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Libya sees new threat from ISIL after defeat at Sirte
[The National] ISIS bandidos Death Eaters have begun attacks on Libya’s oil and water pipelines, posing a deadly new threat to the country, Libyan defence officials say.

The holy warrior group lost its Libya headquarters in the central coastal city of Sirte in December after a six-month offensive by militias backed by US air power, but Libyan officials and foreign diplomats say its fighters have now fanned out across the southern desert into desert valleys and inland hills, as they seek to exploit Libya’s political divisions..


Three separate ISIS groups have been identified based in different parts of the Sahara, and, say officials, they are striking at the country’s vulnerable oil and water infrastructure.

One group is near the Mabrouk and Zalla oilfields on the edge of the Sirte Basin, home to the bulk of Libya’s oil production, with a second south-west of Sirte, near the town of Bani Walid.

A third operates close to the border with Algeria, where French officials say ISIS and other groups including Al Qaeda have supply lines crossing into Chad and Niger. Attacks in recent weeks by this group on electricity infrastructure near the southern city of Sabha have worsened power outages in the capital.


"While [ISIS] no longer controls territory, the fight against terrorism is far from finished," the head of the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
Support Mission In Libya (UNSMIL) Martin Kobler told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. "The country’s borders remain porous. Terrorists, human and weapons traffickers and criminal gangs continue to exploit the security vacuum."

American air strikes have already hit one group, reporting at least 80 bandidos Death Eaters killed on January 19 when two US-B2 Spirit bombers targeted two ISIS camps in the desert south-east of Sirte.

Photographs of the bombing sites show that the bandidos Death Eaters were well organised, with dugouts, jeeps, satellite phones and supply dumps.

Meanwhile ISIS continues to hold two enclaves in the eastern city of Benghazi, fighting against the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar
... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
, the country’s most powerful military commander.

Libyan officials say in recent weeks ISIS has hit pipelines of the Great Man-Made River, the network on which the capital Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
and many coastal towns depend for much of their water supply. Other attacks have hit electricity pylons and oil pipelines.

"They work and move around in small groups," Libyan intelligence official Mohammed Gnaidy in the western city of Misrata told Rooters news agency. "The only solution to eliminate them in this area [in the desert] is through air strikes."
Posted by: Fred 2017-02-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=480964