Back attack: ISIS strategy against the Libyan army in Tripoli

Sherif Abdel Zaher

To cut off the road to terrorists, the Libyan National Army announced the arrival of new military reinforcements to the axes of the capital Tripoli; to chase the armed militias, northwest of the country.

In a military statement, Monday 11 November 2019, the army confirmed that the operations are still going on, and more than one combat sortie was carried out, targeting fixed positions, such as camps and dens and moving as tanks, vehicles and personnel.

Meanwhile, the terrorist groups affiliated with the government of Al-Wefaq and backed by Turkey, are being cracked down upon after the Libyan army took control of the fighting axes in the Libyan capital Tripoli, northwest of the country.

US military leaders have warned of the growing influence of ISIS in Libya, especially after the coalition government of al-Wefaq, led by Fayez al-Sarraj allied with Turkey, and ignored ISIL’s subversive intentions in Libya.

AFRICOM raids

The U.S. command in Africa, AFRICOM, launched a series of raids in September 2019 on ISIS concentrations in southern Libya, resulting in the killing of 46 terrorist leaders, including the internationally wanted Hamza al-Tabawi, a member of the al-Wefaq South Protection Force.

For his part, Major General Ahmed al-Mesmari, a spokesman for the Libyan army, said that the Islamic State exists, and did not end completely in Libya, adding that the organization is exploiting the process of liberating Tripoli, and began to target troops from behind.

Al-Mesmari said in a press conference on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, that the Islamic State terrorist organization is beginning to fade militarily, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda.

As for the fear of reprisals in the coming period by the terrorist organization Daesh, coinciding with the approach of the liberation of the Libyan capital Tripoli, the researcher specializing in the Libyan affairs Abdul Sattar Hittita said that the Islamic State terrorist organization, has sleeping cells in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, but its position is weak in the recent period, after the great progress and success of the Libyan army, in controlling the axes of fighting.