Libya

Eastern Libyan forces on Thursday expelled Islamist fighters from one of their last strongholds in the country’s second-largest city of Benghazi, military officials said. The battle for Benghazi between the Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar and an array of Islamist militants and other fighters has been part of a broader conflict since Libya slipped into turmoil following the 2011 fall of strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

American military hardware is being used to undermine official U.S. policy in Libya, TIME has learned, as the United Arab Emirates has deployed warplanes manufactured in the U.S. in Libya in violation of a United Nations arms embargo. At least six U.S.-made turboprop planes appear in satellite images of an airbase in eastern Libya, deployed […]

Since 2011, Libya has become a hot spot of illicit weapons sales, many of which occur through messaging applications and social media networks, according to a report released Tuesday. The report — which tracks more than 1,300 attempted online sales from 2014 to 2015 — was published by the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, and uses data […]

Russia appears to have deployed special forces to an airbase in western Egypt near the border with Libya in recent days, U.S., Egyptian and diplomatic sources say, a move that would add to U.S. concerns about Moscow’s deepening role in Libya. The U.S. and diplomatic officials said any such Russian deployment might be part of […]

Islamic State militants have shifted to desert valleys and inland hills southeast of Tripoli as they seek to exploit Libya’s political divisions after defeat in their former stronghold of Sirte, security officials say. The militants, believed to number several hundred and described as “remnants” of Islamic State’s Libya operation, are trying to foment chaos by […]

Two United States Air Force B-2 bombers attacked Islamic State training camps in Libya overnight, killing more than 80 militants, including some who were involved in plotting terrorist attacks in Europe, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The attack, which also included strikes by armed reaper drones flying from a base in Sicily, was a parting […]

A visit to a Russian aircraft carrier by Libya’s Khalifa Haftar has given the eastern–based commander a symbolic boost while also signaling Moscow’s interest in a greater role in the region following its intervention in Syria. Haftar is a figurehead for east Libyan factions who harbors national ambitions, and his renewed engagement with Russia comes […]

The U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs last year, 3,027 more than in 2015. According to an analysis of Defense Department data from the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank, the majority of the bombs were dropped in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. leads an international coalition fighting the Islamic State group in both countries […]

Flush with success in supporting his ally in Syria, Vladimir Putin has a new ambition: supporting another one, this time in Libya. The effort is beginning to undermine the U.N.-backed government there. Russian President Putin’s government is befriending a powerful military leader, Khalifa Haftar, who now controls more territory than any other faction in the […]

The U.S. says it has concluded its campaign against the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Libya after the downfall of the group in its only remaining foothold in the chaotic North African country. In a statement released on Tuesday, The United States Africa Command says that it carried out 495 airstrikes against militant vehicles and […]