BENGHAZI — Libya's eastern security authority has repatriated 602 migrants to Chad, a spokesperson for the interior ministry's agency tasked with tackling illegal migration said on Thursday, November 12, as a security campaign ordered by the eastern command continued across territory held by Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, Nov 12, 2026 (Benghazi)

The spokesperson, Abdulmenam al-Ghomati, said the 602 people repatriated on Wednesday were apprehended during recent security operations, along with others who had attempted to enter Libyan territory illegally. The agency described the campaign as focusing on the "protection of homeland and border".

Security forces apprehended the migrants in different cities and areas under the control of the Libyan National Army of military commander Khalifa Haftar, which controls Libya's east and large parts of the south. Ghomati said the repatriation process took one and a half days, with people taken by trucks to the border with Chad.

Pictures released by the media office of the anti-illegal migration agency in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, showed pickup vehicles loaded with tens of migrants in a remote area being deported toward Chad, Reuters said. News Central TV, reporting independently from Africa on Thursday, carried the same account of the operation, the agency pictures and the spokesperson's statements.

Source: News Central TV, Nov 12, 2026

Campaign to continue, rented homes to be cleared

Ghomati confirmed that the campaign is continuing, in accordance with orders from the deputy commander-in-chief, Saddam Haftar, to raid and clear out homes rented by migrants within residential neighbourhoods. No reaction from migrant-rights groups or Chadian authorities was reported in the sources consulted.

BACKGROUND: Libya has rival administrations in the east and west and is a major departure and transit country for migrants trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean. Eastern authorities have repeatedly run security sweeps against migrants in areas under their control, and returns to countries such as Chad are carried out by land across the southern desert border.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: with the campaign officially continuing and raids on migrant-rented homes announced, further repatriation convoys from the east and south are likely. For Punjabi and Indian readers, Libya is not a major worker destination, but the operation is another sign of how migration routes across North Africa are being shut down by force as European pressure on transit countries grows.