Rose Partners: the dark side of Private Security Company in Libya?

Since last year, Rose Partners, a Private Security Company based in UK, has begun to send personnel (british guards and former british officers) to occupy key positions in the Libyan security sector. 

Control rooms and police units are the main targets of the Rose Partners and, a part from the bad training provided, Libyans are worried about the new foreign presence and its effect on the Libyan government. 

Private Security Companies are well known to conduct clandestine operations and shady activities in foreign soils.
Rose Partners, a Private Security Company formed by british former police and army officers, has highly increased its presence in Libya and has taken control of some of the most sensitive security positions.

The recent inauguration of the Suprem Security Chamber, that will supervise and coordinate police operations in Libya, comes after some training provided last year to the coast guards and to the local police. As pointed out by a police officer trained in “riot control techniques”: “the training is of low quality, we were better trained by the armed forces”. Besides that, some Libyan governmental officers expressed concern for the lack of effectiveness of a company made of former police officers who “were not able of increasing the level of security in the United Kingdom” and the risk that “Rose Limited is a foreign actor that could bring a hidden agenda and run clandestine operations”.

The Interior Ministry has held a training course in the field of crime scene management, for the Tripoli Security Directorate agents, in cooperation with experts from the English Security Risk Management Company "Rose Partners"

Private Security Companies are used to provide security and risk management in deteriorated scenarios and failed states but often doubts, supported by hard evidence, about their integrity and accountability surfaced. In too many events private security companies were accused of abusing civilians, being unrespectful of local costume and exerting pressures on local government to pursue their specific aims. 

Moreover, it is clear that in countries where Private Security Companies are deployed, security becomes a private good and, as result, the government is weakened and its institutions undermined. In fact, a direct effect of Private Security Companies presence is the creation of parallel structures of government that erode the economic and political independence of the state. 

A very relevant issue about the presence of Rose Partners is the “lack of democratic accountability that such companies inevitably bring”, as an intelligence expert say, and as a police officer adds “we do not know if, as in other part of the world, Rose Partners could be used to run clandestine operations (operations with little oversight and no accountability to the Libyan society)”. 

The last is considered a central sensitive issue by Libyans, worried because other Private Military Company, such the russian Cremlin aligned Wagner, has been running clandestine operations on their soil, further jeopardizing the peace in the area.

Another issue is debated among Libyans in social media; Muhammad, a student from Tripoli, doubts that the British personnel (former police officers) working for the Rose Partners “will be able to bring security in Libya, since they failed to secure their own country”. 

The dramatic security situation in UK is confirmed by statistics that highlight how “the European country saw an increase of around 120 thousand offences when compared with the previous reporting year, the highest in the UK since 2003/04. The UK region with the highest number of crimes in 2019/20 was London, at over 850 thousand.”

It seems clear that Libya does not need another non-state actor that easily avoid government oversight.

Western Intelligence and the Assad Regime: a disinformation campaign over Syria?

Have Western Intelligence and the Assad Regime met to exchange intel on extremists moving from Syria to Europe? News published by international media outlets on that matter and the way of releasing them bear a strong resemble to old fashioned stories on information and disinformation in which it is often almost impossible to distinguish between reliable reports and fake ones.

"News about Western Intelligence and the Assad Regime meeting to exchange intel on extremists appear to be an old fashioned stories on information and disinformation"

More than two years ago, on January 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that Western Intelligence officers from United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain have been speaking to Assad Regime officials in Damascus since November, traveling to Syria from Beirut.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that “Officials in Assad's media office and in Syria's foreign ministry said they couldn't immediately comment”, adding that “Ali Mamlouk, a special security adviser to Assad, declined to comment”.

The author of the article, Maria Abi-Habib (a seasoned Beirut based correspondent) does not provide any minimal information or detail on the sources but referred generically to "Western and Middle Eastern Officials”.

Neverthless Russian News Agency Sputnik wrote “Syria confirms European security service contacts with Assad gov't”, citing an interview of the Deputy Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mikdad with the BBC. The interview has been recorded few days after the article published by The Wall Street Journal.

Roughly two years later, on December 2015, similar contents on meeting between Western Intelligence and the Assad Regime in Syria appeared on European media outlets.

A purported "exclusive report" was released by the German mass circulation Tabloid Bild, well known for sensationalistic reporting on intelligence related matters.

According to those reports, German Intelligence Service BND resumed working with the Intelligence of Assad Regime to swap information on Islamist militants.

All these news have been never confirmed nor declined by the mentioned European governments. 

"Reports about Western Intelligence and the Assad Regime meetings were released by Bild, a Tabloid well known for sensationalistic scoop"

A source familiar with the dynamics of the Syrian Information Minister and speaking under condition of anonymity said that “Assad Regime would have been more than happy to confirm meeting with Western Intelligence even though those visit did not actually take place. Such reports would have enhanced the status and international credibility of the Assad Regime”.

According to a Bruxelles based Western Intelligence Official who asked not to be mentioned, those journalistic reports "were the result of a coordinated action by some Western Intelligence bodies aiming at building pressure on the fragmented and chaotic Syrian opposition" that in many cases did not show a firm stance against radical islamist groups and maintained links with Al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria.

On the beginning of July 2016 what emerged so far as an actual spy story about "Dezinformatsiya" (disinformation) over Syria brings a new unexpected development.

According to Syrian newspaper Al-Watan and the website of Lebanese daily Al-Safir, Italian intelligence representatives met with their Syrian counterpart in Rome and Damascus to discuss counter-terrorism cooperation.

Contrary to previous media reports this time the alleged information leakage originated directly from media outlets tightly intertwined with the Assad regime.

Al-Watan newspaper is directly owned by Rami Makhlouf, a wealthy Syrian businessman and the maternal cousin of President Bashar al-Assad whereas Lebanese daily al-Safir is close to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite party-cum-militia that has strong ties with Damascus. Moreover, it is worth noting that the author of al-Safir article, Mohamed Balout, is known for having preferential access to al-Assad inner circle and namely the Syrian intelligence apparatus.

A retired Western Intelligence analyst with relevant experience on Middle Eastern politics talking from Muscat maintains that "it is highly unlikely that the Assad regime would ever waste a so precious emerging relationship with such an important European country by leaking sensitive information through media and assets it controls".

According to him "this media campaign represent one of the last cards of Bashar al-Assad who is desperately trying to get out from his growing isolation in a phase where other political figures are emerging to lead the political transition in Syria. This why he would disseminate unconfirmed news about meeting between Western Intelligence and the Assad Regime".

British Intelligence Said "Libya is no longer a priority for ISIL"

(June 29, 2016) - According reliable Moroccan security sources, that mentioned a British Intelligence report, "Libya is no longer a priority for ISIL" after its militias decided to reach the west of the Sahara, through Algeria, considering Morocco as a top target in its next war. 

Details of the report have been revealed from daily newspaper Assabah indicated that the presence of ISIL fighters in Libya is only a temporarily tactic to implement a strategy aimed at reaching the Sahel and Sahara region, moving to the south areas of Algeria, expanding throughout Morocco and in the far south to take advantage from the smuggling and drug trafficking.

According the British Intelligence report ISIL decide to withdraw from the Libyan soil because they had significant difficulty in recruiting Libyan fighters. The majority of its fighters are Moroccans, Tunisians and Algerians, in addition to recruits from sub-Saharan countries between Mauritania and Chad.

The British Intelligence report warned that in its future operations ISIL will increase the use of female recruits from the targeted countries, as women have never before participated in terrorist operations in Morocco, Algeria, or Tunisia.

The British Intelligence report put on evidence that ISIL in Libya is different from ISIL in Syria and Iraq in terms of dealing with women, whose roles are not confined to sexual slavery.

The British Intelligence report comes a few weeks after the Spanish Institute for Security Studies announced that an ISIL propaganda document considers Morocco as the new "jihad" destination for its fighters by placing it at the forefront of the 28 "enemy" countries.
The recent report by the Asesoria de Inteligencia, the institute specializing in security and intelligence affairs, also included a chart that ISIL distributed to its members indicating that the next war plans should prioritize attacks against Morocco and Spain in order to destroy the security barriers that prevent "fighters" from infiltrating into Europe through the Sahara Desert.

ISIL's document described Madrid and Rabat as "enemy countries" that excel in accelerating and expanding the circle of participants in the war against ISIL, as is the case with the United States, Russia, France, Britain and Germany.

Six Cargo Ships Carrying Weapons for ISIL from Turkey to Libya

(June 26, 2016) - Six cargo ships or container carriers carrying weapons for ISIL in Libya left Turkish ports in mid-may having been located and identified by UK and French intelligence agents active in Turkey.

These large ships can carry over 10,000 tons of freight. They are two container carriers flying Turkish and Liberian flags and three cargo ships flying the Panamian, Bolivian, Tanzanian flags and a livestock carrier registered in the Comoros.

Each of them apparently conceals amid its cargo small caliber weapons for ISIL militias. After leaving a Turkish port each of the ships probably extinguished its GPS and it will be difficult to locate even with satellites above them.

"They were unable to flee via the Suez Canal or via Gibraltar. They are forced to circle in the Mediterranean. That's a major sensitive operation" a security source said to French newspaper Le Figaro.

According to the local sources it is almost impossible to know how is behind the ships: "Turkish Smugglers? Special services? I don't know" source said.