The UN-backed Government of National Accord’s Misratan-led Bunyan Al Marsus operation room made significant gains against IS this week, advancing to within 30km Sirte. So far the operation has cost 72 lives — mostly Misratan fighters — and over 150 injured. However, while the operations room is directly established by the GNA, other nominally anti-GNA militias have joined the fight. This constitutes the formation of a nascent anti-ISIS coalition. One that is actually fighting together rather than merely ‘talking about fighting’ as had heretofore been the case. We can therefore now consider the Bunyan Marsus created by the Government of National Accord (GNA) as the coordinating nucleus for an anti-ISIS coalition. The room is led by Colonel Bashir Al Gadi a military commander from Misrata. In Arabic, Bunyan Marsus means “the steadfast wall,” which is a saying from a Hadith (saying of the prophet Mohammed) that states “the belief to the believer is like the Bunyan Al Marsus.”
Three conflict dynamics were evident this week: 1) Significant momentum is being gained by the GNA’s assault on ISIS held territory between Misrata and Sirte. This offensive is led by the GNA’s anti-ISIS Banyan Marsus Operations Room with support of militias from the old Libya Dawn alliance. 2) Haftar’s LNA has lost the momentum it had been building up steadily from February until the beginning of May. Coupled together, these two dynamics indicate that all scenarios in the future remain open, whether tending to a political compromise and unification of military forces under the GNA’s command into a genuine anti-ISIS coalition or the opposite, more fragmentation of both the LNA and the GNA militias. 3) The military and security support of international actors for the GNA is increasing.
The city of Hun is the base of the Misratan “Third Force” which is leading the southern front to Sirte from Jufra, and currently base for reinforcements arriving throughout last week from various militias from Tripoli, Janzour, Jufra, Surman, Sabratha, Jufra and Sebha. These forces managed to block ISIS’s southern corridor by advancing northwards on 25 May and retaking the town of Abu Njeem and reaching all the way to strategic Baghla crossing on 26 May, joining the main GNA forces advancing on the North and coastal fronts, and effectively sieging Sirte from the west and south west completely by 29 May.
On 26 May, Bunyan Marsus fighters consolidated control on the 50km checkpoint and advanced further to the 30km checkpoint. Clashes took place again at Baghla with ISIS militants but they were quickly defeated.
On 27 May, 10 Sorties were conducted by the Ops room fighter jets— hitting a reported 20 targets on the outskirts of Sirte and inside the city.
On 28 May, Bunyan Marsus forces consolidated their control on the 30 km checkpoint and Sirte’s steam power station (which is to the West of the city). Rear-deployed forces continued their wide sweep of all areas gained, while bomb disposal squads managed to defuse a number of IED’s on the coastal road left by IS. Officials of local councils in the liberated areas met with military commanders to discuss a process to bring these towns back to life with police and security functions.
On May 30, gains were made against ISIS from the East as well by the Federalists. The Federalist Petroleoum Facilities Guard (PFG) units already consolidated control on a number of oil fields including Al Jabal and Waha Al Waha concessions last week and reportedly made gains against ISIS in Bin Jawwad. It is confirmed that Jadhran’s PFG force are now securing Bin Jawwad town center and are at the outskirts of Nawfaliyah. It is too early to say though how real their control over Bin Jawwad is or how big their momentum there will be. The cynicism is largely due to Jadhran's rumored links with IS contacts/tribal relations in bin Jawwad and Nawfaliyah. LNA supporters and antagonists of Jadhran posit that IS cut a deal to allow Jadhran to take Bin Jawwad and Nawfaliyah in exchange for not advancing further west and continuing to block Haftar's advance to Sirte. This development may signal that PFG-LNA tensions will heat up shortly.
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To read about ISIS's actions in Libya this week click here. To read the Eye On ISIS in Libya Team’s treatment of Western countries’ responses to ISIS in Libya this week, click here. To read their blog post about the actions of other jihadi actors, click here. To read all four sections of this week’s Eye on ISIS in Libya report, click here.
