On 3 February, the UN Security Council published the ‘Twenty-ninth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities’. The report estimated that there are approximately 50 Al-Qaida fighters in Libya spread across several towns, with strongholds in Awbari and Ghat. It observed that Al-Qaida networks in Libya provide logistical support to terrorist groups as far away as northern Mali. It reported that ISIS had been degraded to approximately 50 fighters, located mainly between Sabha, Murzuq and Umm al-Aranib. The report concluded that although weakened, ISIS in Libya ‘retains some operational capability and prioritizes its continued presence in southern Libya’.
Read the report here.