Alwaght- Libya is teetering on the brink of a new crisis and mainly a new civil conflict as the forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar in the east have launched an offensive on the capital Tripoli and other Western areas of the war-torn African nation.
The information office of Eastern Libyan Forces (ELF), led by the powerful General Haftar, on Wednesday stated that its forces received an order to advance westward to “fight terrorist forces.”
In a voice message, Haftar called his loyalists’ advancement towards the capital a “march of victory”, adding those who lay down their arms will be safe.
Following Haftar's order, his forces seized Gharyan town, 100 kilometers away from Tripoli. After Gharyan, Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) took control of Sabratha and Surman, both located just 60 kilometers off the capital.
What does Haftar coup attempt seek?
In an initial comment on the move, Ahmed al-Mesmari, LNA’s spokesman said that Haftar camp did not launch the assault to seize the power or money. Rather, the move was for the good of the nation’s “dignity and prosperity.”
At a press conference on Friday, al-Mesmari promised that the “Operation Dignity Storm” will not halt until all of its goals are reached.
Adding that the operation intended to restore Libya stability and save the lives of the Tripoli residents, the spokesman continued that LNA units set off from Jafara military base and moved to Gharyan and seized control of Aziziya. They also claimed full control of the capital’s airport.
According to his statement, the operation continued on Saturday around Tripoli and the next target will be Al-Karima town.
National Accord Government forms operation command
Following Haftar’s campaign, the internationally-recognized National Accord Government (NAG) put its forces on high alert. Fayez al-Sarraj, the chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya and prime minister of the NAG, issued an order for setting up a joint operation command. The order named the Western Command’s chief as the head of the joint command.
Al-Sarraj also tasked the air force with launching air raids and use of force to face all of the advancing forces that “put at stake” the life of the civilians and vital institutions. The order was given while Hafter’s forces were moving fast towards the capital.
Shortly after, the FAG-commanded forces launched artillery attacks on Haftar’s fighters. Militias allied to Tripoli government said they captured 145 of the ELF. They were captured in Zawiya District in western Tripoli, along with 60 of their vehicles.
The forces defending the capital blocked a road linking the airport to Tripoli after the airport fell to Hafter-led militias.
UN Secretary-General talks Libya
The assault on the seat of FAG coincided with the two-day visit to Tripoli of the United Nation’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Guterres flew to Libya to help coordination for a national reconciliation conference for Libya set to be held in mid-April in Ghadamis town of northwestern Libya and to discuss a roadmap for future elections in the crisis-hit country. He expressed his concerns about the military confrontation in the country, adding there was no military solution to the crisis and national dialogue was the best way to go.
In late February, the UN talked about an agreement between al-Sarraj and Haftar to unite the deeply divided nation and hold general elections before the end of the year.
While in Libya, Guterres first talked to al-Sarraj and other FAG officials and then traveled to Benghazi in Libya’s east to talk peace with Haftar.
The discussions, however, did not bear any outcomes. On Friday, Ghasan Salama, UN envoy to Libya, reported to the UN Security Council that the general asserted to Guterres that he had no plan to stop Tripoli assault.
At the end of his visit, Guterres in a Twitter post noted that “I leave Libya with a heavy heart and deeply concerned. I still hope it is possible to avoid a bloody confrontation in and around Tripoli.”
UNSC emergency meeting, the world condemns Tripoli assault
On Friday, the UNSC demanded the LNA to halt attacks on Tripoli. The members also accentuated the need to bring to justice those behind the clashes in the country.
Along with the UNSC session, the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers, as well as the European Union Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini, in their Paris meeting’s closing statement expressed “deep concern” about the military operation underway around Tripoli.
Additionally, France, Britain, Italy, and the UAE published a statement, warning about the consequences of Haftar loyalists’ campaign and calling for immediate cessation of fire.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation also stated worry about the move and called on the warring sides to show restraint.
Western-Arab double-faced game
On Friday, the Lolwah Khater, the Qatari foreign ministry’s spokeswoman, in an interview with Qatar’s AlJazeera broadcaster condemned the military escalation in Libya but questioned the French, British, Italian, and Emirati statement. She said that it was surprising that Abu Dhabi on the one side supported the rebellious Haftar and on the other hand demanded an end to the clashes.
The Qatari spokeswoman referred to the Saudi, Egyptian, and Emirati backing for Haftar power gain in the past few years. It is notable that on March 27, namely a week before the Tripoli operation, Haftar had made a short visit to Riyadh and talked to the Saudi king about the latest developments in Libya. There have been suggestions that the trip represented the last efforts to coordinate launching the operation.
Haftar’s return to Libya’s political and military scene is largely owed to the diplomatic and financial patronage of foreign parties, mainly Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Last month, his forces moved to Al-Hend and Al-Barak al-Shati military bases to seize southern cities. They already had Saudi and Emirati help to catch hold of Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city.
Hafter, originally from eastern Libya, used his influence in the east to organize a secular camp backed by the West, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, highly against Muslim Brotherhood Islamism, use Haftar as a spearhead of a front to curb Brotherhood’s entrenchment in Libya. Their policy is to allow Haftar to gain as many financial resources as possible. Their backing helped him dominate in mid-February Al-Shararah Oilfield in the country’s southwest with 315,000 oil barrels daily output capacity.
But a critical stance was taken against Western and Arab policy by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia. Lavrov told Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper that Moscow supported UN envoy’s pro-peace efforts, adding that the current messy situation in Libya was a corollary of NATO intervention in the North African nation. He noted that NATO’s 2011 Libya bombing campaign immersed the country in chaos, destabilized the region, and paved the way for terrorism growth.
