Libya’s capital, Tripoli, witnessed a escalation on Wednesday, 21 October, as armed elements reportedly affiliated with the 444th Brigade attempted to impose a disputed new deputy head at the country’s Audit Bureau, one of Libya’s most important financial oversight institutions.
The incident came just a day after Turkish intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın visited Tripoli for talks with security officials, amid efforts to preserve stability and support the country’s emerging political settlement.
Sources speaking to The Geopolitical Desk (GPD) identified Mahmoud Hamza, commander of the 444th Brigade and once regarded as one of western Libya’s most professional security figures, as the principal actor behind the attempted takeover.
At the centre of the dispute is Anwar al-Hawsh, whose purported appointment as Deputy Head of the Audit Bureau has been challenged by the House of Representatives (HoR) and members of the High Council of State (HCS).
According to GPD sources, al-Hawsh is related to Abdulhamid Tantoush, a figure closely affiliated with the 444th Brigade who works with Hamza and his deputy. The sources allege that Hamza pressured HCS President Mohamed Takala to facilitate the appointment, bypassing established institutional procedures.
The objective for Hamza, according to these sources, is to gain visibility into the movement of public funds and use that information as leverage over political figures, institutions and other influential actors.
Knowing where and how much funds are being moved, and what political or security groups have them, would allow Hamza the ability to exploit those groups directly. The 444th could try to target weaker factions to take portions of their funding, but doing so would also disrupt western Libya’s delicate political and financial balance
An appointment without legal authority
Under Libya’s political framework, appointments to senior sovereign positions require coordination between the HoR and HCS, in accordance with applicable legal procedures and political agreements.
Al-Hawsh’s purported appointment, however, emerged through correspondence attributed to the HCS leadership without a recognised vote or the knowledge of key members of the council.
In a letter dated 21 October, the HoR’s committee responsible for monitoring oversight institutions instructed Audit Bureau President Khaled Shakshak not to recognise appointments made without the appropriate legal authority.
Separately, the HCS’s First Deputy President stated that the disputed correspondence had not been presented to the council’s leadership through established procedures and should carry no legal effect.
Members of the HCS representing southern Libya also issued a statement rejecting the unilateral appointment. They argued that such decisions must be taken through formal council procedures and warned that the move violated previous political understandings governing the distribution of senior positions.
The confrontation quickly moved beyond competing correspondence. Armed elements reportedly entered the Audit Bureau’s headquarters, intimidating employees and damaging offices and documents. Staff subsequently evacuated the premises and suspended work in protest.
UNSMIL strongly condemned the use of force and intimidation, warning that imposing appointments through armed intervention threatens the independence of sovereign institutions and undermines public financial accountability. The mission demanded the withdrawal of armed elements and called for the dispute to be resolved through lawful institutional channels.
Why the Audit Bureau matters
The Audit Bureau occupies an unusually important position in Libya’s fragmented political system. Responsible for scrutinising public expenditure and overseeing the management of state resources, it possesses information capable of exposing financial irregularities and influencing the country’s most powerful political and economic actors.
For armed groups seeking to expand their influence, access to such an institution offers considerable leverage. Control over financial oversight can provide insight into where public money is flowing, which institutions are receiving it and which individuals may be vulnerable to political or financial pressure.
Under Shakshak, the Audit Bureau has managed to preserve a degree of institutional independence uncommon among Libya’s increasingly politicised state bodies. Despite repeated challenges, it has largely avoided falling under the direct control of either the Government of National Unity (GNU) or the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA).
That independence has made the institution both valuable and vulnerable.
The latest confrontation also recalls earlier attempts by armed groups to interfere with sovereign institutions, most notably those associated with Abdelghani al-Kikli, better known as Ghneiwa, the former commander of the Stability Support Apparatus.
Al-Kikli was killed during a GNU-backed security operation in Tripoli in May 2025, which the government justified as part of efforts to dismantle armed groups operating outside state authority. The subsequent fighting plunged the capital into some of its worst violence in years.
The irony is difficult to overlook: Hamza, whose forces played a central role in that campaign, now faces allegations of employing similar coercive methods to influence one of Libya’s most sensitive institutions.
Mahmoud Hamza’s fall from grace
Hamza’s involvement marks a striking reversal for a commander who once enjoyed a comparatively favourable reputation in western Libya.
For years, the 444th Brigade distinguished itself from other Tripoli-based armed groups through its relative professionalism, operational discipline and campaigns against smuggling and organised crime. Hamza largely avoided overt political involvement, earning a reputation as a reliable security interlocutor among domestic and international actors, including the United States.
That reputation began to deteriorate as Hamza aligned himself more closely with Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba and became increasingly involved in the GNU’s efforts to consolidate security control over Tripoli.
The turning point came during the May 2025 confrontations, when the elimination of al-Kikli was followed by an attempt to weaken the powerful Special Deterrence Forces, aka Rada, and reshape the capital’s security balance in favour of the GNU.
Rather than establishing lasting stability, the campaign triggered widespread fighting, civilian anger and a significant backlash against Hamza and the 444th Brigade.
The latest episode threatens to accelerate that decline. A commander once associated with professionalism and institutional discipline is now accused of attempting to use armed influence to secure control over a financial oversight body.
A symptom of a deeper crisis
The implications extend well beyond Hamza or the Audit Bureau.
Tripoli’s armed groups have increasingly sought influence over the institutions responsible for managing, distributing and scrutinising public funds. In a political system sustained by access to state resources, financial oversight has become another arena for competition between armed and political factions.
Libya’s deteriorating economic conditions, pressure on public finances and increasingly strained patronage networks are narrowing the resources available to sustain the GNU and its allies. As competition intensifies, armed actors have stronger incentives to secure direct influence over institutions that can provide financial information and political leverage.
For Hamza, who once sought to position himself above the capital’s factional struggles, the alleged attempt to force through an appointment so openly suggests how far the political and security environment has deteriorated.
It is also a troubling development for Libya’s international partners. That one of western Libya’s formerly most trusted security interlocutors should become embroiled in such a confrontation, just a day after a high-level Turkish intelligence visit and amid renewed efforts towards a national political settlement, illustrates the fragility of the current arrangements.
As Libya Desk warned in its latest political risk assessment, progress towards a political settlement is unfolding against a backdrop of worsening economic pressures, public frustration and increasingly unstable relationships between the country’s political and security actors.
The Audit Bureau confrontation reinforces that warning. The danger facing Tripoli is no longer simply competition between rival armed groups, but the growing willingness of those groups to penetrate the institutions intended to regulate the state itself.
For a capital already struggling with economic uncertainty and fragile security arrangements, the erosion of what remains of institutional independence could prove far more consequential than the latest armed confrontation.
