Ghariani calls for ISIS to join ranks of GNA to bomb Libya under Turkish sponsorship

Mustafa Kamel

The sheltering of ISIS terrorists within the ranks of the Government of National Accord (GNA) militias in Tripoli has become normal. The GNA has used ISIS prisoners to fight in Libya at the behest of the Libyan terrorist mufti Sadiq al-Ghariani, who called for imprisoned ISIS members to be freed in order to help the GNA, as well as to adopt the terrorist organization’s methods of bombing and suicide operations.

Murderous fatwas

While hiding in Turkey, Ghariani used the Libyan channel Tanasuh to spew out many murderous fatwas and takfiri speeches. He called for the need to release prisoners belonging to ISIS to help the GNA in the battles against the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, saying that the Special Deterrence Force (RADA) is holding large numbers of terrorists inside its prison in Mitiga on charges of belonging to ISIS. He claimed that a number of prisoners were falsely accused of belonging to ISIS for various reasons, as the total number of prisoners is estimated at 2,000, indicating that some of them must be released to participate in the battles against the LNA.

Ghariani also called for adopting ISIS’s strategy by having GNA mercenaries blow themselves up instead of falling into captivity.

ISIS in the forefront

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that about 28 ISIS members who retired from fighting with the terrorist organization in Syria have joined the mercenaries in Libya, while the Turkish regime has intensified its collection of terrorist elements fleeing the battles in Syria, especially members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and ISIS. Ankara began transferring them by air to Libya to support the armed militias deployed in the capital Tripoli.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used the process of sending terrorist elements from Turkish-backed militias in Syria to Libya as a card to stay in the North African country as long as possible, and this has opened the door for ISIS to emerge and establish its presence, according to LNA spokesman Major General Ahmed al-Mesmari, who confirmed that Turkish intelligence is transferring ISIS and HTS elements from Syria to Libya.

Mesmari explained during a press conference at the end of December 2019 that Turkey had transferred hundreds of dangerous terrorists belonging to ISIS and al-Qaeda from Syria to Libya, stressing that the matter is very dangerous, especially since terrorists are landing it Djerba Airport in Tunisia and then being transferred to Libya via the Western Mountains, while the airports of Misrata, Zuwara and Mitiga have also received large numbers of ISIS and HTS terrorists.

Terrorist methods

After sheltering ISIS members in the ranks of the GNA militias, they began to follow the methods that they had used in Syria and Iraq, where mines, remote explosions and suicide operations became a last weapon for the GNA to achieve its goals after having previously failed in the battlefield. GNA militias laid many mines within Tripoli, and the LNA confirmed that the GNA militias have returned to using their old tricks that had been employed in Benghazi and Derna, now using them in Tripoli.

The GNA militias, accompanied by ISIS mercenaries, have adopted the terrorist organization’s strategy of planting mines and resorting to suicide operations in a number of Libyan cities that support the LNA. But this strategy was of no benefit, as the LNA achieved victory in the two cities after prolonged battles against the GNA terrorists that were trying to destabilize security by means of individual attacks and bombings in an attempt to enable them to return again.