 October, a large anti-GNA militia convoy comprising hardline Misratan factions mobilised to Tripoli to support Ghwell. The convoy drove through some residential areas in Tripoli in a show of force and defiance. They were not engaged by any of the militias in Tripoli, but pro-GNA militias mobilised elsewhere in the capital.

On 19 October, a meeting of military officers from the Libyan western region took place in Tripoli and was attended by PM Fayez Serraj and other Presidential Council (PC) officials. Key commanders of the jihadi ‘Benghazi Defense Brigades’ (BDB) also attended the meeting. The ‘BDB’ are considered ‘terrorists’ by Haftar and the LNA, as they are currently fighting against the LNA in Benghazi. A statement issued by some of the officers present declared that Khalifa Haftar was a ‘war criminal’, and called on the PC to appoint a general commander for the Libyan Army within 30 days.

On 23 October, two barges reportedly belonging to Misratan supporters of the Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council (BRSC) were sunk using explosives in the city’s steel plant port. A very similar incident had occurred on 31 March, in the same location and against the same type of vessels.