The 106th Brigade (or ''Awlia Aldem,'' ar, أوليء الدم) is a military unit of the

Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Ha ...

, loyal to

Field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

Khalifa Haftar Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar ( ar, خليفة بلقاسم حفتر, Ḵalīfa Bilqāsim Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA) ...

. It was established as a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

in 2018.

History

The 106th Battalion was created in 2016, from militias serving as Haftar's personal guard in 2014. It became the 106th Brigade in 2018, through incorporation of various other units. The 106th Battalion first saw combat in the 2018

Battle of Derna The Battle of Derna at Derna, Cyrenaica, was the decisive victory in April–May 1805 of a mercenary army recruited and led by United States Marines under the command of U.S. Army Lieutenant William Eaton, diplomatic Consul to Tripoli, and U ...

. The brigade participated in the capture of Sabha in January 2019. It fought in the failed Tripoli offensive, beginning hostilities on the night of April 4 by seizing a chekpoint between

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

and Zawiya. The brigade then performed poorly in the offensive around Zawiya. Many of the brigade's soldiers were captured by the

Government of National Accord The Government of National Accord ( ar, حكومة الوفاق الوطني) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. Th ...

forces. On 17 July 2019, according to witnesses cited by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' and a family member cited by ''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

'', 25–30 masked, uniformed 106th Brigade members abducted member of the

Libyan House of Representatives The Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) ( ar, مجلس النواب, translit=Majlis al-Nuwaab, translation=Council of Deputies) is the legislature of Libya resulting from the 2014 Libyan parliamentary election, which had an 18% turnout. I ...

Seham Sergiwa Seham Sergiwa ( ar, سهام سرقيوة ''Sahām Sarqīwa''; also Romanized ''Siham'', ''Sirqiwa'', ''Sergewa'', ''Sirghua''; born 1963) is a Libyan psychologist elected to the Libyan parliament in 2014. She was abducted by a Libyan National ...

Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...

. In May 2022, the 106th Brigade was deployed to the

Chad–Libya border The Chad–Libya border is 1,050 km (652 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Niger in the west, to the tripoint with Sudan in the east. Description The border consists of two straight line segments. The first is a continuation of ...

Commander

The 106th Battalion was commanded by Haftar's son, Saddam. He was replaced by his brother Khalid. Major General Salem Rahil took command in mid-2019 but Khalid Haftar remains the ''de facto'' leader of the unit.

Equipment and fighters

Due to its link with Haftar's family, the Brigade has received many modern equipements, such as Emirati Nimr and Jordanian Al-Wahsh APCs, and

Kornet The 9M133 Kornet (russian: Корнет; "Cornet", NATO reporting name AT-14 Spriggan, export designation Kornet-E) is a Military of Russia, Russian man-portable anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) intended for use against main ...

ATGM An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

. It also received TAG Terrier LT-79 APCs in December 2019. The Brigade is more

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

than previous units of the LNA. The brigade received officers from the new NLA military academy. However, the induction of poorly trained recruits in 2019 reduced the military potential of the brigade.

Composition

* 101st Battalion * 123rd Battalion * 126th Battalion * 155th Battalion * 166th Battalion * 192nd Battalion * 208th Battalion * 214th Tank Battalion * 270th Battalion * 322nd Artillery Battalion

References

{{Authority control Military of Libya Second Libyan Civil War Rebel groups in Libya