Publication

This paper discusses how at the beginning of 2016 Jihadist groups in Libya stand poised to 1) accept the theological priorities and themes set forth by the so-called Islamic State, and 2) create an integrated Islamist-Jihadist force that includes the Muslim Brothers (the Ikhwan), the Fajr Libia (Libya’s Dawn), the Ansar al-Sharia, al-Qaida-affiliates and a host of other smaller groups and militias. As a result of this merger, the text's author believes that the UN-sponsored negotiations between the Libyan “governments” in Tripoli and Tobruk are now doomed, specifically because the Tripoli "government" has committed itself to fight for an Islamist Libya in tandem with the Islamic State.