The start of operations in southern Libya : Daesh escapes from National Army forces

Ahmed Lamlom

Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander-in-chief of the Libyan Armed Forces, instructed army elements to head south to a military operation aimed at confronting terrorist organizations and Qatari-backed crime syndicates that have exploited the unrest in Libya since 2011.

“The Libyan army is coordinating with the countries of Chad and Niger to carry out military operations against the armed groups in the south of the country and the operations have begun to clear the Libyan south from the grip of terrorism,” Libyan Army spokesman Brigadier General Ahmad al-Mesmari told reporters.

The organization announced its presence in Libya via a video posted on the Internet on October 3, 2014, showing a crowd of gunmen of the so-called “Shura Council of Youth Islam,” in the city of Derna coastal and allegiance to the organization and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Since then, the terrorist organization has sought to exploit the chaos that engulfs the country, terrorist cooperation with some of the political factions backed by Qatar, and the Brotherhood in Libya. The terrorist organization is launching attacks on all Libyan territory, targeting oil facilities and international hotels.

However, the defeat of the terrorist organization by Libyan army forces in the city of Sirte, the birthplace of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, forced him to go to desert valleys and hills south of the country; to hide, regroup and arrange his ranks.

Libyan security officials told Reuters that the Daesh fighters who are believed to be several hundreds, as a result of the loss of the Sirte battle in late 2016, are trying to create chaos by cutting off electricity and water supplies and trying to identify communities that may respond to their ideas.

Addressing the Desert Army

The terrorist organization, which was established after the liberation of the city of Sirte, is composed of 3 battalions led by al-Mahdi Mahdi Salem Dengu, nicknamed the “Army of the Desert,” according to a former statement by the head of investigations at the Libyan Prosecutor General’s Office.

According to Libyan analysts, the latest move by Marshal Hafter comes in the wake of the news that al-Qaeda leaders in the south are communicating with terrorist elements across the border with Chad and Niger. “The State of Qatar supports the existing armed groups, in southern Libya, because they want to continue the chaos in Libyan territory so that they can take over and control Libyan oil.