First Independent Mena Newspaper
The United States and other major powers Monday in Vienna agreed to train and supply weapons to the UN-backed Libyan unity government to help it overcome the Islamic State (IS.) Libyan nominal Prime Minister has been calling for lifting the arms embargo imposed on the country five years ago. Faiez Serraj on Sunday in a […]
US President Barack Obama Friday dismissed claims that the international community was planning to send ground troops to Libya to shore up the unity government and help fight IS. Speaking at a joint press conference with David Cameron in London, Obama said sending ground troops will be a wrong signal to the unity government. “There’s […]
The Libyan National Army (LNA) close to the interim government in the East claimed Thursday it drove out and killed IS militants trying to recapture the town of Derna. Army spokesman Abdulkarim Sabra told media loyal forces finally got rid of IS militants around Derna, in the district 400 and Fataieh suburb. The LNA used […]
Top US commander for Africa Thursday downplayed the capacity of the Islamic State’s branch in Libya to conquer more swathes of the Libyan territory given the current state of affairs and the Libyan people’s disdain of the terrorist group even though it has grown in size with around 6,000 fighters. For Gen. David Rodriguez, head […]
While Libya is struggling to form a national unity government and the West is eager to intervene in the country to combat the Islamic State group, information emerged that France secretly deployed some of its troop to the country. Bloggers had claimed sighting French troops in eastern Libya since mid-February but Paris is still silent […]
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, Sheikh of Sahara, reported dead in June by Libyan authorities, is still alive according to a top Al-Qaeda fighter. Abderraouf Hossam, a top Al-Qaeda fighter, indicated in an audio recording dating back to July that the Algerian leader of al Mourabitoune, an Al-Qaeda-affiliate armed group in West Africa, was still alive and claims […]
ISIS in Libya is trying to retake Derna from the al-Qaeda affiliate Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade and it started its offensive on Sunday with a suicide car bomb attack at night that killed around 10 people and injured 21 others. ISIS was forced out of the city at the beginning of last month and it […]
The battle to push the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group out of Derna has been going on with the Shura Council of the city leading the charge. ISIL has been increasing the territory under its control in Libya but the Shura Council of Derna has claimed that it has forced it […]
UN special envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon, has stressed that “an agreement with all stakeholders should be a priority” in ending the Libyan war. He said the warring parties should be dedicated to finding a peaceful solution because failure to reach an agreement will oblige the Security Council to ask “the UN to fill the […]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has stated that armed groups fighting in the Libyan war are increasingly targeting human rights defenders since mid-May. Some of the human rights activists have already fled the country while others have gone underground to save their lives. Attacks on civilians are also on the […]