On November 9 I posted here about how jihad factions in the Libyan city of Derna (aka Darna) had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Now they are in complete control of the city, as the caliphate expands its sphere of influence outside Iraq and Syria.
“ISIS comes to Libya,” by Paul Cruickshank, Nic Robertson, Tim Lister and Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, November 18, 2014:
(CNN) — The black flag of ISIS flies over government buildings. Police cars carry the group’s insignia. The local football stadium is used for public executions. A town in Syria or Iraq? No. A city on the coast of the Mediterranean, in Libya.
Fighters loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are now in complete control of the city of Derna, population of about 100,000, not far from the Egyptian border and just about 200 miles from the southern shores of the European Union.
The fighters are taking advantage of political chaos to rapidly expand their presence westwards along the coast, Libyan sources tell CNN.
The sources say the Derna branch of ISIS counts 800 fighters and operates half a dozen camps on the outskirts of the town, as well as larger facilities in the nearby Green Mountains, where fighters from across North Africa are being trained.
It has been bolstered by the return to Libya from Syria and Iraq of up to 300 Libyan jihadists who were part of ISIS’ al Battar Brigade — deployed at first in Deir Ezzor in Syria and then Mosul in Iraq. These fighters supported the Shura Council for the Youth of Islam in Derna, a pro-ISIS faction.
The council had been competing for superiority with another militant group, the Abu Salem Brigade, some of whose fighters’ loyalties lay with al Qaeda, according to Noman Benotman, a former Libyan jihadist now involved in counter-terrorism for the Quilliam Foundation.
Al Qaeda’s top envoy in Libya, Abdulbasit Azuz, left Derna after U.S. Special Forces captured Ahmed Abu Khatallah, an alleged ringleader of the Benghazi attacks in June. Azuz is now believed to be in Syria, Benotman told CNN.
Amateur video from the end of October showed a large crowd of militants affiliated with the Shura Council for the Youth of Islam chanting their allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The new ISIS wing in Derna calls itself the “Barqa” provincial division of the Islamic State, the name given to the eastern region of Libya when Islamic rule replaced the Roman Empire.
The Libyan branch of ISIS now has a tight grip on the city, controlling the courts, all aspects of administration, education, and the local radio. “Derna today looks identical to Raqqa, the ISIS headquarters town in Syria,” Benotman told CNN.
“ISIS pose a serious threat in Libya. They are well on the way to creating an Islamic emirate in eastern Libya,” Benotman said.
Judges, journalists and army officers have been among dozens targeted for assassination in Derna this year.
Similarities to Syria
Derna has a long history of Islamist radicalism. Marginalized during the Gadhafi era, it contributed more foreign fighters per capita to al Qaeda in Iraq than any other town in the Middle East. It has also provided scores of fighters for ISIS in Syria.
In another disturbing similarity with Syria, the bodies of three anti-ISIS activists were found beheaded in the town last week. The group has beheaded many in Syria, including Western journalists and aid workers.
Two months ago ISIS leader Baghdadi helped orchestrate the take-over of Derna by dispatching one of his senior aides, Abu Nabil al Anbari, an Iraqi ISIS veteran who had spent time with Baghdadi, in a U.S. detention facility in Iraq, according to Benotman.
Helped by Abu al-Baraa el-Azdi, a Saudi preacher who has become Derna’s top religious judge, al Anbari’s efforts have borne fruit. Last week a new pan-Libyan group calling itself “Mujahideen of Libya” declared allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, claiming it was sub-divided into three provinces: Barqa, Tripoli, and Fezzan (southwest Libya). The ISIS leader responded by calling all supporters in Libya to join what he called the newest administrative region of the Islamic caliphate.
U.N. panel details ISIS abuses in Syria, says they amount to war crimes
According to Aaron Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Islamic State’s new province in Libya “could have some level of viability, at least in the short term” because fighters there are well-positioned to fund themselves through “trafficking, smuggling and other black market activities.”
Libyan fighters loyal to ISIS have expanded their presence westwards along the coast, forming chapters in al Bayda, Benghazi (where the Islamist umbrella group Ansar al Shariah already holds sway), Sirte, al-Khums and even Tripoli, Benotman told CNN.
The Derna wing of the Islamic State in Libya is the prime suspect in a suicide bombing last week in Tobruk, the temporary home of Libya’s internationally recognized parliament near the Egyptian border. One person was killed and 14 wounded. The group is also suspected of carrying out a car bombing outside Labraq air force base in Al-Bayda, the same day, killing four.
On Sunday the Derna wing claimed it had previously dispatched nine suicide bombers from Egypt, Libya and Tunisia to carry out attacks against Libyan security forces in and around Benghazi. Several of the attacks appear to correspond to previously unclaimed suicide bombings in the area, including a twin-attack on a Libyan special forces camp in Benghazi on July 23 and an October 2 attack on a military checkpoint near Benina airport.
Also on Sunday, an ISIS-linked Twitter account suggested the Tripoli wing was responsible for car bomb attacks last Thursday outside the Egyptian and UAE embassies in the capital, according to the SITE Intelligence group.
In its audio message last week, the Mujahideen of Libya threatened “the secularists and parliamentarians and their pillars from the police, army….”
“We have prepared for you from the most bitter of cups, and the worst of deaths,” it said.
Opinion: Peter Kassig’s murder by ISIS: Sign of weakness from terror group on the run
Concerns in Egypt
Islamist-leaning militias from Misrata seized control of Tripoli in the summer, forcing the parliament to relocate. They are suspected of shipping arms to ISIS fighters in the east of Libya. Benotman says the Libyan air force destroyed one of those shipments earlier this month; CNN was not able to independently confirm the arms shipments.
But there are other signs that more secular forces in Libya are beginning to strike back at ISIS supporters. Libyan air force jets bombed their positions in Derna last week. According to Benotman, they struck five Islamic State positions in the area, including command centers and training camps, killing six fighters and injuring 20.
“Most of the local population in Derna are opposed to the takeover by the Islamic State, but, with the complete absence of any central government presence, they are not in a position to do much for now. Local tribes are reluctant to move against them because people have relatives who have joined their ranks,” Benotman told CNN.
Egypt, which has strongly backed the anti-Islamist coalition in Tobruk, has grown increasingly concerned about the ISIS presence in eastern Libya. In July gunmen suspected of being part of Ansar Beit al Maqdis, an Egyptian jihadi group, attacked an Egyptian desert border post, killing 21 soldiers. Ansar Beit al Maqdis has also pledged allegiance to ISIS — raising concerns that it may cooperate with the Islamic State supporters in Libya. Egyptian officials say a significant number of Ansar al Beit’s weapons originated in Libya.
Back in August British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that if ISIS “succeeds, we would be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean.” He may not have imagined that months later ISIS would have an outpost not far from the shores of southern Europe.
Everything you need to know about the rise of ISIS
Edison says
And the ball continues to roll. Y’know Gadaffi don’t look so bad now.
terry says
Thanks to Obama, mission accomplished!
Bonzo says
ISIS in Libya is no surprise. The Caliphate was drawn in 1974 from Pakistan to Morocco by the Club of Rome/Madrid. They divided the world into 10 regions. The Caliphate is region no 7:
http://wp.me/p3tGFm-5F
This is complety according to the ancient dream of Nebuchadnezzar.
Transmaster says
Hey Obama we just love your Arab spring, The Spring of, oh, the 8th century.
pumbar says
“David Cameron warned that if ISIS “succeeds, we would be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean.”
From the idiot that helped topple Gadaffi from power.
David Hayden says
In 1805, the United States took control of Derna, Libya, from Muslim corsairs/pirates looking for booty who were holding American prisoners in a Tripoli prison camp in order to extort money from the United States government. William Eaton led the secret mission sanctioned by President Jefferson. The attack on Derna was America’s first battle with Muslims. Eaton was determined not to pay ransom money for the prisoners’ release. And the beat goes on. Check The Pirate Coast by Richard Zacks for the full story.
voegelinian says
As Diana West reported two years ago,
“…eastern Libya, led by Derna and Benghazi, sent more jihadists to kill and maim Americans … per capita than any place in the world.”
“And,” she continues, “the citizenry is extremely proud of this ultimate anti-American fact.”
As for the ever-chimerical taxonomy of Muslims indulged by the PC MC West (and by not a few in the Counter-Jihad), Diana West continues, quoting from a cable by Ambassador Stevens (before he was lynched to death by ordinary Muslims):
Stevens is here quoting a Muslim-on-the-street whom he trusts as his “eyes on the ground” by which to assess the volatile situation:
Not everyone liked the “bearded ones” (a reference to conservative imams) or their message, [Redacted] said, but the duty of a Muslim in general — and a son of Derna in particular — was to resist occupation of Muslim lands through jihad. “It’s jihad — it’s our duty, and you’re talking about people who don’t have much else to be proud of.” Derna’s residents might take issue with attempts to ban smoking or restrict social activities, but there was consensus on “basic issues” like jihad. [bold emphasis appropriately West’s]
Speaking of our Useful Idiot Ambassador Stevens who got bit horrifically in the ass by the same Muslims he thought he could “dialogue” and “partner” with, West notes of his lengthy cable analysis that:
Suddenly and explicitly, it’s not Islamic culture [that, in Stevens’ estimation, explains why so many Muslims in Derna volunteered to blow up Americans (and Shia) in Iraq], it’s not the “pride” of Benghazi, it’s not the call of jihad against the wider West, it’s not young Muslim men brainwashed by al Jazeera and incited to jihad by their imams, it’s US support of Qaddafi that is responsible for the flow of men to fight the US in Iraq.
https://www.google.com/#q=diana+west+derna+libya
Incidentally, Derna was the last stronghold which the American forces in 1805 (the boots on the ground, aided by our gloriously nascent U.S. Marines, “to the shores of Tripoli”) secured before we finally put a stop to the Islamic piracy and plunder (and enslavement (when not slaughter) of Europeans and Americans) that had plagued the Mediterranean for centuries. Now, over 200 years later, Obama has one of the giant legs of Uncle Sam hoisted to force him to take two steps back.
Darren says
I hate to delve into the realm of conspiracy theory but the facts remain Obama attended a Madrassa, his father if that was his real father was a muslim, he has a muslim name, he has made many statements supporting and defending islam, even right after violent jihadist attacks occured. Could it not be in the realm of possibility that Obama passively supports islamic jihad to some degree? Or he might blame the west for all the world’s problems and simply see jihad as a symptom of imperialism. We all know which way the Islamic State Department leans for instance.
voegelinian says
There’s enough ideological sympathy for Islam in Leftism, incoherently couched in attempts to distinguish Islam from “extremism”, and broadly held by the mainstream West whether in the framework of Leftism or in the more congenial framework of PC MC (a “Leftism Lite” — so Lite even most conservatives swallow it) to explain even an Obama without having to reach for the explanation of a conspiracy
Salah says
“But there are other signs that more secular forces in Libya are beginning to strike back at ISIS supporters. Libyan air force jets bombed their positions in Derna…”
These secular forces are getting help, not from the free world in the West, but from al Sisi, the president of Egypt.
Unlike the West, the Egyptian people, both Muslims and Christians, are determined to completely annihilate these Islamic terrorists.
Obama is not helping, to say the least!
gama says
Fascinating isn’t it that a tiny, minuscule group of rabid religious zealots have managed to control a vast swatch of humanity with such ease , even the Muslimas are flocking to IS.
Islamic states’s puritanical sharia will be tolerated , sharia-is-sharia-is-sharia whether it manifests itself in a hijab,niqab or burqa { the whole nine yards of Wahhabi crazy, we have Western females fighting for the acceptance of the black-sack ! } .
Muslims will not criticize sharia that would be tantamount to heresy. The Taliban,Boko Haram, Hamas, al-Qaeda ,Hezbollah, al-Shabaab and the Saudi Salafists keepers of Islam’s holy sites …. all implement nefarious forms of sharia with impunity.
It wasn’t one giant leap for mankind but one small step for a vicious and vindictive flavour of sharia that transformed a relatively modern Afghani society of the 1960’s ,into a society worshipping a malicious totalitarian supremacist ideology . A society that valued its beasts of burden more than they valued their woman while main-stream Islam and it’s covered sistas looked the other way ……… sharia-is-sharia-is-sharia !
Darren says
Fear and the gun, power comes from both. It’s no surprise.
gama says
There is more than fear of the Islamic state involved ….. sharia-is-sharia-is-sharia and they will submit to it with relish and try to submit all to the sacrosanctity of f-ing sharia !
Bezelel says
Salah, Thanks for a bit of good news. I hope Sisi has good security guards.
voegelinian says
Sisi loves Mohammed and Jihad (i.e., he’s a Muslim for fuck sake). Just because other Muslims want to kill him, does not make him our friend. We may find Sisi-type Muslims useful for our Realislamik geopolitics; but I wouldn’t trust idiots like Salah or Bezelel (et al. JW Softies) to ever manage such a policy.
Bezelel says
Voeg, ? I wouldn’t want Sisi for my Pres. however he is co operating with Israel and outlawed the MB. I have guarded optimism for what he can do. Besides he pretty much told obola to kiss his ass.
voegelinian says
Bezelel is easy to please I see. With any Muslim, we should be 100% airtight, utterly unable to be pleased. Bad signs in the Counter-Jihad; and I’ve been seeing them for years; and it seems to be getting worse (which is perverse, given that the problem is metastasizing — but it follows asymptotic logic and its fundamental anxiety it’s in denial about).
Carolyne says
And our Tomahawk missiles rained down on Tripoli with, in my estimation no reasonable cause, and we assisted Jihadists to capture, rape and kill Kadafy.
It was disgraceful on our part and anyone who thinks Hillary Clinton should be president should remember Libya and her part in this atrocity.
Bezelel says
I was disappointed with McCain for being on board with the Libyan mess.
Carlos Danger says
Certainly can not mourn k-Daffy, but Hillary must be sooooooo proud that she helped birth the current bastard regime.
I’m trying to think of one thing she was involved with at “State” that actually ended up benefiting the US.
gravenimage says
Islamic State now in complete control of Libyan city of Derna
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And the Islamic State is starting to look more like a Caliphate all the time…
More:
The council had been competing for superiority with another militant group, the Abu Salem Brigade, some of whose fighters’ loyalties lay with al Qaeda…
………………………………..
This what it looks like in the most devout stretches of Dar-al-Islam, where Jihadists battle other Jihadists for power. *Ugh*.
You find this same situation in places like Somalia and Yemen.
It also give the lie to the idea of the “peace” of Islam that supposedly hold sway once Islam is ultimately triumphant—but bloody Jihadists *always* have someone to kill, even it if it just other JIhadists.
By the way, the Abu Salem Brigades are likely named for Abu Salem prison in Libya, which was breached by Jihadists during the ouster of Gaddafi, and all the inmates—largely Jihadists—let run loose.
To show what bad shape Libya was already in even before the “Arab Spring”, the prison was probably named in honor of Abu Salem, a Jihadist who set off bombs in Mumbai and murdered several Bollywood actors and directors.
This just shows that Gaddafi wasn’t really opposed to Jihad, which he waged himself. He only opposed Jihadists who wanted to topple him.
Not that things aren’t even worse there now, of course…
More:
It has been bolstered by the return to Libya from Syria and Iraq of up to 300 Libyan jihadists who were part of ISIS’ al Battar Brigade…
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“Al Battar” is the “Prophet” Muhammed’s sword, which is supposed to defeat the “Dajjal”—so we’re deep in millenialist Islamic insanity here.