“Help us, please— we’re going to die!” The desperate pleas came from ten young migrants moments after they were violently pushed into the water in front of the Italian rescue vessel Mediterranea, drifting helplessly in the perilous waters of the Mediterranean. The crew immediately moved to save them, fighting to ensure the sea would not claim their voices—and their lives—forever.
The events of August 18 were far from a routine rescue. Unlike the many encounters the crew has had with undocumented migrants, this was the first documented instance of the Libyan coast guard physically throwing young men into the water directly in front of the Mediterranea, a development that reinforces allegations of its involvement in smuggling operations toward Italy.
In a statement, the organization said: “The Libyan smugglers who brutally pushed ten young refugees into open waters, after previously detaining them in camps, are part of the official military structure in Tripoli. We filmed them, identified them—we know exactly who they are.” According to the group, video evidence shows armed personnel aboard Libyan patrol vessels, masked and clad in military uniforms marked with the insignia of the 80th Special Operations Battalion, a unit within the 111th Brigade commanded by Deputy Defense Minister Abdul Salam al-Zubi.
Later in the journey, the ship’s crew encountered another alarming scene: eight high-speed inflatable boats converging rapidly from multiple directions. The vessels closed in, tailing the Mediterranea and repeatedly cutting across its path with dangerous maneuvers, escalating the tension at sea.
The crew had no clear understanding of what was happening. The approaching boats carried no official insignia, yet the men on board wore military-style uniforms and were visibly armed with machine guns, rifles, and sidearms. Although the Mediterranea repeatedly requested they identify themselves, no reply came. One vessel, however, bore the unmistakable blue-and-red stripes of the General Directorate of Coastal Security (GACS), a force long accused of violent interceptions that have resulted in migrant deaths as people attempt to flee Libya.
For hours, the fleet shadowed the rescue ship, drawing dangerously close, jeering, and gesturing toward the crew. At one point, an armed man began recording the ship with a handheld camera. Then, at 8 a.m., a message crackled over Channel 16: “Get away, this is Libya.” The Mediterranea, however, was traveling in international waters—more than 20 nautical miles from the Libyan shore. Attempts to clarify this were met with a single response from the lead vessel: a blunt and repeated threat to “get away”.
Just days later, a separate incident underscored the growing danger at sea. The Libyan coast guard opened fire on the SOS Méditerranée rescue ship Ocean Viking for a full 20 minutes. Lucille Gounier, the ship’s communications officer, recounted the experience: “For the first time, we felt we were close to death”.
According to the account, Libyan forces demanded via radio that the Ocean Viking leave the area and hurled insults at the crew’s Arabic-speaking translator. Even after the ship adjusted course and moved north as ordered, heavy gunfire continued.
Significantly, the vessel used in the attack had been supplied to Libyan authorities in 2023 by the Italian government under a contentious European assistance program. Its involvement in such incidents raises pointed questions about the conduct of the Libyan units tasked with coastal security—and whether their actions may amount to crimes against humanity.
Militia rule
The Libyan Coast Guard was originally created in 1970 to oversee customs and port operations, functioning separately from the country’s navy. After the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and the surge in migration that followed, efforts were made in 2015 to reactivate the force—but with a fundamentally different mandate: stopping migrants using Libya as a departure point from crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.
This renewed mission was heavily backed by the European Union, which approved a $455 million support package for the Coast Guard in 2015. The assistance included European-led training and the provision of weapons and equipment, among them two Italian-built frigates—an investment driven in part by Italy’s position as one of the countries most affected by the escalating migration flows.
Unlike its counterparts in neighboring states, the structure of the Libyan Coast Guard—particularly in the west, where the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) operates—is fragmented. It is made up of armed militias, each controlling its own stretch of coastline: one dominates the Misrata coast, another holds Zawiya, and others command additional strategic zones.
Each militia answers to a particular strongman who maintains a transactional relationship with GNA Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. Yet Dbeibah does not exercise full authority over these factions. Their cohesion largely stems from the steady flow of European, and especially Italian, funding and logistical support directed at curbing irregular migration for nearly ten years.
Italy has led European efforts to keep migrants from reaching its shores. In 2017, Rome signed a memorandum of understanding with the then-GNA—later renewed under the current administration—that guarantees Libya billions in assistance, mostly delivered through training programs, patrol vessels, equipment, and varying allocations of direct financial support to government bodies and affiliated groups.
Under the deal, Italy also provides substantial financial and technical resources to the Libyan Coast Guard. This support has enabled the force to intercept tens of thousands of migrants at sea and return them to Libya, where they face harsh detention conditions and a high risk of torture and other abuses, according to Human Rights Watch.
This sustained funding and training have effectively turned the Coast Guard into a maritime gatekeeper tasked with blocking Europe-bound migrants. The role has also elevated the influence of its leaders inside Libya, shielding figures implicated in grave violations from accountability—including Osama Najim, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of torture, enforced disappearances, and abuses of migrants in illicit detention centers. His release in Italy and return to Libya earlier this year triggered significant public criticism of the Italian government.
Rescue ships fear the bullying of the coast guard
Migrants are not the only ones targeted by these militias; those attempting to rescue them at sea have also come under attack. As Human Rights Watch notes, “The Libyan coast guard also threatens and endangers non-governmental rescue vessels attempting to save people.” What stands out, however, is the persistence of Italian support—especially under the Meloni government—through restrictive legislation such as the Piantedosi Decree and the practice of assigning distant ports that keep NGO rescue ships far from the central Mediterranean.
Doctors Without Borders has urged Italian authorities to stop obstructing maritime rescue efforts and imposing penalties on humanitarian vessels. The organization also called on the European Union and its member states to immediately end all financial and material assistance to the Libyan coast guard and to cease enabling the forced return of migrants to Libya.
At the same time, 42 humanitarian and civil society groups addressed a joint letter to the European Commission, insisting that “European funds should not be allocated to entities that attack European citizens and people in distress at sea.” The statement referred directly to EU support for the Libyan coast guard and its assaults on European rescue ships.
The letter stressed that EU financing has “enabled and legitimized the abuses,” highlighting that the European Ombudsman had reprimanded the Commission earlier this year for misconduct after it refused to release its “do no harm” evaluations of EU-funded projects in Libya.
Despite these warnings, the Italian Chamber of Deputies voted in mid-October to endorse a proposal from members of the governing coalition to maintain Italy’s “national strategy to combat migrant smugglers and prevent departures from Libya,” grounded in the 2017 memorandum of understanding—and to move ahead with its renewal. On November 2, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni formalized this course, setting the stage for what critics describe as yet another chapter of violations against migrants and the humanitarian workers trying to save them.
Translated to English by: Mostafa Hassan
