Libyan National Army

Libya's internationally recognized government said on Thursday it has ratified a security and military cooperation deal it agreed with Turkey last month, opening the way for potential military help from Ankara as it fights a months-long offensive by rival forces.

East Libyan forces said they had launched air strikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters after the militants made incursions south and east of their former coastal stronghold of Sirte.

A group of 20 suspected fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group have been executed by the forces of General Khalifa Haftar in Libya, according to a video posted online.

Mahmoud al-Werfalli, the senior leader of Haftar’s forces, is seen reading the charges and carrying out an execution himself in a new video posted online on Sunday.

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Dozens of troops and civilians have reportedly been slaughtered in an attack on an airbase in southern Libya. The attack was blamed on the militia backing the Tripoli-based government of National Accord (GNA), which denies that it sanctioned the carnage.

At least seven people were killed and eight wounded when a suicide bomber targeted forces loyal to Libya's eastern government in Benghazi on Dec. 18, medical and security officials said. 

A once-retired general leading a sweeping offensive against Islamists has been named head of the Libyan army loyal to the country's internationally recognised parliament, an official said March 2, in a move expected to deepen divisions in the conflict-riven nation.