In Benghazi, a number of activists on social media confirmed on September 5 the arrest of an unspecified number of injured militants within the ranks of Haftar’s armed groups in the city.
In Sirte-Jufra, the spokesman for the Libyan Sirte-Jufra Operations Room Abdul Hadi Drah said Khalifa Haftar’s forces fired on September 5 ten Grad rockets on positions of the Libyan Army under the command of the Government of National Accord in a new violation of the ceasefire.
In Tripoli, the Interior Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, was re-appointed to his post after GNA ended its three-day investigation against him.
On the international level, Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and Turkey have signed an economy, technology cooperation protocol.
BENGHAZI
- a number of activists on social media confirmed on September 5 the arrest of an unspecified number of injured militants within the ranks of Haftar’s armed groups in the city of Benghazi, over their demands for additional financial support to complete their medical treatment. The relatives of the wounded and their peers demanded the right to protest in Tibesti Square, calling for the release of the detainees, known to have been transferred to the Tariq Bin Ziyad Brigade, according to their colleagues;
- the Libyan Navy announced that the General Command of the Libyan National Army had instructed them not to release 15 individuals who were detained when the Libyan Navy stopped two Italian fishing boats off the coast of Benghazi, until the Libyan players imprisoned in Italy are released. The Libyan Navy said that their Ikrima maritime patrol had stopped two Italian fishing boats with 15 people on board on September 2, and they were referred to investigation, while instructions were received from the General Command not to release them until the Libyan players imprisoned in Italy are released.
RAS LANUF
- Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) on September 4 condemned what it called the ‘‘irresponsible and dangerous military activity’’ in Ras Lanuf port area. It renewed its call for the immediate and unconditional demilitarisation of all oil facilities after it reported that military personnel fired live rounds and heavy weapons in Ras Lanuf port.
SHARARA OILFIELD
- one foreign worker, from the Philippines, has died on August 31 after contracting Covid-19 due to mixing with Petroleum Facilities Guard personnel as well as Khalifa Haftar’s mercenaries who are moving around in oilfields and facilities in violation of the anti-coronavirus measures adopted by the National Oil Corporation and the Government of National Accord. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) also expressed its strong dissatisfaction with the continued militarization of its fields after the commander of the southern region, Al-Mabrouk Sahban, entered the Sharara oilfield, which belongs to Akakus Oil Operations Company, by force, on August 29.
SIRTE – JUFRA
- the spokesman for the Libyan Sirte-Jufra Operations Room Abdul Hadi Drah said Khalifa Haftar’s forces fired on September 5 ten Grad rockets on positions of the Libyan Army under the command of the Government of National Accord in a new violation of the ceasefire;
- a group of Haftar soldiers was tracked moving on the road between Ajdabia city and Brega northeast of the country, with an air defense system, said a statement by the Libyan Army on September 5. In a series of tweets, the Libyan army spokesman, Colonel Mohammed Gununu confirmed that the Intelligence and Information Unit of the Operations Command detected an armed convoy of Haftar’s “terrorist militias” carrying an air defense system -Pantsir- from Ajdabia to Brega, anticipating that it would likely be stationed in the cities of Ras Lanuf or Sirte;
- the spokesman for the Sirte-Al-Jufra Operations Room of the Libyan Army under the command of the Government of National Accord, Abdelhadi Drah, has denied the pullout of Russian Wagner Group mercenaries from Sirte and Al-Jufra positions to Ras Lanuf;
- Haftar’s forces stationed in the city of Sirte violated the armistice on September 2 evening for the second time in 48 hours, and the third time in less than a week, said the spokesman for the Sirte and Al-Jufra Operations Room, Abdulhadi Drah;
- the spokesman for the Libyan Army under the command of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Mohammed Gununu accused on September 2 Khalifa Haftar’s forces of violating Libya’s ceasefire for the second time in three days. Mohammed Gununu said GNA forces positioned around Sirte registered a violation of the ceasefire declaration on September 1 and it was the second of its kind in less than 72 hours;
- forces of Haftar have closed the eastern entrance to the city of Sirte, said on September 1 the spokesman for the operations room for liberating Sirte and Al-Jufra, Abdul Hadi Drah. “The area known as “Alarbaeen” has been closed in front of traffic civilian movement, and all those coming from Al-Henewa, Sultan, Alamrah, Harawa, and Bin Jawad were prohibited from entering the city, Drah said.
TOBRUK
- protesters openly expressed on September 5 their dissatisfaction of sewage swamps flooding the city of Tobruk and the consequential spreading of several diseases linked to open sewage, by blocking many roads in the city center. The protesters openly criticized the Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk, Aqila Saleh, along with the Head of the High Council of State (HCS) Khalid al-Mishri, the head of the Presidential Council (PC) Fayez al-Sarraj and Khalifa Haftar.
TRIPOLI
- people detained in connection with late August protests in Tripoli will be released, said Al-Siddiq al-Sour, the Head of the Investigations Depart of of the Attorney-General’s office. In a statement on September 5, Al-Sour said the protesters were arrested by the Tripoli police under the charge of inciting riots, but the Attorney-General’s investigation concluded the contrary;
- the Interior Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, was re-appointed to his post after GNA ended its three-day investigation against him. He was suspended last week over his ministry’s violent crackdown on protesters;
- the Interior Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, arrived to GNA headquarters for questioning on September 3 morning. Bashagha was suspended late August by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj over his handling of street protests and a violent crackdown. Hundreds of people took to the streets in Tripoli on August 23rd to protest against GNA corruption and deteriorating living conditions;
- an explosion, believed to be a terrorist suicide attack, on September 1 rocked western Tripoli (Ghiran Checkpoint) and according to different sources, the attack was carried out by a man who blew himself up as he drove by on his motorcycle.
ZAWIA
- the World Health Organization in Libya (WHO) revealed on September 3 that an armed group near the western Libyan city of Zawia intercepted one of its hired trucks on its way to Benghazi and Tobruk to deliver WHO supplies. The armed group directed the driver to deliver the supplies to a nearby health care facility.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and Turkey have signed an economy, technology cooperation protocol. Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank and Libyan Central Bank Governor Al-Siddiq al-Kabir and the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) Chairman Ali Mahmoud signed in a meeting in Istanbul the protocol as Varank said that both countries face many threats in economic, political and military fields;
- the Libyan Presidential Council’s Head Fayez al-Sarraj and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have discussed economic and security cooperation between Libya and Turkey, including the return of Turkish companies to resume suspended projects in Libya;
- Morocco is scheduled on September 6 to host talks between delegates from Libya’s House of Representatives (HoR) and the Tripoli-based State Council to activate the expired Skhirat agreement, signed five years ago, and discuss its amendments. The delegates began arriving in Bouznika city on September 5, amid an absence of any representative from the Libyan National Army (LNA);
- the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on September 4 congratulated the citizens of Misrata on a peaceful and successful electoral process conducted on September 3. “This election has, once again, demonstrated the Libyans’ determination to exercise their democratic rights to elect their representatives, defying the many challenges their city and country are facing in these trying times.” Stephanie Williams, Acting Special representative of the Secretary-General (ASRSG) for Libya and Head of UNSMIL, said welcoming the elections;
- the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, called for the total closure of all centers which hold refugees and migrants presently in Libya. Guterres said in a statement on September 4 that nothing could possibly justify the appalling conditions to which refugees and migrants were exposed in the shelters around the country;
- Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu said on September 4 that his country had clashed the French hope for Haftar to capture the Libyan capital by providing military support to the Government of National Accord (GNA);
- the Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, said that his country would continue to support the legitimate Government of Nation Accord (GNA) in Libya at ‘all levels’, as opposed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) providing aid to ‘illegitimate’ parties;
- the acting envoy of the United Nations in Libya Stephanie Williams said in a virtual briefing at the Security Council on September 2 that the use of oil as a weapon of war had only exacerbated the misery of the Libyan people and propelled the country towards economic and social collapse;
- Turkey and Russia have agreed to maintain contact towards finding a political solution to the Libyan crisis, a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on September 1. The statement referred to the two-day visit of a Turkish delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister, Sedat Onal to Moscow to discuss the situation in Libya and Syria;
- the Foreign Minister of Algeria, Sabri Boukadoum, reaffirmed his country’s support for a peaceful solution to the Libyan situation and its greatest wish to achieve this goal;
- the Speaker of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) Aqila Saleh has asked the High Representative of the European Union (EU) Josep Borrell, in a meeting in Al-Qubba, on September 1, to provide EU support to consolidate the ceasefire and make oil revenues in the country an unbiased issue;
- Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj has warned against attempts to harass the GNA forces in the regions of Sirte and Al-Jufra in central Libya, calling on the international community to act decisively towards those obstructing the political process in Libya;
- the Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio arrived in Libya’s capital Tripoli on September 1 and met with the Head of Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj, Foreign Minister Mohammed Sayala and other officials from the Government of National Accord. Di Maio hailed in the meeting the ceasefire agreement between Al-Sarraj and the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Tobruk Aqila Saleh, renewing Rome’s rejection to foreign intervention in Libya;
- the newly-appointed Defense Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) Salah al-Namroush discussed on September 1, on his first formal visit outside Libya as a Minister, with the Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar strengthening cooperation in training and development.
