Inside Operation Odyssey Lightning in Libya

From August to December 2016, then Marine Special Operations Officer Ivan Ingraham lived on an assault ship off the coast of Sirte, a city in northern Libya that lies between Tripoli and Benghazi. It was the hometown of Muammar Gaddafi, who invested in Sirte before dying there during Libya’s first civil war. In the midst of a second civil war, ISIS had filled a power vacuum and overrun the city, sending its civilians fleeing. At the request of Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord, the United States provided support. Ivan led a five-man special operations team attached to a Marine Expeditionary Unit to help push ISIS out. The mission was known as Operation Odyssey Lightning.

You can listen to Inside Operation Odyssey Lightning in Libya online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Inside Operation Odyssey Lightning in Libya is an episode from SpyCast by SpyCast.

This episode is 34:52 long.

This episode was published on Dec 16, 2025.

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