http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/12/isis-libya-_n_7570962.html
Far From The Battle Zones In Iraq And Syria, ISIS Is On A Rampage In Libya
The Huffington Post | By Charlotte Alfred
Posted: 06/12/2015 4:39 pm EDT Updated: 3 hours ago
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Hundreds of miles west of its headquarters in Iraq and Syria, the
Islamic State is fighting for control of more territory in Libya, with
its brutal tactics prompting clashes with residents and other
militias.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, first officially announced its
presence in Libya in October 2014, after local militants in the
northeastern city of Derna pledged allegiance to the extremist group.
Earlier this year, the Libyan ISIS affiliate claimed it had taken
control of a second major city on the Mediterranean coast, former
dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte.
The militants have been expanding their control over the surrounding
area in recent weeks, seizing Sirte's airport and a nearby power plant
and attacking oilfields and export terminals.
“It’s becoming clear that they’re getting more structure and their
control of this region is getting more serious,” Riccardo Fabiani,
senior North Africa analyst at the London-based Eurasia Group, told
Bloomberg News this week.
Forces loyal to Libya's Islamist-backed parliament prepare to launch
attacks on ISIS near Sirte, March 16, 2015.
While the group's advance in Libya may attract fewer headlines than in
Syria and Iraq, the Libyan branch could play a big role in the
extremist group's future. Seeking to establish a global Islamic
'caliphate,' ISIS has sought out militant groups around the globe to
join its cause. Those local groups' connections to the parent network
vary greatly. In Libya, the militants appear to be working more
closely with the leadership in Syria than other affiliates are. For
instance, ISIS leaders have traveled to Libya to directly support the
group’s expansion, U.S. officials say. According to Harleen Gambhir of
the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank,
Libya is the country best-suited to provide a useful reserve base for
ISIS if it is ousted from Syria and Iraq by U.S.-backed forces.
Many of the connections between ISIS members and Libyan militants were
first forged in Syria, as Libyan fighters who fought in Syria’s bloody
war returned home to play a key role in the new group. In fact, ISIS
leaders asked the group to stop sending fighters to Syria and to
instead focus their attacks inside Libya, according to The Wall Street
Journal.
As its operations in the country expanded, ISIS started urging
fighters from other countries to head to Libya to bolster the ranks
there if they were unable to make it to Syria. Earlier this year, the
U.S. State Department estimated that ISIS has between 1,000 and 3,000
affiliated fighters in Libya. Now, the group claims to have three
branches covering the east, west and south of Libya, although it
remains unclear to what extent those branches are working in concert.
Libya has neared collapse since splitting into two warring governments
in 2014, creating a security vacuum that has been filled by a plethora
of armed militias. The ISIS affiliate has exploited Libya's turmoil to
capture territory and launch deadly attacks around the country.
The militants have carved out territory and launched deadly attacks on
foreign and Libyan government targets, including several embassies and
the prominent Corinthia Hotel in the capital. The militants caused
worldwide revulsion when they released a video in February of 21
Egyptian Christians being decapitated on a beach, followed by a
similar video of the slaughter of 30 Ethiopian Christians two months
later. Last week, the group captured dozens of Eritrean Christians
being smuggled through Libya, a U.S. defense official told Fox News.
Islamic State militants in Libya release a video of Egyptian
Christians being led along a beach, Feb. 15, 2015. (AP Photo, File)
Meanwhile, Libyans living under the stranglehold of the extremist
group report horrific abuses. Derna residents told Human Rights Watch
late last year that ISIS militants were behind a spate of beheadings,
public executions and political assassinations in Derna.
As in Syria and Iraq, the militants' brutal rule has sparked local
opposition as well as clashes with other Islamist militants that ISIS
has tried to intimidate and take over. This week, Majlis al-Shura, an
al Qaeda-affiliated group in Derna, declared war on ISIS, prompting
deadly fighting between the rival militants. The fighting was sparked
by ISIS’ assassination of a leader in the Mujahideen Shura Council who
refused to pledge allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A Derna activist working with Majlis al-Shura told Newsweek that the
group was sick of ISIS’ extremist methods.
“There is no chance to have an agreement with those people," the activist said.
An Iraqi man prepares a candlelight vigil in the Iraqi city Najaf for
Muslim and Christian victims of ISIS, February 27, 2015. (HAIDAR
HAMDANI/AFP/Getty Images)
On Friday, gunmen opened fire on protesters who tried to march on
ISIS' base in Derna, leaving at least seven people dead. Residents
told Reuters they were fed up with ISIS bringing its foreign fighters
into the city.
Meanwhile, Libya is hurtling towards disaster. Earlier this week,
politicians rejected the latest peace proposal from the United
Nations. Officials warn Libya is nearing bankruptcy as the fighting
has shut down the country’s oil and gas industry.
The militants have no interest in a peaceful Libya and are working to
stir up more conflict, according to Gambhir, who writes: "ISIS likely
will be able to continue operations in Libya as long as other militant
actors are focused on the country’s ongoing civil war."
Received on Fri Jun 12 2015 - 20:33:39 EDT