Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Mohamed Eljarh writes for Foreign Policy on the attack in Tripoli:
Today a group of four gunmen attacked a hotel in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Media outlets are reporting that at least five foreigners (including one U.S. citizen) and three local guards have been killed. The attackers, wearing bulletproof vests and combat gear, detonated two car bombs outside the hotel before entering the building. At one point the gunmen took several hostages, who were later released unharmed. One of the attackers is said to have detonated an explosive vest he was wearing on the hotel’s 21st floor. (The photo above shows security forces rushing to the Corinthia Hotel shortly after the shooting began.)
The circumstances and background of the attack remain unclear. Early reports from social media attribute it to the Islamic State, which is said to have staged it as an act of revenge for the death of Nazih al-Ruqai, also known as Abu Anas al-Libi, in a U.S. hospital this month. Libi, an alleged former al Qaeda operative, was snatched by the CIA in 2013 for his alleged role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Those two bombings killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured thousands more.