Libya’s Anti-Illegal Migration Agency has launched a major security operation across the country’s southern desert to track irregular migration routes, combat human trafficking networks and strengthen border surveillance.
The operation is being carried out by the agency’s Desert Patrols Department in coordination with units from its southern branches. The forces deployed towards Umm Al-Aranib and several areas in southwestern Libya on Monday, 20 July 2026.
Security units will conduct extensive patrols along desert roads and routes near Libya’s borders with neighbouring countries. The operation is intended to detect the movements of human smuggling networks and identify activities considered a threat to national security.
The campaign was launched under instructions from Major General Salah Mahmoud Al-Khafifi, Head of Libya’s Anti-Illegal Migration Agency, and is being supervised by Major General Ezzedine Boushah, Director of the Desert Patrols Department.
The Desert Patrols Department said the mission would continue until its objectives were achieved. Security units will increase their deployment across remote desert areas and tighten surveillance of routes frequently used by smugglers and irregular migrants.
Libyan authorities have intensified security operations in the south, which includes major transit routes used by migrants travelling from neighbouring African countries. Previous operations have targeted migrant smuggling, fuel trafficking and weapons smuggling across the country’s vast desert border areas.
The agency said the latest operation forms part of efforts to protect Libya’s borders, preserve national sovereignty and improve security and stability throughout the southern region.
