Other – 9 June 2014

Jun 9, 2014 | Other Jihadi Actors

In Sebha, inter-communal violence continued between Tebu youth and members of the Awlad Suliman community. Despite attempts by community elders to broker peace, conflict broke out on 31 May, killing two people. On 1 June, the top religious institution Dar al-Ifta suffered an RPG attack, however nothing is yet known about the perpetrators or their motivations.

On 4 June, Haftar’s offensive against Islamist militias intensified after an assassination attempt against him at his headquarters in Benghazi. There are divergent opinions as to whether he was injured. In any case, this attack shows that trained jihadist elements such as those of Ansar al-Sharia are engaged in a war to the death with Haftar and might try to eliminate him without concern for civilian casualties. In turn, Haftar promised to ratchet up carpet bombings of Ansar al-Sharia locations. For the last three weeks it appeared that Ansar al-Sharia was purely on the defensive, but this attack demonstrates that the group can take the offensive and will likely do so if their core interests are threatened.

In Derna, heavy clashes occurred between Ansar al-Sharia and Abu Salim Martyrs’ Brigade, including two car bombs and various assassination attempts.