No Result
View All Result
Friday, July 4, 2025
23 °c
Tripoli
24 ° Sat
24 ° Sun
  • Advertising
  • Contact
LibyaHerald
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
LibyaHerald
No Result
View All Result
Home Libya

US admits early morning Sabratha airstrikes

byNigel Ash
February 20, 2016
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
US admits early morning Sabratha airstrikes

Locals survey destruction around a deep crater (Sabratha Council)

By Libya Herald reporters.

Locals survey destruction around a deep  crater (Sabratha Council)
Locals survey devastation around a deep crater (Sabratha Council)

Tripoli and Tunis, 19 February 2016:

The Pentagon has announced that US warplanes carried out the attack early this morning . . .[restrict]on a suspected IS camp in Sabratha with the intention of killing a leading terrorist, Tunisian national Noureddine Chouchane, also known as Sabir.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook confirmed this afternoon that Chouchane was believed to be the mastermind behind the Tunisian attacks at the Bardo museum in Tunis and the beach Sousse beach resort, which killed a total of 69 tourists and one policeman.  Cook did not say if it was thought that Chouchane had also planned November’s car bomb attack in the Tunisian capital which killed 12 members of the country’s presidential guard.

Cook claimed that Chouchane had been a key player in moving IS recruits from Tunisia to Libya and on to other counties.  He continued  “The destruction of the camp and Chouchane’s removal will eliminate an experienced facilitator and is expected to have an immediate impact of ISIL’s [IS’s] ability to facilitate its activities in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya and potentially planning external attacks on US interests in the region”.

RELATED POSTS

Top law firm joins new British Libyan Business Association

Tripoli Chamber discussing leading delegation to WOC show in Las Vegas, USA in January

TunisAlive has reported that the 36 year-old Chouchaine was from the Sidi Bouzid governate where he joined Ansar Al-Sharia in 2013. He fled to Libya after injuring a member of the Tunisian National Guard in a firefight. Tunisian intelligence sources believe he was the leader of the IS cell in Sousse. Besides the slaughter in that resort and earlier at the Bardo, he was credited with the murder of a policeman and the attempted murder of a Tunisian politician.  One of his roles is alleged to have been in supplying weapons to terrorists in Tunisia.

Cook indicated that it was not yet clear if Chouchane had died in the airstrikes. Earlier this week the Pentagon admitted that it had failed to kill Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the prime target in a raid last June which obliterated an Ajdabiya farmhouse where Al-Qaeda-affiliated Ansar Al-Sharia leaders were supposedly meeting.

Cook warned: “This strike demonstrates we will go after ISIL whenever it is necessary, using the full range of tools at our disposal”.

He said that the camp had contained up to 60 fighters and had been watched for weeks. He hinted that a major operation has been in the planning “They had ill intent  in their mind” was all that he would say.  He added “There are other training camps in Libya like this. When we see the opportunity or need to take this kind of action, we will do so”.

Locals told media who had been flown in by helicopter from Tripoli by the Ghwell administration in Tripoli, that there had been at least five separate explosions on the compound in the Al-Ajaylat district of the town. There are unconfirmed reports that the compound had been rented to IS by a leading local family.

On Sabratha Council’s web site today, an Ibrahim Abdul Samad wrote that he believed that the IS camp had recently received a weapons’ shipment from Tunisia. In line with the Pentagon spokesman, he too speculated that a military operation was being planned somewhere in western Libya.

Earlier Sabratha mayor Hussein Dawadi had messaged that among the 41 dead, most of whom he said were Tunisian, were two women, together with a Jordanian and a Christian. He said the compound that had been hit was “probably an ISIS hideout”.

Despite growing evidence from as early as 2013 that Ansar Al-Sharia and then IS were in the town, Dawadi and other officials have repeated denied this. Last month the authorities in Tripoli organised a press trip to Sabratha to demonstrate that it was not in IS hands and that its exquisite Roman ruins had not been damaged by iconoclasts.

However, following a bomb attack last December  on the local security headquarters, Dawadi had declared a state of emergency. This January he went further and introduced compulsory ID cards for all foreigners in the town.    It is not clear if Chouchane and other terror suspects in the Al-Ajaylat compound applied for these cards.

  [/restrict]

Tags: air strikefeaturedLibyaNoureddine ChouchanePentagonSabirSabrathaUS

Related Posts

Libya Herald exclusive: Responding to the prime minister’s call yesterday to the private sector and banks to do more, leading businessman Husni Bey responds
Business

Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

July 2, 2025
Libyan Russian Economic Forum starts in St. Petersburg
Libya

Libyan Russian Economic Forum starts in St. Petersburg

June 27, 2025
MoI establishes Elections Security and Protection Department
Libya

Aldabaiba and Menfi stress use of polling feedback to establish consensus basis for constitutional process: report and analysis

June 26, 2025
GNU to take oath at Benghazi HoR session and budget to be approved at Tripoli session: GNU
Libya

“There is no state built by gangs and criminality, it’s built by engineers, youth, consultants, security, police and army”: Aldabaiba

June 23, 2025
GNU to take oath at Benghazi HoR session and budget to be approved at Tripoli session: GNU
Libya

187 new security posts taken over from militias – PM declares victory for the state as all vital Tripoli sites come under its exclusive control for the first time since 2011

June 19, 2025
Interior Ministry’s Diplomatic Missions Protection personnel receiving training in Ukraine
Libya

The Interior Ministry had spent LD 50 billion in 13 years with no result: Acting Interior Minister Trabelsi

June 17, 2025
Next Post
Serb diplomats killed in US Sabratha air strike: report

Serb diplomats killed in US Sabratha air strike: report

Serraj arrives in Tobruk to present government to HoR

Serraj arrives in Tobruk to present government to HoR

ADVERTISEMENT

Top Stories

  • CBL goes public at last about the counterfeit LD 50 notes – notes to be withdrawn until end of August

    CBL reveals discovery of LD 3.5 billion in counterfeit 50-dinar notes printed in Russia – PM calls on Attorney General to open investigation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Libyan Italian Forum concludes with the signing of 98 MoUs

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Three Libyan companies win awards in Athens International Olive Oil Competition ‎

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • CBL demands imports are conducted through official banking instruments and the elimination of the FX black market

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
ADVERTISEMENT
LibyaHerald

The Libya Herald first appeared on 17 February 2012 – the first anniversary of the Libyan Revolution. Since then, it has become a favourite go-to source on news about Libya, for many in Libya and around the world, regularly attracting millions of hits.

Recent News

A 247,000-bpd oil production increase would achieve US$ 6 billion annually to enhance ability to meet FX demand, maintain strength of LD and achieve economic balance: CBL ‎

Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

Sitemap

  • Why subscribe?
  • Terms & Conditions
  • FAQs
  • Copyright & Intellectual Property Rights
  • Subscribe now

Newsletters

    Be the first to know latest important news & events directly to your inbox.

    Sending ...

    By signing up, I agree to our TOS and Privacy Policy.

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password? Sign Up

    Create New Account!

    Fill the forms below to register

    *By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
    All fields are required. Log In

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Login
    • Sign Up
    • Libya
    • Business
    • Advertising
    • About us
    • BusinessEye Magazine
    • Letters
    • Features
    • Why subscribe?
    • FAQs
    • Contact

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.