Exclusive — Asharq Al-Awsat Inside the Dens of Extremists in Libya: ISIS Defeat Discloses Cross-Border Ties

Members of the Libyan army's special forces take cover as a tank fires towards Islamist militants during clashes in the militants' last stronghold in Benghazi. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
Members of the Libyan army's special forces take cover as a tank fires towards Islamist militants during clashes in the militants' last stronghold in Benghazi. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
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Exclusive — Asharq Al-Awsat Inside the Dens of Extremists in Libya: ISIS Defeat Discloses Cross-Border Ties

Members of the Libyan army's special forces take cover as a tank fires towards Islamist militants during clashes in the militants' last stronghold in Benghazi. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
Members of the Libyan army's special forces take cover as a tank fires towards Islamist militants during clashes in the militants' last stronghold in Benghazi. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori

When a group of militants and civilians swarmed to check a laptop that was confiscated from an ISIS-headquarter, it turned out that the laptop’s content doesn’t pertain to extremist activity in Benghazi and Libya only but is much broader.

The information provided by the intelligence bodies and that driven by laptops of ISIS members, who were arrested or killed in Benghazi or Misurata, reflects the ties that control terrorism dissemination in north Africa.

A Libyan officer managed to get into an ISIS den and laid hands over pieces of evidence that show the involvement of states and intelligence bodies in the cross-border extremist activity.

In Libya, there are official intelligence bodies but they are distracted among several governments battling for power. There are also intelligence small groups that act as arms for militias.

In the early morning, a new round of Bossneb battle was launched – it was one of the fiercest battles. ISIS took shelter inside the group’s stronghold while Sa'ka Forces in Benghazi insisted on reaching the stronghold no matter what. It consisted of two floors.

ISIS members managed to plant explosives in the surrounding area of the building before the attack. Officers in Sa'ka Forces had to advance to dissociate the explosives but were being confronted with the snipers.

There is a treasure here. In face of the group’s fighters insistence to resist the officers also insisted to move forward step after step until having full control over the building and entering the den. As the day was about to end, the extremists seemed to follow a plan for retreating, so it was necessary to pressure them so that they don’t carry with them anything from the stronghold.

After defeating ISIS, the victorious group moved the belongings that were left behind and handed them out to the relevant parties in the army to be examined.

Based on the findings, there are centers found in several states in Africa, Asia and Europe that have been working for years on reinforcing extremist groups in Libya in order to dominate the country and to destabilize the neighboring countries.

Sa'ka Forces of Libya were first formed in Egypt in 1979 on the level of leaders and individuals. Nowadays, officers are graduating from the Libyan military colleges and are being trained by Special Forces in Egypt.

Libyan army spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari said that “Sa'ka Forces are essential in the fight against terrorism because the war against terrorism differs from the traditional war. It is closer to the wars of gangs since they end as quick as they start.”

“The war on terrorism, ISIS and al-Qaeda doesn't end with declaring surrendering or winning. It ends with killing, arresting or termination all manifestations of these groups. Therefore, the battle is tough and it demands special training and special forces,” Memsari added.

One of the most professional military operations was that conducted by the army to liberate dozens of captives in Qanfouda, where extremists were detaining men, women and children underground. Meanwhile, leaders of extremist groups in Tripoli and Misurata were threatening to kill the hostages if the army advances.

But the operation was conducted, according to Mesmari, without losing any captive. “Yet, we lost soldiers in order to release the captives,” said Mesmari.



Desperate Deja Vu for Foreign War Doctors in Lebanon

Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert in Gaza in 2014 - AFP
Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert in Gaza in 2014 - AFP
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Desperate Deja Vu for Foreign War Doctors in Lebanon

Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert in Gaza in 2014 - AFP
Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert in Gaza in 2014 - AFP

In a south Lebanon hospital, Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert peered out of the window after bombardment near the Israeli border, four decades after he first worked in the country.

"It's a horrible experience," he said in a video call from the southern town of Nabatiyeh.

"It's been 42 years and nothing has changed," said Gilbert, who first saw war treating patients during the 1982 Israeli invasion and siege of Beirut.

The anaesthetist and emergency medicine specialist said he had seen just a few cases since arriving on Tuesday.

"Most of the cases have been south of us and they have not been able to evacuate them because the attacks have been so vicious," AFP quoted Gilbert saying.

Israel has increased its airstrikes against in Lebanon since September 23, pounding the south of the country and later staging what it called "limited operations" across the border.

On Thursday the Israeli army warned residents to leave Nabatiyeh.

The escalation has killed more than 1,100 people and wounded at least another 3,600, and pushed upwards of a million people to flee their homes, according to government figures.

Official media have reported some Israeli strikes killing entire families, and AFP has spoken to two people who lost 17 relatives and 10 family members respectively.

- Gaza on 'repeat' -

Israel's military "can do whatever they want to healthcare, to ambulances, to churches, to mosques, to universities, as they've been doing in Gaza," said Gilbert, who has repeatedly volunteered in the Palestinian territory during past conflicts.

"And now we see the same repeat itself in Lebanon in 2024."

A hospital in the town of Bint Jbeil closer to the border on Saturday said it was hit by heavy overnight Israeli strikes, wounding nine medical and nursing staff, most seriously.

At least four hospitals said they had suspended work amid ongoing Israeli bombardment on Friday.

On Thursday, Lebanon's health minister said more than 40 paramedics and firefighters had been killed by Israeli fire in three days.

UN official Imran Riza on X on Saturday spoke of "an alarming increase in attacks against healthcare in Lebanon".

Britain said reports that Israeli strikes had hit "health facilities and support personnel" in Lebanon were "deeply disturbing".

Israel has claimed Hezbollah uses ambulances for "terrorist purposes".

- 'Kids with blast injuries' -

In the capital Beirut, British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah said he also saw parallels with the conflict in Gaza.

Abu-Sittah has tirelessly campaigned for "justice" since spending weeks in the besieged Palestinian territory treating the wounded at the start of the war.

Now in Lebanon, the plastic and reconstructive surgeon described seeing "kids, families whose houses have been targeted" with blast injuries in the past few weeks.

There were "kids with blast injuries to the face, to the torso, amputated limbs," he said outside the American University of Beirut's Medical Center.

Abu-Sittah estimated that more than a quarter of the wounded he had seen in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon were minors.

"I have a girl upstairs who is 13, who had a blast injury to the face, needed reconstruction of her jaw, will need several surgeries," he said.

"Children who are injured in war need between eight and 12 surgeries by the time they're adult age."

According to the UN children's agency UNICEF, 690 children in Lebanon have been wounded in recent weeks.

It said doctors had reported most suffered from "concussions and traumatic brain injuries from the impact of blasts, shrapnel wounds and limb injuries".

"It's just so reminiscent of what was happening in Gaza," said Abu-Sittah.

"The heartbreaking thing is that this could all have been stopped if they stopped the war in Gaza," he added.