Security level off Libya’s waters raised while Germany flags Libyan coast guard as “aggressors”
For the first time, Germany has raised its maritime security alert level off Libya’s coast, particularly along migration routes, flagging security threats affecting commercial and civilian navigation. The danger? The Libyan coast guard.
Advocates say the official recognition of the violence and danger along this route is not only too late but also hypocritical. Civilian rescue organizations have been documenting the violence facing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea for years. Further, Germany and the EU continue to fund the “aggressors” Germany is now warning commercial vessels of.
Too little, too late
German authorities are warning German flagged vessels to be on alert in the waters off the coast of Libya, particularly the Libyan Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Search and Rescue (SAR) zone. Authorities noted the particular risk for humanitarian and search-and-rescue vessels which have experienced “repeated incidents” of “coming under fire.”
Too little, too late, say humanitarian groups.
Infomigrants reports:
Berlin-based rescue groups SOS Humanity and Sea-Watch slammed the government’s warning as a delayed recognition of dangers that aid groups have repeatedly warned about since search and rescue operations began in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015.
“The German Federal Ministry of the Interior’s acknowledgement of the violence perpetrated by Libyan actors at sea comes very late,” Marie Michel, political expert at SOS Humanity, said in a statement. Michel highlighted the shooting at the rescue ship Ocean Viking in August 2025 as evidence that threats to civilian vessels had already escalated months earlier.
But who’s attacking these civilian vessels?
According to the German Ministry of Interior,
Although it was not possible to clearly identify the aggressors, the available information suggests that in most cases, they were part of the Libyan coast guard.
Just this week, the coast guard reportedly shot at a civilian rescue vessel shortly after it saved about 90 migrants from an overcrowded boat in the Mediterranean.