Sirte

The U.K. Guardian on Wednesday published the results of a joint investigation with journalism website Bellingcat and the Lighthouse Reports nonprofit group into Libyan arms sales.

A delegation of Turkish business leaders is scheduled to visit Libya within the next two weeks to evaluate Turkish business opportunities as the civil war that began with former U.S. President Barack Obama’s invasion of Libya winds down.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi said this week that his government desires peace and stability in neighboring Libya, but might be prepared to intervene with military force to protect Egypt’s western border and thwart the ambitions of Turkey and its militia allies.

Forces loyal to renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar on Monday launched airstrikes on the coastal city of Sirte currently held by the internationally recognized government, expanding the conflict beyond the capital of Tripoli.

The Islamic State (ISIS) released a previously unheard audio recording Thursday of its “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has been missing for the better part of a year as ISIS loses territory in Iraq and Syria, fueling speculation that he had been killed.

Contents: Terrorists massacre dozens of Coptic Christians in Egypt; Egypt’s warplanes bomb al-Qaeda jihadist training camps in Libya

The prime minister of Libya’s United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has reportedly urged Russia to help him end his war-ravaged country’s domestic conflict.

The United States military has officially ended Operation Odyssey Lightning, which was launched on August 1 to help Libyan forces push Islamic State (ISIS) militants from their stronghold of Sirte.

Islamic State has lost senior figures in an unsuccessful seven-month battle to defend its coastal stronghold in Libya, but there are already signs it will try to fight back through sleeper cells and desert brigades.

Libyan fighters have announced the near-total eradication of the Islamic State from the coastal city of Sirte, hometown of late dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

Libyan forces, with the help of U.S. airstrikes, report they have taken the last neighborhood in the coastal city of Sirte from the Islamic State, ending a months-long battle against the militant group.

Forces loyal to Libya’s unity government on Saturday freed 13 foreigners held by the Islamic State group in its former coastal bastion of Sirte, the forces said.

Thomas Joscelyn, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Senior Editor of the Long War Journal, told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade on Tuesday that the Islamic State has suffered major setbacks in its Libyan stronghold of Sirte.

The Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL) grip over the Libyan city of Sirte, which was once considered the jihadist group’s largest stronghold outside Iraq and Syria, has been reduced to three neighborhoods, according to the Pentagon.

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is increasingly losing control of its largest stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria, the coastal Libyan city of Sirte, located a few hundreds of miles from the shores of Europe.

Libyan authorities have warned Italy of the presence of a Milan-based Islamic State cell, after recovering internal documents from an ISIS headquarters in the Libyan city of Sirte last week.

Contents: Fears grow that a new Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent; US forces in Libya may declare victory over ISIS this week

Militias allied with Libya’s U.N.-supported “Government of National Accord” claim to have seized the Islamic State’s headquarters in Sirte.

On Monday, American warplanes hit Islamic State targets in Libya at the request of Libya’s “unity government,” also known as the Government of National Accord (GNA).

A little more than a month ago, Libyan forces claimed they had all but driven the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of their stronghold in Sirte, birthplace of Muammar Gaddafi. “We think that Sirte will be liberated within days, not weeks,” a military spokesman said, saying the only real problem remaining was an infestation of ISIS snipers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. general who has been nominated to lead the American military’s Africa Command told lawmakers he does not know if the Obama administration has a “grand strategy” in war-ravaged Libya, where U.S.-backed armed groups are fighting Islamic State jihadists.

Although the Libyan unity government prematurely declared victory a few weeks ago, fierce fighting against Islamic State (ISIS) forces continues in the city of Sirte, killing more than 60 people on Tuesday alone. Meanwhile, the U.S. government has admitted to having “boots on the ground” in Libya, although their numbers and missions remain secret.

After many months of concern that the military forces of Libya’s divided government would never be able to work effectively against the Islamic State, there is encouraging news that a major Libyan offensive against the ISIS stronghold of Sirte is underway.

On Thursday, the U.S. government officially added the ISIS affiliates in Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen to the list of designated terrorist organizations.

U.S. Special Forces are fighting the growing threat posed by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadist group in Libya.

Contents: Western nations agree to lift arms embargo on Libya to fight ISIS; ISIS continues to grow in Libya in size and effectiveness

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has “fully closed” the entrances to its Libyan stronghold in Sirte and is keeping residents there “to use as human shields” in anticipation of a Libyan army offensive to liberate the port city.

As part of a coordinated Islamic State offensive in western Libya Thursday, a Tunisian suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a checkpoint near the coastal city of Misrata, killing five people.

A rival Islamist group, known as the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC), has forced the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of the key eastern city of Derna and its outskirts in Libya.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The number of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists in Libya who aspire to attack Europe or the United States has more than doubled to between 4,000 and 6,000 in the last 12 to 18 months, but militias there have managed to limit the terrorist group’s growth, says the commander of U.S. forces in Africa.

Contents: Google’s AlphaGo computer defeats world champion at game of Go; Despite rapid growth of ISIS in Libya, West cannot agree on a strategy

The Islamic State raised its threat profile in Libya by attacking the heart of Sabratha, a coastal city described by the UK Daily Mail as a “hub for migrants heading for Europe.” While in control of the city’s security headquarters, ISIS militants decapitated 12 members of the staff, then used their corpses to build a roadblock against returning security forces.

Three leaders of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) in Libya have reportedly been picked off by a mysterious sniper in the coastal city of Sirte, which has become the regional ISIS stronghold. ISIS militants are said to be frantically sweeping the city in an effort to find the “Daesh Hunter,” as locals have named him, using a derogatory name for the Islamic State.

A Libyan intelligence official told the BBC on Wednesday that senior Islamic State commanders are moving into Libya, along with a growing number of foreign fighters flowing into the battleground city of Sirte.

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has released pictures of a jihadist in a wheelchair executing alleged spies in Libya, where the group continues to grow.

Contents: ISIS assault in Libya giving militants control of oil fields; US, Britain, France preparing new Libya military offensive early in 2016