News Archive

A detained Islamic State commander has revealed the identity of the masked militant who appeared in the gruesome video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in Sirte. Fawzy Bashir al-A’yyat al-Hesnawy, the prominent figure of Islamic State’s branch in Sirte who also served as the group’s chief judge, told the website Correspondents that a Saudi national named Abu A’amer al-Jazrawy was the masked man who appeared in the propaganda video released by the Islamic on 12 February 2015. Fawzy al-A'yyat after being captured in Sirte Fawzy al-A'yyat after being captured in ...

Reports in the Swiss media said today that a Libyan imam who was only identified by the alias ‘Abu Ramadan’ has lost his asylum status and is likely to be deported for preaching hate against non-Muslims. An audio obtained by a public Swiss broadcaster contained a sermon delivered by Abu Ramadan in al-Rahman mosque where he said: “Oh Allah, I beg you to destroy the enemies of our religion. Destroy the Jews, Christians, Hindus, Russians and the Shia. He who befriends a disbeliever is cursed until the Day of Judgment”. He also argued that Muslims should not be subject to European laws: “If yo...

Hafidh al-Dhabea’ (aka Abu Aiyoub), spokesman of the Mujahideen Council of Darnah, announced his resignation yesterday. To explain his move, Dhabea’ said this on his Facebook page: “Leaving the Council was not caused by its deviation. But I have acted to preserve the interest of Sharia by keeping away from the Council in order to silence the voices accusing it of following a foreign agenda based on the incident of [my jihadi] migration and imprisonment by the tyrants. That is why I decided not to be an obstacle to the continuation and the integrity of the project”. Hafidh al-Dhabea’ (aka...

Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter yesterday held a joint press conference with Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister and had talks with Sergey Shoygu, the Russian Defence Minister. This is Mr Hifter’s third visit to Moscow as general commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) which Russia, UAE and Egypt consider to be Libya’s only hope for preventing an Islamist takeover of the oil rich country. Khalifa Hifter and Sergey Shoygu. PHOTO: LNA Military cooperation usually tops Mr Hifter’s talks with the Russians, particularly, seeking Russia’s support with lifting a UN arms ...

The militant featured in famous photos released by the Islamic State in January 2016 burning the Libyan flag in Benghazi’s Sabri district, was killed in recent clashes with the Libyan National Army, The Libya Times can reveal. He was identified after the photo below appeared in Jihadi social media posts mourning his death. We can confirm that his name is Omar Zakaria Omar Ahraib, a resident of Sabri district. Sources from Sabri have verified his identity and said he was on wanted lists by the city’s security agencies for murdering two army officers - Omar Atlouba and Tarek ...