Libya News and Interests
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The Democratic Party of the Jackass and lying left do not like being reminded of all of Obama's failures. 
^ please leave domestic politics and inanities out of this thread. TY
Libya capitol flights suspended after deadly rocket fire
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...s-suspended-after-deadly-rocket-fire-11812442
Flights from the Libyan capital's sole functioning airport were suspended Thursday (Aug 15) after deadly overnight rocket fire, a spokesman for the country's unity government said.
Moustafa al-Mejii of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said Wednesday night's rocket fire "killed a guard and wounded several security agents tasked with protecting the airport".
The attack was carried out by "the militias of (military strongman Khalifa) Haftar from their positions south of Tripoli", he told AFP, adding that flights to Mitiga were being diverted.
Located east of Tripoli, Mitiga is a former military airbase that has been used by civilian traffic since Tripoli international airport suffered severe damage during fighting in 2014.
Libya capitol flights suspended after deadly rocket fire
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...s-suspended-after-deadly-rocket-fire-11812442
Flights from the Libyan capital's sole functioning airport were suspended Thursday (Aug 15) after deadly overnight rocket fire, a spokesman for the country's unity government said.
Moustafa al-Mejii of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said Wednesday night's rocket fire "killed a guard and wounded several security agents tasked with protecting the airport".
The attack was carried out by "the militias of (military strongman Khalifa) Haftar from their positions south of Tripoli", he told AFP, adding that flights to Mitiga were being diverted.
Located east of Tripoli, Mitiga is a former military airbase that has been used by civilian traffic since Tripoli international airport suffered severe damage during fighting in 2014.
Libya sends mobile petrol stations to conflict-hit west
https://www.yahoo.com/news/libya-sends-mobile-petrol-stations-122826827.html
ripoli and parts of western Libya have been engulfed in war since forces loyal to the chief of the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) force, Khalifa Haftar, started a campaign to take the capital, held by an internationally recognised government.
Haftar's forces have not been able to breach southern suburbs of the capital but the conflict has displaced more than 100,000 people in and around the city and hit water, electricity and fuel supplies.
As truck drivers have been reluctant to deliver fuel to petrol stations in conflict areas Brega Petroleum Marketing Company (BPMC), owned by state oil firm NOC, has sent fuel tanker trucks to serve motorists on the streets.
"We are a country famous for oil...but we have to queue up most of the day to get gasoline," said a motorist waiting to be served at one such mobile station. "This does not make sense."
People view their cars as vital in a country with scant public transport and where they face long journeys to work and to buy food and household goods.
Oil-exporting Libya has been hit by fuel shortages since the country plunged into chaos in 2011 when Muammar Gaddafi was toppled.
"I drive every week from Riqdalin to Tripoli ... to get a full tank of gasoline, but often I go back home with empty hands," said father-of-three Jlaidi, speaking at a mobile station made up of a truck, two pumps and a small red canopy.
The queues of waiting cars stretched back for more than a kilometr
https://www.yahoo.com/news/libya-sends-mobile-petrol-stations-122826827.html
ripoli and parts of western Libya have been engulfed in war since forces loyal to the chief of the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) force, Khalifa Haftar, started a campaign to take the capital, held by an internationally recognised government.
Haftar's forces have not been able to breach southern suburbs of the capital but the conflict has displaced more than 100,000 people in and around the city and hit water, electricity and fuel supplies.
As truck drivers have been reluctant to deliver fuel to petrol stations in conflict areas Brega Petroleum Marketing Company (BPMC), owned by state oil firm NOC, has sent fuel tanker trucks to serve motorists on the streets.
"We are a country famous for oil...but we have to queue up most of the day to get gasoline," said a motorist waiting to be served at one such mobile station. "This does not make sense."
People view their cars as vital in a country with scant public transport and where they face long journeys to work and to buy food and household goods.
Oil-exporting Libya has been hit by fuel shortages since the country plunged into chaos in 2011 when Muammar Gaddafi was toppled.
"I drive every week from Riqdalin to Tripoli ... to get a full tank of gasoline, but often I go back home with empty hands," said father-of-three Jlaidi, speaking at a mobile station made up of a truck, two pumps and a small red canopy.
The queues of waiting cars stretched back for more than a kilometr
Pro-government forces claim advance south of Libya capital
Fighters loyal to the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord are pictured during clashes with forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar, in Espiaa, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Libyan capital Tripoli
Forces loyal to Libya's unity government said Wednesday they had made territorial gains south of Tripoli against commander Khalifa Haftar, whose fighters are trying to take the capital.
"Our forces have won ground... and have successfully retaken important positions, including the air force academy," said Mustafa al-Mejii, a spokesman for forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.
He said the gains were made in Esbea sector, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the capital.
Haftar's forces said in a Facebook statement that they had repulsed a GNA attack, inflicting "significant losses", without giving further details.
Fighters loyal to the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord are pictured during clashes with forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar, in Espiaa, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Libyan capital Tripoli
Forces loyal to Libya's unity government said Wednesday they had made territorial gains south of Tripoli against commander Khalifa Haftar, whose fighters are trying to take the capital.
"Our forces have won ground... and have successfully retaken important positions, including the air force academy," said Mustafa al-Mejii, a spokesman for forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.
He said the gains were made in Esbea sector, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the capital.
Haftar's forces said in a Facebook statement that they had repulsed a GNA attack, inflicting "significant losses", without giving further details.
On July 26, Libya’s internationally-recognized government announced a brazen air raid on a hangar housing drones deployed in support of rival commander Khalifa Haftar. A day later, his forces said they retaliated with strikes on a military base that sent fireballs into the night sky.
Neither side officially acknowledged the worst-kept secret of the North African state’s civil war: as the opponents face a stalemate on the ground, their backers in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are engaged in an aerial campaign that’s seen them target each other’s unmanned planes in a bid to determine Libya’s future in their favor.
The Tripoli government’s attack on the airfield in Jufra was carried out by Bayraktar aircraft owned and operated by Turkey, according to two Western diplomats and a Libyan official, who all spoke on condition of anonymity. The U.A.E. struck back with Chinese-made Wing Loong drones, according to the two diplomats and an Arab official, targeting Bayraktars located in the coastal city of Misrata. Airstrikes have also destroyed three Ukrainian cargo planes supplying both sides.
Regional and European powers have competed for influence in the oil-rich country for years, but Haftar’s offensive to capture the capital in April sparked an escalation in foreign intervention that has prolonged and deepened the conflict, sidelining United Nations efforts to seek a negotiated peace.
“The fact that these local actors can turn to outside factions is a disincentive for them to come to the table,” said Frederic Wehrey, senior fellow in the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “They’ve got a stream of weapons” to tap.
The U.S. indicated tentative support for Haftar, who’s based in the eastern city of Benghazi, once his assault was underway and France has quietly supported both sides. But for the most part, Washington, with more pressing priorities elsewhere in the world, has watched as some of its most important Middle East allies battle for dominance in an OPEC state with Africa’s largest oil reserves.
Libya has been under a Security Council arms embargo since 2011, when NATO-backed rebels overthrew Muammar Qaddafi and the country became fractured by infighting, creating a security vacuum that allowed jihadists and people smugglers to flourish.
But the sanctions are among the world’s least enforced. The European Union’s Operation Sophia, originally intended to intercept human trafficking across the Mediterranean and later extended to include the weapons ban, has little chance of intercepting arms shipments.
Turkey’s Agenda
Oded Berkowitz, an Israeli security analyst, said in an interview he’d verified through open source images the deployment in Libya of Russian-made Pantsir surface-to-air missile systems and several types of armored vehicle manufactured by Turkey and the U.A.E.
Eight fighters allied to Libya’s internationally recognized government were killed in air strikes as rival eastern forces stepped up an offensive to retake a strategic city south of Tripoli, officials said on Monday.
Another 10 members of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord’s (GNA) forces were wounded, their spokesman Mustafa Majae said, and the rival Libyan National Army (LNA) had taken control of “some military points” near Gharyan, some 90 km (56 miles) south of the capital.
“Our forces are still fighting to repel them,” Majae told Reuters.
The city’s council said Gharyan had been under attack from drone-propelled air strikes since Sunday morning.
Another 10 members of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord’s (GNA) forces were wounded, their spokesman Mustafa Majae said, and the rival Libyan National Army (LNA) had taken control of “some military points” near Gharyan, some 90 km (56 miles) south of the capital.
“Our forces are still fighting to repel them,” Majae told Reuters.
The city’s council said Gharyan had been under attack from drone-propelled air strikes since Sunday morning.
Mercenaries arrived from Turkey to Libya’s Misrata,
https://ahvalnews.com/libya-turkey/mercenaries-arrived-turkey-libyas-misrata-says-lna-spokesperson
The terrorists arrived via the Libyan Wings Airline, owned by Islamist militant Abdelhakim Belhaj, to join Fayez al-Sarraj militias in their fights against the LNA,” Libyan Address Journal quoted Khalid Al-Mahjoub, spokesperson of the LNA's Tripoli Operations Room, as saying on Saturday.
The claim arrives amid a string of accusations against Turkey of funding and arming Islamist factions in Libya fighting on the side of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).
Three unnamed senior GNA officials told Bloomberg that the Tripoli-based government received armed Turkish Bayraktar drones a short while ago.
The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude, long-range tactical UAV system. It was developed by Kale-Baykar, a joint venture of Baykar Makina and the Kale Group.
https://ahvalnews.com/libya-turkey/mercenaries-arrived-turkey-libyas-misrata-says-lna-spokesperson
The terrorists arrived via the Libyan Wings Airline, owned by Islamist militant Abdelhakim Belhaj, to join Fayez al-Sarraj militias in their fights against the LNA,” Libyan Address Journal quoted Khalid Al-Mahjoub, spokesperson of the LNA's Tripoli Operations Room, as saying on Saturday.
The claim arrives amid a string of accusations against Turkey of funding and arming Islamist factions in Libya fighting on the side of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).
Three unnamed senior GNA officials told Bloomberg that the Tripoli-based government received armed Turkish Bayraktar drones a short while ago.
The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude, long-range tactical UAV system. It was developed by Kale-Baykar, a joint venture of Baykar Makina and the Kale Group.
all flights at Mitiga airport have been suspended “until further notice.”
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/libya-closes-tripolis-only-functional-airport-after-attack
Libya's airport authorities say they have closed the only functional airport in the capital, Tripoli, a day after it was hit by shelling amid clashes between rival armed groups fighting for control of the city.
Nasr al-Din Shaab el-Ain, the head of Tripoli's civil aviation authority, said Monday that all flights at Mitiga airport have been suspended “until further notice.”
The U.N. mission in Libya said four projectiles struck the civilian parts of the airport Sunday, with one hitting an airplane carrying pilgrims coming back from Saudi Arabia
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/libya-closes-tripolis-only-functional-airport-after-attack
Libya's airport authorities say they have closed the only functional airport in the capital, Tripoli, a day after it was hit by shelling amid clashes between rival armed groups fighting for control of the city.
Nasr al-Din Shaab el-Ain, the head of Tripoli's civil aviation authority, said Monday that all flights at Mitiga airport have been suspended “until further notice.”
The U.N. mission in Libya said four projectiles struck the civilian parts of the airport Sunday, with one hitting an airplane carrying pilgrims coming back from Saudi Arabia
Benghazi Port Bustling Again Despite Libya's Divisions
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/benghazi-port-bustling-again-despite-libyas-divisions
he commercial port in Libya's second city Benghazi is working round the clock three years after reopening, attempting to raise revenues for its restoration and expansion.
The port was caught in the cross-fire as rival factions battled for control of Benghazi from 2014 in a conflict that left parts of the eastern Libyan city in ruins.
It suspended operations as the main gate and some buildings were destroyed and the roads strewn with shells.
Before the war, revenues were deposited with Libya's General Administration of Ports in the western city of Misrata, but the management of Benghazi port is now separate, he said, a situation that reflects the divisions in the country.
Misrata, a coastal city in western Libya with a major port of its own, is a hub of opposition to Haftar's LNA, which since April has been waging a military campaign to try to take control of the capital Tripoli.
Hope
Since reopening, Benghazi's port has been receiving more than 400,000 tons of grains at 18 docks, twice what the port was receiving before 2014.
It pays salaries of 2.25 million Libyan dinars to 1,400 employees. It does not export oil, but imports gas and some petroleum products as well as general cargo.
Forces led by Khalifa Haftar eventually declared victory in Benghazi in 2017. Repairs and reconstruction have been limited — two out of three damaged tug boats are still out of service.
But the port is now doing brisk business and trucks loaded with cars and containers carrying foodstuffs, motor oils and other goods can be seen streaming out of the main gate near the city center.
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/benghazi-port-bustling-again-despite-libyas-divisions
he commercial port in Libya's second city Benghazi is working round the clock three years after reopening, attempting to raise revenues for its restoration and expansion.
The port was caught in the cross-fire as rival factions battled for control of Benghazi from 2014 in a conflict that left parts of the eastern Libyan city in ruins.
It suspended operations as the main gate and some buildings were destroyed and the roads strewn with shells.
Before the war, revenues were deposited with Libya's General Administration of Ports in the western city of Misrata, but the management of Benghazi port is now separate, he said, a situation that reflects the divisions in the country.
Misrata, a coastal city in western Libya with a major port of its own, is a hub of opposition to Haftar's LNA, which since April has been waging a military campaign to try to take control of the capital Tripoli.
Hope
Since reopening, Benghazi's port has been receiving more than 400,000 tons of grains at 18 docks, twice what the port was receiving before 2014.
It pays salaries of 2.25 million Libyan dinars to 1,400 employees. It does not export oil, but imports gas and some petroleum products as well as general cargo.
Forces led by Khalifa Haftar eventually declared victory in Benghazi in 2017. Repairs and reconstruction have been limited — two out of three damaged tug boats are still out of service.
But the port is now doing brisk business and trucks loaded with cars and containers carrying foodstuffs, motor oils and other goods can be seen streaming out of the main gate near the city center.
Haftar's forces prepare for a new offensive on Libya's Gharyan
https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/haftars-forces-prepare-new-offensive-libyas-gharyan
The commander of Gharyan Protection Force Abdullah Kishlaf said Khalifa Haftar's forces have been deploying fighters one more time to Urban town - 30 km to eastern Gharyan city.
Kishlaf told reporters that the new movements by Haftar's forces are another attempt to retake the city, adding that Gharyan Protection Force is ready to foil any new attacks.
He indicated that the Presidential Council's government had provided them with more military assistance and backup and that the force has public support in the region, which will make it easier to thwart any new offensive.
According to different sources, armored vehicles and tanks as well as ammunition arrived in Urban town on Sunday to the hands of Haftar's forces who are positioned in there before a possible attack on Gharyan.
A source close to Haftar's forces command said Haftar had given orders for regaining control of Gharyan before October this year.
"One reason for that is reassuring Haftar's supporters that he is still strong and capable of winning the war; the second is that Haftar thinks the forces securing Gharyan are weak and thus his forces who come from the same area and know the region well can win control. While the third reason is Haftar's desire to control strength positions to have a better and tougher negotiations' position if the international community managed to resume the political process." The source said.
On August 26, Haftar's forces attacked Gharyan under a cover of heavy airstrikes in an attempt to retake the city, but failed and was delivered a heavy loss of fighters and military equipment.
https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/haftars-forces-prepare-new-offensive-libyas-gharyan
The commander of Gharyan Protection Force Abdullah Kishlaf said Khalifa Haftar's forces have been deploying fighters one more time to Urban town - 30 km to eastern Gharyan city.
Kishlaf told reporters that the new movements by Haftar's forces are another attempt to retake the city, adding that Gharyan Protection Force is ready to foil any new attacks.
He indicated that the Presidential Council's government had provided them with more military assistance and backup and that the force has public support in the region, which will make it easier to thwart any new offensive.
According to different sources, armored vehicles and tanks as well as ammunition arrived in Urban town on Sunday to the hands of Haftar's forces who are positioned in there before a possible attack on Gharyan.
A source close to Haftar's forces command said Haftar had given orders for regaining control of Gharyan before October this year.
"One reason for that is reassuring Haftar's supporters that he is still strong and capable of winning the war; the second is that Haftar thinks the forces securing Gharyan are weak and thus his forces who come from the same area and know the region well can win control. While the third reason is Haftar's desire to control strength positions to have a better and tougher negotiations' position if the international community managed to resume the political process." The source said.
On August 26, Haftar's forces attacked Gharyan under a cover of heavy airstrikes in an attempt to retake the city, but failed and was delivered a heavy loss of fighters and military equipment.
TRIPOLI, Sept 9 (Reuters) - After fleeing an advance by eastern-based forces on Tripoli, 80-year-old Mabrouka al-Twati and her daughter spent days sleeping rough in the Libyan capital. Now they are in a shelter where sheets cover broken windows and two desks serve as a kitchen.
As a military offensive on Tripoli by Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) enters its sixth month, the two women are among an estimated 120,000 displaced by the latest escalation of violence in the oil-rich nation of six million.
The offensive stalled in the city's southern suburbs and the frontline has barely shifted for weeks, but the early fighting drove many from their homes.
Some of the displaced use public gardens or erect tents by Tripoli's Mediterranean seafront. Others have found themselves in shelters that lack even basic provisions or drinking water.
Twati and her 47-year-old divorced daughter Tabra al-Hamali left their home in Sidi Salim, just south of Tripoli, in April, when the LNA began its assault, upending U.N.-led plans for a national reconciliation conference.
They are now housed precariously in a school classroom converted into a shelter and run by the Abu Salim municipal council.
"My daughter and I moved from street to street to find a place, and took naps under trees," Twati said, perched next to her daughter on a donated mattress. "We experienced torment unlike anything we ever saw before."
Libya began to splinter in 2011, when a Nato-backed uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power. Since 2014 it has been split between rival camps based in Tripoli and the east.
Haftar launched his campaign promising to rid Tripoli of the armed groups that entrenched themselves after 2011.
But he is also trying to dislodge the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), which was set up in 2016 after a U.N.-backed political deal, and has depended on some of those armed groups for its security.
Haftar has received backing from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, who have vied for influence in Libya with regional rivals Turkey and Qatar.
In total, more than 268,000 Libyans are internally displaced, according to the U.N. refugee agency, some from fighting in 2014-2017 in Libya's second city Benghazi, where forces loyal to Haftar eventually took control.
FEW SUPPLIES
Conditions at shelters that have sprung up across Tripoli are tough.
"We fear severe shortages of food and medical supplies since the length of the conflict is draining our reserves," said Mohamed al-Shukri of the Tripoli Red Crescent, whose volunteers work in 35 such shelters.
Outside the GNA's headquarters in central Tripoli, displaced people try to catch the attention of officials at the entrance gate. "All I need is a rent to survive with my family. I'm not asking for the impossible," one women told guards earlier this month.
Most of the newly displaced are women, children or elderly, said Yousef Galala, state minister of internally displaced people's affairs. The GNA had allocated 120 million Libyan dinars ($85.7 million) in aid, and was considering an additional 100 million, he said.
But displaced families living in cramped huts at a shelter located in a disused factory in Tripoli's eastern suburb of Tajoura said they had seen no sign of the aid.
"We are oppressed and have nothing, and my heart feels heavy when my children ask for what they need and I can't provide it," said one retired soldier and father of seven, his wife perched on the hut's steps to give space to the children inside. At another shelter in a dilapidated state-run hotel near Tajoura, a mother carried a toddler in her arms. "I can't leave my daughter walking alone because of broken banisters, and look at the windows," she said, pointing at empty panes. "What will we do in winter in such conditions." (Editing by Aidan Lewis and Alexandra Hudson)
As a military offensive on Tripoli by Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) enters its sixth month, the two women are among an estimated 120,000 displaced by the latest escalation of violence in the oil-rich nation of six million.
The offensive stalled in the city's southern suburbs and the frontline has barely shifted for weeks, but the early fighting drove many from their homes.
Some of the displaced use public gardens or erect tents by Tripoli's Mediterranean seafront. Others have found themselves in shelters that lack even basic provisions or drinking water.
Twati and her 47-year-old divorced daughter Tabra al-Hamali left their home in Sidi Salim, just south of Tripoli, in April, when the LNA began its assault, upending U.N.-led plans for a national reconciliation conference.
They are now housed precariously in a school classroom converted into a shelter and run by the Abu Salim municipal council.
"My daughter and I moved from street to street to find a place, and took naps under trees," Twati said, perched next to her daughter on a donated mattress. "We experienced torment unlike anything we ever saw before."
Libya began to splinter in 2011, when a Nato-backed uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power. Since 2014 it has been split between rival camps based in Tripoli and the east.
Haftar launched his campaign promising to rid Tripoli of the armed groups that entrenched themselves after 2011.
But he is also trying to dislodge the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), which was set up in 2016 after a U.N.-backed political deal, and has depended on some of those armed groups for its security.
Haftar has received backing from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, who have vied for influence in Libya with regional rivals Turkey and Qatar.
In total, more than 268,000 Libyans are internally displaced, according to the U.N. refugee agency, some from fighting in 2014-2017 in Libya's second city Benghazi, where forces loyal to Haftar eventually took control.
FEW SUPPLIES
Conditions at shelters that have sprung up across Tripoli are tough.
"We fear severe shortages of food and medical supplies since the length of the conflict is draining our reserves," said Mohamed al-Shukri of the Tripoli Red Crescent, whose volunteers work in 35 such shelters.
Outside the GNA's headquarters in central Tripoli, displaced people try to catch the attention of officials at the entrance gate. "All I need is a rent to survive with my family. I'm not asking for the impossible," one women told guards earlier this month.
Most of the newly displaced are women, children or elderly, said Yousef Galala, state minister of internally displaced people's affairs. The GNA had allocated 120 million Libyan dinars ($85.7 million) in aid, and was considering an additional 100 million, he said.
But displaced families living in cramped huts at a shelter located in a disused factory in Tripoli's eastern suburb of Tajoura said they had seen no sign of the aid.
"We are oppressed and have nothing, and my heart feels heavy when my children ask for what they need and I can't provide it," said one retired soldier and father of seven, his wife perched on the hut's steps to give space to the children inside. At another shelter in a dilapidated state-run hotel near Tajoura, a mother carried a toddler in her arms. "I can't leave my daughter walking alone because of broken banisters, and look at the windows," she said, pointing at empty panes. "What will we do in winter in such conditions." (Editing by Aidan Lewis and Alexandra Hudson)
Three members of Libya's eastern force, including two commanders, were killed late on Friday in a drone strike on Tarhuna city by the internationally recognized government of national accord (GNA), a military source said. Tarhuna, some 97.6 km (60.6 miles) southeast of Tripoli, is a hub allied to commander Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA).
Start the conversation
Start the conversation
Libya is enduring its worst violence since the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of Muammar el-Qaddafi, which ushered in years of instability that allowed Islamist radicals to thrive and turned the country into a hub for migrants destined to Europe.
Fighter loyal to GNA fires truck-mounted gun during clashes with forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar in suburb of capital Tripoli earlier this week (AFP)
Haftar had launched the war as the United Nations was laying the ground for a political conference to unite the country. It is now more divided than ever.”*
The country has become the plaything not only of rival domestic factions but major Middle East powers, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Those regimes are waging a ruthless geopolitical competition, providing arms and in some cases even launching airstrikes on behalf of their preferred clients.
The United States also cannot resist the urge to meddle. Worse, U.S. officials seemingly can’t even decide which faction it wants to back. Washington’s official policy continues to support the GNA, which the United Nations recognizes as the country’s legitimate government—even though its writ extends to little territory beyond the Tripoli metropolitan area.
President Donald Trump, however, had an extremely cordial, lengthy telephone conversation in April with Haftar and appeared impressed with Haftar’s professed determination to combat terrorist groups and bring order and unity to Libya. Neither Libyan faction now seems certain about Washington’s stance.
Given the appalling aftermath of the original U.S.-led intervention, one might hope that advocates of an activist policy would be chastened and back away from further meddling in that unfortunate country. Yet, that is not the case. Neither the Trump administration nor the humanitarian crusaders in Barack Obama’s administration who caused the calamity in the first place seem inclined to advocate a more cautious, restrained U.S. policy.
One poster child for such continuing arrogance is Samantha Power, an influential national security council staffer in 2011 and later U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In her new book, The Education of an Idealist, Power takes no responsibility whatever for the Libya debacle. Indeed, flippant might be too generous a term for her treatment of the episode.
“We could hardly expect to have a crystal ball when it came to accurately predicting outcomes in places where the culture was not our own,” she contends. American Conservative analyst Daniel Larison correctly excoriates her argument as “a pathetic attempt by Power to deny responsibility for the effects of a war she backed by shrugging her shoulders and pleading ignorance.
If Libyan culture was so opaque and hard for the Obama administration to understand, they should never have taken sides in an internal conflict there. If the ‘culture was not our own’ and they couldn’t anticipate what was going to happen because of that, then how arrogant must the policymakers who argued in favor of intervention have been?”
~~
*the UN has an arms embargo on Libya, and tried to push for the Tripoli government.
It has no credibility outside the GNA in Tripoli
Fighter loyal to GNA fires truck-mounted gun during clashes with forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar in suburb of capital Tripoli earlier this week (AFP)
Haftar had launched the war as the United Nations was laying the ground for a political conference to unite the country. It is now more divided than ever.”*
The country has become the plaything not only of rival domestic factions but major Middle East powers, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Those regimes are waging a ruthless geopolitical competition, providing arms and in some cases even launching airstrikes on behalf of their preferred clients.
The United States also cannot resist the urge to meddle. Worse, U.S. officials seemingly can’t even decide which faction it wants to back. Washington’s official policy continues to support the GNA, which the United Nations recognizes as the country’s legitimate government—even though its writ extends to little territory beyond the Tripoli metropolitan area.
President Donald Trump, however, had an extremely cordial, lengthy telephone conversation in April with Haftar and appeared impressed with Haftar’s professed determination to combat terrorist groups and bring order and unity to Libya. Neither Libyan faction now seems certain about Washington’s stance.
Given the appalling aftermath of the original U.S.-led intervention, one might hope that advocates of an activist policy would be chastened and back away from further meddling in that unfortunate country. Yet, that is not the case. Neither the Trump administration nor the humanitarian crusaders in Barack Obama’s administration who caused the calamity in the first place seem inclined to advocate a more cautious, restrained U.S. policy.
One poster child for such continuing arrogance is Samantha Power, an influential national security council staffer in 2011 and later U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In her new book, The Education of an Idealist, Power takes no responsibility whatever for the Libya debacle. Indeed, flippant might be too generous a term for her treatment of the episode.
“We could hardly expect to have a crystal ball when it came to accurately predicting outcomes in places where the culture was not our own,” she contends. American Conservative analyst Daniel Larison correctly excoriates her argument as “a pathetic attempt by Power to deny responsibility for the effects of a war she backed by shrugging her shoulders and pleading ignorance.
If Libyan culture was so opaque and hard for the Obama administration to understand, they should never have taken sides in an internal conflict there. If the ‘culture was not our own’ and they couldn’t anticipate what was going to happen because of that, then how arrogant must the policymakers who argued in favor of intervention have been?”
~~
*the UN has an arms embargo on Libya, and tried to push for the Tripoli government.
It has no credibility outside the GNA in Tripoli
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It is not as though prudent foreign-policy experts didn’t warn Power and her colleagues about the probable consequences of intervening in a volatile, fragile country like Libya.
Robert Gates, Obama’s secretary of defense, confirms in his memoir, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, the Obama administration itself was deeply divided about the advisability of intervention.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice President Joe Biden, and Gates were opposed.
The most outspoken proponents of action were Power and her mentor, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Gates notes further that Obama was deeply torn, later telling his secretary of defense that the decision was a “51 to 49” call.
The existence of a sharp internal division is sufficient evidence by itself that Power’s attempt to absolve herself and other humanitarian crusaders of responsibility for the subsequent tragedy is without merit. Indeed, it has even less credibility than Pontius Pilate’s infamous effort to evade guilt. They were warned of the probable outcome, yet they chose to disregard those warnings.
Power, Clinton, Obama and other proponents of ousting Qaddafi turned Libya into
a chaotic Somalia on the Mediterranean, and the blood of innocents shed since 2011 is on their hands. Given the stark split within the president’s national security team, the Libya intervention was especially reckless and unjustified. The default option in such a case should have been against intervention, not plunging ahead.
The Trump administration should learn from the blunders of its predecessor and resist any temptation to meddle further. America does not have a dog in the ongoing fight between Haftar and the GNA, and we should simply accept whatever outcome emerges. Washington’s arrogant interference has caused enough suffering in Libya already.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/s...stroyed-libya-could-trump-make-it-worse-81021
Robert Gates, Obama’s secretary of defense, confirms in his memoir, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, the Obama administration itself was deeply divided about the advisability of intervention.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice President Joe Biden, and Gates were opposed.
The most outspoken proponents of action were Power and her mentor, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Gates notes further that Obama was deeply torn, later telling his secretary of defense that the decision was a “51 to 49” call.
The existence of a sharp internal division is sufficient evidence by itself that Power’s attempt to absolve herself and other humanitarian crusaders of responsibility for the subsequent tragedy is without merit. Indeed, it has even less credibility than Pontius Pilate’s infamous effort to evade guilt. They were warned of the probable outcome, yet they chose to disregard those warnings.
Power, Clinton, Obama and other proponents of ousting Qaddafi turned Libya into
a chaotic Somalia on the Mediterranean, and the blood of innocents shed since 2011 is on their hands. Given the stark split within the president’s national security team, the Libya intervention was especially reckless and unjustified. The default option in such a case should have been against intervention, not plunging ahead.
The Trump administration should learn from the blunders of its predecessor and resist any temptation to meddle further. America does not have a dog in the ongoing fight between Haftar and the GNA, and we should simply accept whatever outcome emerges. Washington’s arrogant interference has caused enough suffering in Libya already.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/s...stroyed-libya-could-trump-make-it-worse-81021
France chairs mini-summit on Libya at UN headquarters next Thursday
https://www.libyanexpress.com/france-chairs-mini-summit-on-libya-at-un-headquarters-next-thursday/
he French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France will chair a meeting on Libya in New York to discuss political settlement in the country.
The meeting is going to be attended by the permanent member states of the UN Security Council, UAE, Egypt, Turkey and the Italian Foreign Minister as well.
Le Drian told reporters that the meeting aims to open doors for the political process ahead of an upcoming momentous international conference on Libya to be held in November in Berlin.
He also reiterated to reporters that there is no military solution to the conflict in Libya and that all Libyans should engage in dialogue, which he hoped will be initiated after the end of Berlin conference.
https://www.libyanexpress.com/france-chairs-mini-summit-on-libya-at-un-headquarters-next-thursday/
he French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France will chair a meeting on Libya in New York to discuss political settlement in the country.
The meeting is going to be attended by the permanent member states of the UN Security Council, UAE, Egypt, Turkey and the Italian Foreign Minister as well.
Le Drian told reporters that the meeting aims to open doors for the political process ahead of an upcoming momentous international conference on Libya to be held in November in Berlin.
He also reiterated to reporters that there is no military solution to the conflict in Libya and that all Libyans should engage in dialogue, which he hoped will be initiated after the end of Berlin conference.
(18 Sep 2019) The crew of a humanitarian rescue ship Wednesday pulled 73 migrants from an overcrowded rubber boat in the central Mediterranean Sea, some 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Libya.
The boat in distress was spotted from aboard the Ocean Viking with binoculars as the ship patrolled international waters.
An Associated Press journalist aboard the Ocean Viking witnessed the rescue.
The Norwegian-flagged ship had rescued 109 people from two unseaworthy boats a day earlier, including a five-day-old baby.
The ship asked Libyan maritime authorities with coordination responsibility in the area for a safe alternative place to disembark passengers, with authorities in Libya offering the port of Al-Khums.
The U.N. refugee agency does not consider Libya safe.
The boat in distress was spotted from aboard the Ocean Viking with binoculars as the ship patrolled international waters.
An Associated Press journalist aboard the Ocean Viking witnessed the rescue.
The Norwegian-flagged ship had rescued 109 people from two unseaworthy boats a day earlier, including a five-day-old baby.
The ship asked Libyan maritime authorities with coordination responsibility in the area for a safe alternative place to disembark passengers, with authorities in Libya offering the port of Al-Khums.
The U.N. refugee agency does not consider Libya safe.
Third Libya airstrike in eight days kills 17 ISIS terrorists
https://www.foxnews.com/world/airstrike-kills-17-isis-terrorists-in-libya-us-military
https://www.foxnews.com/world/airstrike-kills-17-isis-terrorists-in-libya-us-military
Libya’s current conflict is emerging as a very different one to what has been fought before in the country, or the world. Fleets of long-range drones carry out strikes, cyber-attacks proclaim the end of governments, and social media propaganda has become all-consuming. The war has devolved into a bloody stalemate, with over 1 000 fighters dead and thousands wounded in grinding urban conflict.
Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), a militia coalition based in the east of the country, have been on a mission to seize Tripoli since April. The capital is held by the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), supported by militias from across western Libya.
But while it is Libyans who are fighting and dying, foreign actors have largely been driving this war. Turkey and Qatar support the GNA, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Russia and France are behind the LAAF. These foreign backers have contributed diplomatic support, military equipment, mercenaries and military personnel, and direct military action to the two sides.
The use of drones, cyber-attacks and social media propaganda, among other dynamics in Libya’s conflict, probably portend what armed conflict in this century will look like – both within and between states.
n six months, drones have become a mainstay of Libya’s conflict. While they have been fielded by Libyan militias before, including by the LAAF in the battle for the eastern city of Derna, it was not until the present conflict that their use became systematic and militarily important.
According to Ghassan Salamé, the United Nations Special Representative for Libya, the current conflict has seen some 900 missions flown by drones fielded by the two sides, and this has increased steeply in recent weeks. Both sides use them for surveillance, long-range strategic strikes on arms depots and airports, and close-air support to units enmeshed in urban combat.
The GNA and LAAF rely on foreign actors for their drones. Since May, Turkey has supplied the GNA with more than a dozen Bayraktar TB2 craft, as well as ground control units. The UAE has provided the LAAF with the Chinese Wing Loong II drones. Both Turkey and the UAE are rumoured to have deployed personnel to Libya to operate the drones.
Armed drones are ubiquitous in Libya, and will be on future battlefields, both due to the relatively high-precision attacks they can undertake and because they are far cheaper than traditional attack aircraft. A Wing Loong II costs US$1-2 million, and even the pricier Bayraktar is just less than US$6 million.
Militaries can therefore more easily purchase and field large numbers of drones, and replace those lost in combat. Other countries – such as the UAE and Turkey – can also provide foreign proxy forces and militias with effective airpower at little cost and limited risk to their own personnel. Recent use by GNA drones of roads, rather than airstrips, for take-off and landing, shows the ruggedness of the craft, and the potential for their use even in austere conditions.
Alongside drones, hacking and cyber-attacks have been weaponised in Libya’s conflict. The most publicised incident occurred in August when the GNA Twitter account was hacked, and a false statement posted proclaiming the GNA had stepped down and security was to be left to the LAAF.
In another incident, a hacker culled information from Facebook users after setting up a series of false pages detailing Turkish activity in Libya or spoofing LAAF recruitment sites. The hacker later published secret LAAF documents and the passport information of government officials that had been collected.
Similar to drones, cyber-attacks offer a low-cost means of achieving conflict goals. The hacking of the GNA Twitter account led to little more than public confusion, but given the increasing importance of social media for government’s public communications – in both Libya and globally – the risk of a future incident achieving greater goals is real.
Libya’s conflict has also seen a wave of propaganda and disinformation as the GNA and LAAF, and their foreign backers, seek to shape public opinion to their advantage. Haftar’s initial attempt to seize Tripoli rested as much on the narrative of the LAAF’s might and inevitable victory as it did on raw military power.
With this narrative shredded by the LAAF’s failure, propagandists on both sides have tried to reshape public attitudes and support. Social media posts proclaim their side’s seizure of territory or inevitable victory, or their rivals’ brutality against civilians and foreign connections.
A lot of the propaganda is foreign generated, with nearly a third of content around Haftar posted over the past six months coming from Saudi Arabia. Much of this has been disseminated through social media, showing that sites such as Facebook and Twitter are go-to sources for news and information for many Libyans.
Propaganda has long played an important role in conflict. But what Libyan propogandists and their backers have shown is the speed through which new narratives and disinformation can be spread, how social media can be used for this, and how easily foreign actors can influence and engage in public debates in Libya in real time.
Libya’s uniqueness – and its value as an example of what future conflicts will look like – arises because all these factors are currently being employed together in large amounts, in a conflict being prosecuted primarily by non-state armed groups.
It is important to closely watch Libya’s conflict to predict future wars. Understanding the contours of future battles, and how foreign actors can intervene, will help prevent and address conflicts. In Libya’s case, the country needs international support to surmount these conflict dynamics. The successes and challenges it faces will offer valuable lessons for peacebuilding in future.
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/libyas-war-becomes-a-tech-battleground
Alongside drones, hacking and cyber-attacks have been weaponised in Libya’s conflict. The most publicised incident occurred in August when the GNA Twitter account was hacked, and a false statement posted proclaiming the GNA had stepped down and security was to be left to the LAAF.
In another incident, a hacker culled information from Facebook users after setting up a series of false pages detailing Turkish activity in Libya or spoofing LAAF recruitment sites. The hacker later published secret LAAF documents and the passport information of government officials that had been collected.
Similar to drones, cyber-attacks offer a low-cost means of achieving conflict goals. The hacking of the GNA Twitter account led to little more than public confusion, but given the increasing importance of social media for government’s public communications – in both Libya and globally – the risk of a future incident achieving greater goals is real.
Libya’s conflict has also seen a wave of propaganda and disinformation as the GNA and LAAF, and their foreign backers, seek to shape public opinion to their advantage. Haftar’s initial attempt to seize Tripoli rested as much on the narrative of the LAAF’s might and inevitable victory as it did on raw military power.
With this narrative shredded by the LAAF’s failure, propagandists on both sides have tried to reshape public attitudes and support. Social media posts proclaim their side’s seizure of territory or inevitable victory, or their rivals’ brutality against civilians and foreign connections.
A lot of the propaganda is foreign generated, with nearly a third of content around Haftar posted over the past six months coming from Saudi Arabia. Much of this has been disseminated through social media, showing that sites such as Facebook and Twitter are go-to sources for news and information for many Libyans.
Propaganda has long played an important role in conflict. But what Libyan propogandists and their backers have shown is the speed through which new narratives and disinformation can be spread, how social media can be used for this, and how easily foreign actors can influence and engage in public debates in Libya in real time.
Libya’s uniqueness – and its value as an example of what future conflicts will look like – arises because all these factors are currently being employed together in large amounts, in a conflict being prosecuted primarily by non-state armed groups.
It is important to closely watch Libya’s conflict to predict future wars. Understanding the contours of future battles, and how foreign actors can intervene, will help prevent and address conflicts. In Libya’s case, the country needs international support to surmount these conflict dynamics. The successes and challenges it faces will offer valuable lessons for peacebuilding in future.
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/libyas-war-becomes-a-tech-battleground