SUMMARY
The Forces of Ibrahim Jadhran was an armed group active in Libya; its primary goal was to gain control over the “Oil Crescent”, a region along the Gulf of Sirte containing a large share of Libya’s oil infrastructure. The Forces of Ibrahim Jadhran also had a pronounced anti-House of Representatives stance, being particularly opposed to the latter’s top military commander, Khalifa Haftar.
The group emerged at some point during early 2018, making its existence publicly known when it attacked the House of Representatives-held oil ports As Sidrah and Ras Lanuf in mid-June. Ibrahim Jadhran – a member of the Magharba tribe from Ajdabiya – had previously served as a local militia commander during the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, fighting under the umbrella of the NTC. During the uprising, Jadhran’s militia attempted to wrest control of the eastern oil ports from Gaddafi’s forces. After Gaddafi was ousted, Jadhran was made commander of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG), a unit charged with maintaining security I Libya’s “Oil Crescent” region. Consequently, Jadhran was able to boost his own power and influence, creating a militia that some sources claimed to have included more than 17 000 fighters. In 2013, Jadhran closed the oil ports under his control in a bid to force the Libyan government to grant greater autonomy in “Cyrenaica”, a region that comprises most of eastern Libya; Jadhran also attempted to sell oil without the government’s permission. Being one of the most important powerbrokers in eastern Libya 2013-2016, Jadhran’s PFG militia altered its allegiances, first supporting the eastern-based House of Representatives after its formation in 2014, before switching its support to the Government of Libya during late 2015. In late 2016, Jadhran lost control over the oil ports to House of Representatives’ forces, and after falling out with the Libyan government and being stripped of his command over PFG, he fled abroad. Jadhran then returned to Libya in early 2018, and proceeded to set up the forces used to mount the June offensive in the Oil Crescent.
While no exact figures regarding the total size of Jadhran’s forces was available, they appear to have included former PFG fighters, Magharba tribal militias, and elements of the largely defunct SDB. There were also indications that Jadhran made use of “Chadian mercenaries”, a term that commonly referred to Toubou fighters from Libya or Chad.
It was unclear whether Jadhran’s forces had links to any other armed faction in Libya, but some sources claimed that they may have received material and financial support from anti-House of Representatives factions in for example Misrata; this was however never verified. Jadhran himself claimed to be loyal to the Government of Libya, but authorities in Tripoli denied these links; the Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj even condemned Jadhran’s attack on the Oil Crescent.
