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Thread: Libya News and Interests

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    Haftar's forces prepare for a new offensive on Libya's Gharyan
    https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/ha...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.

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    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)

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    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

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    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
    Last edited by dukkha; 09-17-2019 at 04:30 AM.

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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/sk...it-worse-81021

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    France chairs mini-summit on Libya at UN headquarters next Thursday
    https://www.libyanexpress.com/france...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.

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    (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.

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    Third Libya airstrike in eight days kills 17 ISIS terrorists
    https://www.foxnews.com/world/airstr...ya-us-military


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    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.

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    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/liby...h-battleground

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    United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Faiez Serraj-led Tripoli-based Government of Libya, through its Ministry of Planning, signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) for enhancing their partnership on Thursday.

    The U.S. says the MOI is based on the shared values of strengthening the foundations of a unified Libyan state by supporting Libyan institutions and communities to advance national stability and self-reliance.

    It says the MOI provides the broad framework for cooperation with the Government of Libya on USAID assistance on strengthening governance institutions; increasing opportunities for economic participation and growth; and enhancing Libya’s ability to address instability and conflict. The MOI also lays the foundation for which both governments can explore areas for further cooperation.

    The U.S. says USAID has provided humanitarian, stabilization and development assistance in Libya since 2011.

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    Gunmen raid cafes in Libya capital to curb social freedoms
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/gunmen-ra...161039698.html

    Gunmen raided two trendy seafront cafes in the Libyan capital Tripoli this month to banish unmarried couples and impose strict religious codes, witnesses said, in a move that has alarmed civil liberties defenders.

    The identity of the armed men has not been confirmed, but the episode appears to reflect the rise of Islamist currents, including hardline Salafism, in some of the powerful armed groups that the authorities rely on to keep order.

    The raids, the latest of several incidents in eastern and western Libya to worry human rights advocates, add a fresh layer of uncertainty to a city under assault by an eastern-based force that aims to win power nationally.

    Both cafes targeted are in the upscale Hay Andalus neighborhood, just west of central Tripoli.

    At one, Eleanor, "a group of armed men stormed the cafe with their guns and started questioning the men, to see if they were accompanied by a woman who was a close relative, or by a friend," on Oct. 6, a witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    "Men who were sitting with (female) friends were taken out of the cafe by the armed group ... they took them into their vehicles for a couple of minutes then released them," the witness said. "The men came in again to pay the bills and left."

    At another cafe on the same seafront stretch, more than 30 masked, armed men in military uniform swept in one morning earlier this month, said a witness.

    The armed men asked to see marriage certificates, telling women they had to be accompanied by their husband or a brother. "I was very scared," the witness said. "After five minutes the cafe was empty. Even the men left."

    The gunmen said they wanted the family section of the cafe - designed for women and their relatives but also frequented by some single women and couples - shut down.

    BACKLASH

    "They said the next time, if we find something like this, we're going to close it," said the witness.

    At least two other cafes nearby put messages on Facebook saying they would no longer admit unmarried couples or single men, despite there being no law against such mixing in Libya.

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    pimped-up and cammo AK with the LNA in Salah al-Din Gate, south of Tripoli

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    MoI (UNICT) kill prominent Algeria militant leader of AQIM - Abu Muhajir south of Tripoli

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    Jordanian equipment issued to the Libyan National Army of Hiftar

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