[21] Despite LNA General Khalifa Haftar's declaration of the "liberation" of the city, dozens of gunmen remained fortified and besieged in Sidi Akribesh, according to sources close to military,[22] with the final pocket persisting until December 2017.

[25] With the retreat of the LNA from Benghazi proper, the city's airport (located 15 km east in the town of Benina) became one of the last areas still held by the army.

[35] Special Forces commander Wanis Bukhamada stated on 31 October that his troops had recaptured four army barracks after two weeks of clashes, as well as the eastern road leading out of the city.

[39] Fighters loyal to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant were reported to have expanded their presence westwards from Derna along the coast, including in Benghazi.

[52] Medics stated on 11 April that ten soldiers were killed and 55 wounded with a tank battalion and armed youths clashing against the Shura for most of the previous day.

[63] LNA claimed on 21 February that they had pushed back Islamists in several areas and had taken further territory including the strategic port of Marisa as well as the nearby Al-Halis district.

ISIL had attempted two suicide attacks near a cement factory to the west of the city where fighters were holding out, though only one struck the troops per Milad al-Zawie.

[67] Zawie stated on 18 April that the troops had captured a cement factory and cemetery in El Hawari district where pro-ISIL fighters had been holding out.

[69] On the same day, 11 fighters affiliated with Khalifa Haftar-led Dignity Operation forces were killed and almost 5 others were injured due to clashes with the Benghazi Shura Council, according to a source.

[76] French military and intelligence presence was announced in February 2016, after a small detachment of Special Forces and DGSE based out of Benina Airport assisted the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army.

The detachment had been in Libya for several months, and coordinated the November US strike on Derna which killed the most senior ISIL leader in the country, Iraqi Abu Nabil al-Anbari.

[87] On 30 August 2016, media sources reported five fighters from Dignity Operation were killed and others were injured in fierce clashes when pro-Haftar forces tried to advance into the Al-Yasameen Summer Resort which was captured by Benghazi Shura Council the day before.

[88] On 6 September, sources from the Benghazi Shura Council reported Tuesday that four fighters from Dignity Operation forces of Khalifa Haftar were killed and others were wounded by a landmine blast in Gawarcha frontline.

[97] LNA stated on 6 January that the captured spokesman of the Shura Council confirmed that Wissam Ben Hamid, the leader of the pro-Shura groups, was killed in an airstrike in December 2016.

[99] On 16 January 2017, pro-Haftar forces retook the Abu Sneib district in the city from Benghazi Shura Council militants after two days of fighting.

[103] According to spokesman of LNA's Zawiya Martyrs' brigade, Wahid al-Zawi, the army was yet to secure the "12 Blocks" area which lies between Ganfouda and Bosnaib.

[111][112][113][114] On 28 March, the LNA announced the beginning of the "final operation" to retake the remaining areas in central Benghazi that was still held by Shura Council militants.

[115] On 3 April, it was reported that the last Shura Council pocket in the Al-Sabri and Souq al-Hooq Districts had been heavily bombed by warplanes of LNA and ally nations.

[117] On 9 May 2017, Riyadh al-Shahiebi, of the Saiqa special forces media office, said that 17 LNA troops were killed and that they had entered the Souq al-Hout and Sabri areas, but their advance has been slowed by roadside bombs.

[120] On 19 June 2017, LNA soldiers were able to advance along Dernah, Al-Ageeb and Zuwara streets in Suq Al-Hout while also pushing militants out of the century-old Erkheis mosque.

[124] Field Marshal Haftar assigned Colonel Abdulmalik al-Awkali as the new military commander of Benghazi, while official reports that 44 soldiers were killed in fighting with the militants.

[126][127] On 5 July 2017, LNA overran militants' position in Sabri district by retaking Gumhoriya Hospital and the unfinished Hyatt Regency hotel.

[129] Fighting in Benghazi continued two days after Haftar's declaration of victory, with 12 LNA men being killed and 35 wounded as it attempted to clear the last pockets of resistance in Sabri district.

[134] France's foreign ministry too welcomed LNA's victory while calling on Haftar to integrate a Libyan army under the authority of a civil power.

It was also revealed that Sidi Akherbish had not been fully secured by the LNA, with two pockets of militants resuming to fight from Sabri's vegetable market and Al-Ruyaain hotel.

Meanwhile, Saiqa Special Forces spokesman Milad Al-Zwai said that the militants controlled an area of just 150 square metres and that after its capture the LNA's operation in Benghazi would end.

[150] Fresh clashes erupted between the two sides on 14 December in response to the killing of two soldiers by a sniper from Ansar al-Sharia, according to army officer Saeed Wanees.

The source added that they were still besieging a number of terrorists in the area and the three who were killed were hiding in the rubble of the municipal hotel while the army was searching for fleeing militants.

[19] Mohammed Salalbi, senior leader of the Libya Martyrs' Brigade, stated that the remaining BRSC fighters had retreated from Benghazi and arrived in Derna on 29 December after misleading the LNA to make their way out.

[6] Merhi al-Houti of the LNA, meanwhile, denied that they had retreated, claiming that the army had blocked the road to areas controlled by them and had liberated the entire region from the "terrorist groups".