Tripolitania and Tripoli
A number of security incidents were reported within the capital this week. On the morning of 6 August, armed assailants were reported to have targeted a US diplomatic vehicle in Tripoli. The vehicle was reported to have been carrying two embassy officials who managed to evade the attack without harm. It was assessed that the incident was likely an attempted carjacking, rather than a specifically target attack against US embassy personnel. The incident does however illustrate the ongoing threat of criminality in many areas of the city, specifically the threat posed by robbery and carjacking.
On 9 August, Libyan media reported that unknown gunmen attempted to abduct a local journalist as he was leaving the Haroun Hotel in the Al Dahra neighborhood of Tripoli. Local residents were reported to have intervened until High Security Committee forces responded to the incident. Libyan media also reported that unknown gunmen attacked the al-Fornaj prison in Tripoli on the evening of 10 August, freeing eight prisoners following a firefight that left three policemen and two prisoners wounded and another prisoner dead. Other media reports claimed that the individuals escaped following a riot in the prison. Omar al-Khadrawi, Libya's deputy interior minister later claimed that the detainees freed had been awaiting trial for crimes committed in the past year.
Following last weeks attack on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) offices in Misratah, the organisation stated it would continue to operate in Libya, despite suspending its operations in both Misratah and Benghazi. Soaade Messoudi, the ICRC’s communications coordinator in Tripoli also stated that operations in Libya would continue and that the withdrawal from Benghazi and Misratah was a temporary measure.
The commander of the High Security Council ‘Special Forces’ team that raided a bomb-making factory on 5 August in Azizia to the south of the capital, claimed that one of the people killed in the raid was a senior Qadhafi-regime military figure. Last weeks raid in Azizia followed the recent capture of another senior Qadhafi-regime member, Khairi Al-Jermi, who was a prominent figure in the regime’s forces in Souq Al Jumaa. One person who escaped the 5 August raid is still being sought.
Officials on both sides of the southern Libyan-Tunisian border crossing at Wazen-Dahiba, which was closed on 5 August, met again on 7 August to discuss the security situation and recent incidents of unrest on both sides of the border. The meeting was also described as an attempt to develop Libyan-Tunisian relations at the crossing. The head of the Wazen Military Council participated in the meeting.
On 8 August, Libya’s official news agency reported a number of acts of sabotage targeting electrical transmission stations around Beni Walid. The attacks were reported to have led to blackouts in several residential areas. No further details were reported.
On 10 August, UK-based risk-management firm SNE Special Projects were reported to have suspended security operations in Libya, due to what was termed stronger entry criteria and the new requirements for foreign security companies imposed under the recent Decree 248. The announcement followed a recent statement by a representative of the Tripoli Military Council, which was critical of a number of foreign security firms operating in Tripoli. It is unclear how this will impact on other foreign security firms operating in the country.