Share of minimum reported civilian fatalities by belligerent. Emirati and some Egyptian air and artillery strikes are conducted on behalf of the LNA and are grouped as a coalition. Unilateral Egyptian strikes at the border are counted as individual events. Turkish strikes conducted on behalf of the GNA are grouped as a coalition. Strikes by the 7th Brigade before it became a part of the LNA were counted as individual events.
Share of reported air and artillery strikes by belligerent. Emirati and some Egyptian strikes are conducted on behalf of the LNA and are grouped as a coalition. Unilateral Egyptian strikes at the border are counted as individual events. Turkish strikes conducted on behalf of the GNA are grouped as a coalition. Strikes by the 7th Brigade before it became a part of the LNA were counted as individual events.
A woman was killed after a mortar fell on her house in Jarif in Sirte on June 10th, 2020. She was identified by local sources as Dr. Malak Saleh Al Wafi. “Dr. Malak Saleh Al-Wafi dies after a shell landed in their house in Jarif,” said Libyan woman doctors. No further information is currently available.
Libya Al Ahrar reported that “the remains of a citizen were found in a civilian car, likely hit by a missile attack in the Al Sa’adeh area by the Haftar militia at the beginning of its aggression on the capital.” Also Burkan Al Ghadab Operation page posted the news saying that “Al-Jafara Security Directorate members
Renewed shelling on Wadi Jarif west of Sirte on June 9th, 2020 led to deaths, injuries and displacement among civilians. Tk Yahrouq Kl shy posted “Intensive and random shelling on Wadi Jarif in Serte amid reports of deaths, injuries, destruction, and mass displacement of families.” Another post encouraged people to head to Ibn Sina hospital
Five people, including paramedics, were killed in alleged LNA airstrikes with a Russian warplane on western Sirte on June 8th, 2020. Reportedly, GNA vehicles were targeted, including an ambulance. Libya Observer reported that, according to a source within the GNA that “a MiG 29 warplane, which Russia gave to Haftar recently, had raided Libyan Army
In an extraordinary reversal, the opposition Libyan National Army (LNA) – believed until recently to be the dominant military power in Libya today – has been routed from much of its western territory in just a few weeks. Retreating LNA forces abandoned tanks, attack helicopters and other advanced weaponry as they fled the Government of National Accord (GNA) and its Turkish backers.
In mid-January things had looked very bleak indeed for Tripoli’s GNA. General Khalifa Haftar’s forces had just seized Sirte, the city the GNA had symbolically taken from ISIS with US support back in 2016. Haftar’s opposition Libyan National Army was slowly tightening its grip on Tripoli’s suburbs; and it looked like an equally bloody and destructive battle for Benghazi could be looming.
However a ceasefire deal between Turkey and Russia came to the rescue of the GNA alliance – still more resembling a loose coalition of militias than a national government.
Turkey used that ceasefire to smuggle drones and advanced air defences into the country, as well as Syrian mercenaries, in blatant violation of the UN arms embargo. These turned out to be a game changer, given that the United Arab Emirates and Russia, the LNA’s strongest backers, were either unwilling or incapable of matching Turkey’s support. The LNA quickly lost its air superiority in early February and later also its air defences, as Turkish drones took out several state-of-the-art Russian Pantsir anti-air systems.
How was the LNA’s previous air superiority so quickly dismantled? “First, the Pantsirs being – at least in part – handed over to LNA crews who were under-trained and ineffective. And strong electronic warfare, most likely with a KORAL system, by the Turkish,” explains Oded Berkowitz, an analyst at MAX Security.
#Libya– and another video via @libyaalahrartv showing 2 Pantsir S-1/SA-22 Greyhound destroyed in #Tarhuna.
Note how at the start of the video they're just sitting ideally by each other with the radar on… pic.twitter.com/pZAVEVePGr
— Oded Berkowitz (@Oded121351) May 20, 2020
Despite repeated reports of the UAE flying in supplies to Benghazi, the LNA quickly found itself on the ropes. Its most significant loss was that of the Al Watiyah air base close to the Tunisian border on May 18th. Al Watiyah is not only a proper military air base, as opposed to Mitiga airport which is also used for civilian purposes – it also gives Turkey a potential foothold in northern Africa, enabling it to station aircraft there.
After the loss of Al Watiyah in late May, events moved quickly. In the first week of June the GNA completed their rout of Haftar’s forces with the capture of Tripoli International Airport and Qasr Bin Gashir – finally breaking a fifteen month siege of the capital. Meanwhile, Russian mercenaries with the Wagner Group were reported to have abandoned Haftar’s forces, allegedly leaving booby traps and mines in their wake. According to the GNA Ministry of Interior, 25 members of its demining teams had been killed between May 21st and June 4th.
An alleged Teddy Bear IED left behind by LNA/#Wagner in #Tripoli.
As horrible as this is, several points about this of note: Serbian M62P10 HE 120mm mortar bomb (Lot 01 of 2019, clear export violation), Russian MUV-4 fuze & a Russian semtex block initiator.
Just screams Wagner. pic.twitter.com/a61g724w4y
— Cᴀʟɪʙʀᴇ Oʙsᴄᴜʀᴀ (@CalibreObscura) June 4, 2020
Surprisingly, despite the withdrawal of the Wagner mercenaries, Haftar’s forces had received up to 14 Russian fighter jets as reported by US Africa Command in a bellicose public statement. A UN source told Airwars that some of these planes were supplied from Belarus via Russia and on to Syria, where with the addition of some old Syrian air force jets they were transited to Libya – by now shadowed by the US military.
The intervention by Russia so far has been limited and less overt compared to Syria, and may have been intended as a show of strength to keep the GNA from moving into the southwestern Fezzan and Cyrenaica in the East. Russia’s decision to supply attack aircraft to the LNA may also have tipped the United States into overtly backing the UN-backed GNA for the first time in several years.
Haftar’s last bastion near Tripoli was Tarhuna, some 65km southeast of the capital. GNA forces had repeatedly shelled the city in recent weeks and many expected a bloodbath as Tarhuna – historically loyal to the Gaddafi regime – had sided with Haftar through its local Kaniyat Brigade. However instead of fighting, LNA forces chaotically withdrew. Images circulating on social media show the full extent of arms embargo breaches in Libya in recent years, with Russian helicopters and tanks, Chinese MANPADS and anti-UAV guns as well as Serbian mortar shells among the discoveries, earning the nickname of “biggest arms convention in the world.”
#Tripoli: last one for the day, GNA-aligned forces towing an #LAAF helicopter (Mi35) captured near Fom Melgha, at the outskirts of #Tarhuna
Pretty sure no driving test prepares you for this… pic.twitter.com/ywVPxDcWgo
— Emadeddin Badi (@emad_badi) June 4, 2020
Civilians suffer once again
The impact on civilians of the LNA’s fourteen month failed Tripoli offensive can only be described as devastating. Airwars has found that 60% of all reported civilian harm from air and artillery strikes since 2012 occurred since April 4th 2019.
Prior to the siege, Airwars had recorded a minimum of 298 civilian deaths, while another 439 have been reported over the past 14 months. Some 276 of those deaths have either been attributed to the LNA or to its allies, while 87 civilian deaths were allegedly caused by the GNA and Turkey. The latter number is on the rise, with civilian harm from GNA and Turkish actions now escalating as they gain the upper hand.
But it is not only airstrikes that pose a grave threat to civilians. The LNA and its Wagner allies left behind a substantial amount of mines, IEDs and unexploded ordnance. One of the many civilian victims is Saleh, brother of former Airwars Libya Researcher Osama Mansour, who was injured when checking on the family home in the south of Tripoli.
“My brother got there by car, when he wanted to go to our house the neighbour removed a branch of a tree and a mine went off. My brother was hit in the neck and the teeth, lost a lot of blood as well and was unconscious for a couple of minutes,” Osama tells us. “The neighbour lost more blood and has been in surgery twice already, and they still need to remove two pieces of shrapnel from his liver,” he adds. The event is one of many in south Tripoli, with civilians killed or badly injured. “It gives us a very insecure feeling to go back after all the incidents,” Osama says.
The only thing they didn't steal, or burn is my books.#Libya #Tripoli_war pic.twitter.com/O6cNnbfvPa
— Jalal Othman (@jalalothman) June 7, 2020
Besides military mistakes, old grievances and retaliation may soon play a role as well: “There are legitimate concerns about abuses by GNA forces against civilians in newly captured territory. However, GNA officials are mindful of these concerns and they’ll be working to avoid such abuses,” claims Mohamed Eljarh, a well-connected Libya independent analyst. So far, it seems the UN-backed government is struggling to keep the situation under control, with reports of looting and damage to properties emerging over the weekend.
When GNA forces took Tarhuna from the LNA they also uncovered 106 dead bodies, including children and women, in a hospital morgue. Some had allegedly been executed with shots to the head, though so far the exact circumstances of the deaths are unclear.
Future prospects
Although the routing of the LNA marks Libya’s biggest military turning point in several years, the future remains unclear. While the GNA presently has the upper hand, it remains a coalition of necessity – made up of ideologically diverse militias united by a common enemy and now strengthened by Turkey’s intervention. Tensions are likely to arise within the GNA as the shaky coalition adapts to holding more power and territory.
In terms of military goals Mohammed Eljarh says he expects that “Turkey and the GNA will continue to expand their territorial control. Control of key oil facilities in the southwest in particular will be high on the agenda. The GNA is trying to restart some of the oil production from al-Sharara and al-Feel oilfields.”
How far the GNA’s territorial ambitions go also depends on the LNA’s international backers, as Wolfram Lacher from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs explains: “At a minimum, GNA-aligned forces will seek to ensure that Haftar loyalists can no longer use Bani Walid [160km south of Tripoli] as a logistics hub. But it is likely that they will now attempt an offensive on Sirte or Jufra.”
Yet initial attempts by the GNA to take Sirte have failed – met with staunch resistance and airstrikes from pro-LNA fighter jets, and suggesting the LNA and its backers may seek to draw a line at Gaddafi’s birthplace.
Following these newly established facts on the ground, both parties have now agreed to resume the stalled 5+5 talks in Geneva, UNSMIL announced on June 2nd. Haftar has reportedly lost major support from his international backers, especially Egypt. President Sisi brought Aguila Saleh, President of the House of Representatives in Tobruk, and Khalifa Haftar to the table and announced a ceasefire on June 6th. That agreement was then rejected by the GNA. “Only if Russian and Emirati intervention stops the GNA offensives could we see growing calls for negotiations within the GNA coalition,” Lacher says. Perhaps ominously, a day later Egypt was reported to have deployed M1A2 Abrams tanks to the Libyan border.
The UAE for now remains Haftar’s strongest backer, while Russia seems keen to at least hold a stake in Libya, as the recent delivery of fighter planes shows. But that move may backfire – with the US now overtly resisting Russian adventurism in north Africa, while pressuring the UAE to the negotiating table.
Had an important conversation with Emirati Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on increasing regional stability and supporting a lasting @UN-brokered ceasefire in Libya. Grateful for our strong partnership in combatting the global COVID-19 pandemic.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) June 4, 2020
“Haftar’s defeat in western Libya will have wide-ranging implications for his coalition. Many who supported him because they hoped to sweep to power with him will now reconsider their allegiances,” Lacher asserts. “The same goes for his adversaries, among whom Haftar’s offensive had served as a unifying threat and kept distrust and rivalries among them in check.”
It currently seems unlikely that either side can control all of Libya. And distrust between rival leaders has been high in the past, making a ceasefire deal unlikely. The amount of weapons discovered around Tripoli also serves as an indicator that Libya’s on-and-off civil war, now in its tenth year, could still be far from over.
A civilian was killed and two other civilians were wounded in airstrikes on a mosque in the Jarif area on June 8th, 2020, according to Libyan Crimes Watch. Libyan Crimes Watch wrote that “a civilian was killed and two others were wounded as a result of a bombing by the air that we could not
Seven civilians of the same family, including three children and two women, were killed in alleged LNA airstrikes on their home in Qarara Al Qazah in Al Thalatheen/Jarif area in Jarif on June 8th, 2020, according to local sources. @LibyaCW reported that “the organisation recorded the fall of shells on three houses in Al Thalateen area
Ten civilians, including two children, were allegedly killed by GNA or Turkish drone strike 50km south of Sirte. Libyan Crimes Watch reported: “Today, Saturday, June 6, at 2am GNA forces bombed civilian cars 50 km south of Sirte, which were receiving displaced families from Tarhuna, and the shelling killed ten (10) civilians, including two children,
Between 12 and 20 civilians were allegedly killed by a GNA or Turkish airstrike on Qasr Bin Gashir. Al Marsad said: “A Turkish aircraft committed a massacre late yesterday, Wednesday, against the family of Al-Lafi, including women and children, in the Qasr Bin Gashir area, south of Tripoli, specifically in the Al-Manara area. Muhammad al-Lafi,
Five men were killed in alleged LNA/UAE drone strikes on the city of Gheryan, Jabal Al Gharbi, on June 2nd, 2020, according to local sources. Simfaro reported that aircraft was hovering over the city for several hours, conducting ten strikes in separate areas. @EbrahimGasuda initially reported the names of three victims as the result of UAE
An unknown number of civilians was killed and injured in alleged GNA and Turkish shelling on residential areas of Qasr Bin Ghashir on June 1st, 2020, according to local sources. At least one child was among the victims. According to Khamis Al Sheikhi, “the Capital randomly targeted residential neighbourhoods in the centre of Qasr Bin
Up to seven civilians were allegedly killed and up to twelve injured by indiscrimiante shelling on the Souq Al Talata area of Tripoli. The Field Medicine and Support Center said three were killed and 11 injured. The GNA-led Burkan Al Ghadab operation posted that five were killed and eight injured, one of which a child
One civilian was allegedly injured by indiscriminate artillery shelling on Qasr Bin Gashir. Tarhuna 24 said: “Citizen Hamza Al-Barghouth was wounded by shrapnel as a result of a missile landing in Qasr Bin Gashir area, which has been under heavy bombardment for more than a week.” Tk Yahroug Kl shy only reported heavy artillery shelling
One paramedic was allegedly killed by shelling or gunshots in Wadi al Rabie. The Field Medicine and Support Center said: “The Field Medicine and Support Center mourns with great sadness and sorrow the death of our colleague, Dr. Hammam Abu Bakr Hamid, of the field hospital, Tajoura, as a result of him being targeted while
Five civilians were reported injured by LNA shelling on Ain Zara. Tk Yahroug Kl shy posted: “A report from the ambulance and rescue teams in the emergency apparatus reported that shells had fallen on houses in the Ain Zara area, and there are wounded civilians who are now being treated.” The Field Medicine and Support
Airwars and design partners Rectangle are commemorating those civilians killed and injured in conflicts, by livestreaming over 24 hours the names of 8,337 civilian casualties the international monitor has documented in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Somalia in recent years.
The digital event marks the occasion of the UN’s 2020 Protection of Civilians Week.
Over twenty-four hours starting at midnight London time on May 26th/27th – the date of the UN Secretary General’s annual Protection of Civilians (PoC) speech – the names of just some of the many civilians reportedly killed by air and artillery strikes in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Somalia since 2007 will be livestreamed on our website and YouTube channel.
Khaled Mustafa Qurmo and Khaled Abdel Majid were about to drop off their friend Barakat Barakat at his home in October 2019. The three friends were eating pumpkin seeds while driving through Barisha in northwestern Syria when they were reportedly hit by helicopters searching for ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
“There were so many shells falling on us, it was like rain. My hand, the one holding up Khaled’s head, got cut off,” Barakat explained to NPR last year. “Am I Baghdadi? How is this my fault? I’m just a civilian. I didn’t have any weapons. We’re farmers. I make less than a dollar a day. Now I’m handicapped, and my two friends are in their graves.”
Barakat Barakat is just one of 8,337 civilian casualties over the past 13 years whose names Airwars has recorded while monitoring conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Somalia.
Through its daily monitoring of local news organisations, social media and official sources, as well as via sources on the ground, Airwars has in total recorded over 119,000 reported civilian deaths and injuries since we began documenting conflicts in August 2014 – of which more than eight thousand casualties attributed to specific belligerents can presently be named.
This UN PoC Week, Airwars aims to commemorate those who have lost their lives, while calling for governments to better account for their military actions.
The project Conflicting Truth is in partnership with the Scottish-American design team Rectangle, who also produce the complex mapping and data representations on the Airwars website.
This week’s live cast is based on an original installation by Rectangle with Sophie Dyer, first shown in Detroit in March 2019. It had been hoped to show Conflicting Truth in New York during this year’s UN PoC Week. Instead, due to the Covid-19 crisis, the decision was taken to livecast a digital version.
Rimas and Shahem Hamdou with their father Hamza al Haj Hamdou. The children were killed in an alleged Russian strike in Thalatheen Street in Idlib city on March 3rd 2020 (image courtesy of the Syrian Network for Human Rights)
The Airwars/ Rectangle project seeks to show that those killed and injured in conflict are not mere statistics – they are people with names, friends and families. Their loss inflicts severe pain on relatives, and the communities they belong to.
“I was washing dishes. Suddenly our house was filled with shrapnel. I went out and called Arif (my son), but I did not see him. I only saw black smoke. When the smoke faded away, I saw my son on the ground as a martyr,” said a mother whose son Arif was among eight other children reportedly killed in alleged Turkish shelling on Tal Rifaat in Syria on December 2nd, 2019.
The suffering often does not end with losing loved ones or seeing them disabled: it also heavily impacts the lives of those spared by the fighting. “All a young man like me cares about now is how he gets home safe every day. Or when you go to bed, all you’re thinking about is the possibility that a rocket falls on you,” Marwan, a resident of the southern suburbs of the Libyan capital Tripoli recently told Airwars. “I lost friends, relatives, loved ones in this war,” he elaborates. “I’m doing an MA now, and I’m afraid to lose my dream, and my future and I can’t do anything. That makes me want to run away, to live a decent life with equal opportunities.”
Airwars aims to add as many biographical details of victims as possible. On May 16th of this year for example, the 5-year-old Bangladeshi boy Wahi Zuhair Matin was killed in alleged LNA artillery strikes on Al Fornaj neighbourhood in Tripoli. The GNA-affiliated Burkan Al Ghadab Operation wrote on Facebook that the child’s “ambition was to buy a bike and play ‘like the kids’.”
Airwars is also joining with other international partners and organisations in a Civil Society Call for Action to Protect Civilians during PoC week. The joint statement signed by 22 organisations calls on the UN Security Council, Member States, and the UN System to take urgent, bold and practical steps to respond to the challenges that remain in the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
The UN Security Council added the protection of civilians in armed conflict (PoC) to its agenda in 1999, recognising PoC as a matter of international peace and security. The UN PoC Week is held annually between May 27th and June 1st. The United Nations celebrates UN Peacekeeping Day on May 29th.
Between six and eight civilians, including one child, were allegedly killed by a Turkish drone strike on Asabi’ah. Libya Witness tweeted: “6 civilians, including a child, were killed in a Turkish raid in the city of Asabi’ah, western Libya.” A pro-LNA Twitter account said seven civilians and a child were killed.
One civilian was allegedly killed and seven more injured by LNA shelling on the Edraiby neighbourhood of Tripoli. Al Wasat reported: “A spokesman for the Ministry of Health of the National Accord Government confirmed that two Libyan citizens were injured, in addition to five Africans, as a result of the bombing that targeted the Edraiby area
Several civilians were allegedly injured by GNA shelling on Qasr Bin Gashir. Akhbar Libya 24 said: “An informed source revealed that members of one family and another person were injured as a result of the fall of artillery shells of the Al-Wefaq [GNA] forces, in a random manner, on residential neighborhoods in the Qasr Bin
Four civilians were allegedly injured by GNA artillery shelling on Qasr Bin Gashir. Alsaaa24 said: “Eyewitnesses reported that the heavy artillery shelling did not stop since the morning hours on the Bi’r Altota area and the Sharif Hotel in Qasr Bin Gashir by Syrian mercenaries and armed militias loyal to the ‘Government of Reconciliation’. They
Up to four civilians were reported killed and others injured when mortars fell on Al Sab’a Buildings in Castelverde, Libya on May 18th, 2020. The Libya Observer tweeted “Three people were killed and others wounded in a rocket attack on the town of Castelverde, east of Tripoli, on Monday.” 218 News said that in a
Six civilians, including a child, were killed and 17 civilians were injured in alleged Libyan National Army (LNA) artillery strikes on Al Fornaj neighbourhood in Tripoli on May 16th, 2020. According to local sources, the strikes targeted housing units for displaced people at a university campus. The Libya Observer reported that “five people were killed
One civilian was allegedly injured by shelling on the Hadaba area of Tripoli. Tk Yahrouq Kl shy wrote: “A shell landed in the 4 streets Al Haddad in the Hadaba area, and a civilian was wounded by shrapnel.” There is currently no further information available. Reports of fighting in the area point at GNA or
Two civilians were allegedly by a Turkish drone strike near Bani Walid. Tarhuna 24 said: “Turkish drone targeted a car transfer type veto by citizens of the city of Bani Walid coming from the corner across the road Gharyan. People have been targeted when they arrive to the area Ashmikh thankfully both survived with varying
One civilian was allegedly injured by LNA shelling on the Al Sour road area of Tripoli. Libya Alahrar TV wrote: “The media advisor to the Ministry of Health, Al-Amin Al-Hashemi, confirms that the Central Hospital of Tripoli received, today treated a 68-year-old civilian, who was injured as a result of a shell fired by Haftar
Two civilians were allegedly injured by indiscrimiante shelling on the Fornaj neighbourhood of Tripoli. Hona Souq Al-Khmies reported: “Injury of 2 displaced people, one of whom was seriously injured, and he is now under operations.” Tk Yahroug Kl shy said that several shells landed in the area, including on the Savings and Real Estate Investment
One civilian was allegedly killed by GNA or Turkish shelling on Qasr Bin Gashir. Khamis Mahmoud Al Sheikhi said: “The capital, a random shell fired by the Erdogan militia fell near the Zad Al-Khair market in Qasr Bin Gashir, killing Fathi Al-Ghoula, may God have mercy on him.” Tk Yahroug Kl shy wrote: “He moved
Two civilians were reported killed in alleged Turkish drone attack on their car in Ash Shwayrif in Jabal al Gharbi in Libya on May 14th, according to local sources. The two men belong to the Mashashiya tribe. Libya 24 said that “Activists on social media reported that two young men from the Mashashiya tribe from