Libya’s Counter-Terrorism Force based in al Khoms is an experienced unit that proved to be quite effective in several occasions. Neverthless, Counter-Terrorism is a good unit with bad training. The CT, commanded by General Zhein, carried out successful operations in Sirt and Misurata and fought courageously against Haftar forces during the siege of the capital.
General Zhein is committed to prepare effectively his unit and the Tripoli Government chose the Turkish military to carry out this task. The training began last November but after an initial enthusiasm, the CT personnel gave a bad feedback about the training quality. In specific, soldiers complained about the training techniques taught and the Turkish instructors’ expertise.
What Libyans said about Turks advisors
Despite Turkish authorities affirm they are providing advanced courses, the training seems to be far from advanced.
Thomas P., from a security firm specialized in training quick-reaction units said “from what we see we can assess the training is very basic”. Then he continues “the equipment, the weapons, the posture of the trainees indicate a very low level of technicality”. The expert says “if these guys [CT soldiers] go against an hard target [an heavily defended target] with this level of training they will suffer casualties. Counter-Terrorism is a good unit with bad training”.
Ahmed, a non commissioned officer who served in the CT unit for the last 5 years said “soldiers were eager to receive new training but now they are getting disappointed because they do not see any solid improvement”.
A sound force that needs a “professional boost”
The CT unit is broadly appreciated, even the Libyan National Army of Gen. Haftar praised the operations carried out by the force based in Al Khoms. During the last months, CT arrested several terrorists hiding in Sirt and in Misurata and took part at the battle in Tripoli. In the capital, CT mortar unit was very effective in keeping Gen. Haftar units at bay.
The aforementioned successes were reached without Turks support. Many thought that Ankara trainers would have raised the CT level of training. At the moment none can see any progress. An officer belonging to a GUN unit deployed in Tripoli said “we were concerned about CT unit performance, now that the Turks took the lead we see there is much more confusion among their ranks”.
All that said, CT unit needs to improve its training and acquire new skills, such as night war-fighting and hostage rescue capabilities. At the moment, as said above, it seems this is not happening. Libyans probably need (and deserve) a more effective training efforts.
