Nasser Ahmed al-Najdi, commander of the LNA's Battalion 169, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the operation was the result of intelligence sharing between Egypt's government and the LNA under the command of General Khalifa Haftar,[29] months after a tunnel network was uncovered in Derna during a battle between LNA forces and the Shura Council of Mujahideen for control of the city.[30] The LNA, which fights for the eastern government in the Libyan Civil War, believed that Ashmawy was using that network to move around between cities in the region.[31] According to Najdi, "not a single bullet was fired" during the "successful" operation,[29] which was carried out moments after Ashmawy was spotted trying to leave al-Maghar.[32]