Terrorist groups in Libya's Darnah teach children martial arts

CAIRO – 22 May 2018: Al Qaeda group in the Libyan city of Darnah established a recruitment base to teach local juveniles martial arts to combat the national armed forces, said the Libyan Center for Security Studies in a press release issued Monday.

The center added that the terrorist group was keen to place posters inside the city’s schools to have children enrolled in the group’s program to teach martial arts and its extreme approach to religion.

The center confirmed that a training field was found where children learnt how to use firing weapons as well. The press release revealed that the group recruited 30 children who are under 15.

“The number of children recruited by Al Qaeda in Darnah city reached 250, under the supervision of a terrorist called Mohammed Idris Mansouri,” continued the center’s press release.

Since the ouster of Libyan long-time leader Ghaddafi, the war-torn country draws wide international and regional attention, causing a serious threat on the national security of North Africa and Europe.

Libya, which is struggling to get through the critical political situation that it has been experiencing since 2011, is not only trying to unify its army, but is longing to revive its political functions by conducting presidential and legislative elections.

Egypt has hosted several meetings to bring the Libyan conflicted factions to the negotiations table to resolve the Libyan crisis and amend the Skhirat agreement, which aims at ending Libya’s civil war.

The major obstacle in the face of any international or Arab participation in ending the crisis in Libya is the lack of a Libyan partner that would support any involvement. Since 2014, there are two major factions on the ground, one led by Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army, who now controls the eastern side of Libya and works in cooperation with the government of the House of Representatives, known as the Tobruk government. The other is led by Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed Libyan Government of National Accord.

Therefore, there is no official side recognized by all parties in Libya, but there are two opposing factions, roughly equivalent in terms of power, competing for legitimacy. Nonetheless, neither side appears to be able to tip the scales of this conflict in its favor.