Libya is now proving to be difficult once again as the overthrow of its incumbent leader Fayez al-Sarraj by a charismatic, if not controversial military character, will come at a very high price.

Once again, the Arab world stands divided on who the winners and losers should be once the Libya game starts, made even more complicated by Trump surprising many by supporting General Haftar, who has the backing of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, France and, importantly, Russia. However, Moscow’s support is more token, than practical, as, unlike the others in the posse of supporters, Putin wants to take the role of peace broker rather than military power, opting to not be dragged into the polarized conflict.

Geopolitically, Libya is a nightmare. And Putin knows it. Opposing the largely western camp which is supporting Haftar, there is Turkey and Qatar who are with al-Sarraj although it doesn’t seem as though they are supporting him militarily. The army of the Libyan ‘Government of National Accord’ (GNA), although rumoured to be accommodating a handful of foreign fighters from Turkey, relies largely on antiquated Libyan army tanks and heavy equipment which was left over by the Gaddafi regime; Haftar’s forces notably have the latest armour plated vehicles from the UAE.

And then there are those countries, which go further than Russia, in that they don’t support Haftar but also urge a ceasefire and a diplomatic process like Algeria itself and Morocco – the latter actually being a tour de force in a UN-brokered agreement hammered out in 2015 in the coastal town of Skhirak.

And here’s where it gets complicated, particularly for Morocco which in the past always had good relations with Saudi Arabia and UAE – although the latter just removed its ambassador from Rabat in a churlish response to show Morocco that its foreign minister’s tour of the Middle East (which skipped the UAE) was not unnoticed.

Algeria is with the al-Sarraj government and also still believes in a diplomatic process and cares little about being on the other side of the fence to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, let alone the US or France. But for Morocco, which strongly believes that it played a pivotal role in the UN-brokered deal, there is little to be gained to be alienated further from the Saudis, or for that matter Paris and Washington.

Importantly, it’s the Saudis who are centre stage for the moment who are desperately trying to patch up their differences with Mohamed VI, Morocco’s monarch, believed to have visited the Saudi King in recent days to try and draw a line under a recent row between Rabat and Riyad over Morocco’s withdrawal of its troops in Yemen, which, is largely about Riyad’s airing of a documentary about Western Sahara which vexed Morocco’s elite and the failure of the Saudis to back Morocco’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup.

But with the tension building up now over Tripoli’s fighting – which a Libyan official recently said has effectively canceled the Skhirak peace deal – Morocco is bundled awkwardly with Algeria (which it has an acrimonious history with), Turkey (which it has warm, but limited relations with) and Qatar which it has good relations with – much to the increased annoyance of Riyadh. Recently Turkey and Qatar both had joint military air force exercises as both countries have regional ambitions of increasing their influence in the Middle East. They are also both building an impressive military base in the red sea, on an island that Ankara leases from the Sudan government so worries that these two countries can create a problem in Libya for those supporting Haftar are not entirely far fetched.

There is a very real worry that Libya might be a staging ground for that, which raises a number of questions as to whether Algeria and Morocco would ever join such a campaign. Much depends on meetings that Mohamed VI is having in the region with both the monarchs of Saudi Arabia and Jordan as there is pressure on the Moroccan monarch to support al-Sajjar as it is often stressed by leading figures in Tripoli that both Morocco and Libya are both in the Magreb Union.

But Libya very much represents once again a poisoned chalice for anyone who wishes to drink from it as the two camps which have been formed aren’t necessarily allies or enemies in other spheres. The situation could become even more complicated if Algeria were to offer military support to Tripoli, which could turn up the heat in Rabat to boiling point to intervene – to prevent a regional proxy war erupting and for once again Saudi Arabia and UAE being dragged into a conflict which would cost them billions and be seen as another Yemen unfolding.

We’re a long way from that as many will argue that neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE have troops on the ground with Haftar.

Furthermore, in recent days, there are signs that Rabat might not need to show any initiative in radical diplomacy.

Haftar’s troops have failed to breach the southern defenses of Tripoli, and forces backing the internationally recognized administration (GNA) have pushed back the Libya National Army (LNA) back in some areas over the past few days. This anti climax has given the bigger players pause for thought, but will put the troubled friendship between Morocco’s King and Saudi’s King Salman under the spotlight even more as this Shakespearian fable unfolds and we are left still struggling to see through the smoke and mirrors of Libya’s allure. Is Libya’s fragile peace, worth the high price that many will pay?

Fighters for Libya’s interim government rejoice after a tactical victory back in 2011. Creative Commons

Eight years after the start of the US-led military intervention to overthrow Moammar Gaddafi and promote “stability,” Libya is still wracked by civil war. Ironically, the violence over the next few days has forced the US to evacuate its remaining forces—there for diplomatic security and counterterrorism—from the volatile country.

Ever since the collapse of the old regime and Gaddafi’s violent death in 2011, Libya has been split among rival militias, and since 2014 it has had two would-be national governments. The government based in Tripoli now enjoys international recognition and some Western support, while the government in the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk has benefited from the support of Egypt, the Saudis, and the United Arab Emirates.

The leader of the Tobruk government’s forces, Khalifa Haftar, is a former exile (at one point in the US, reportedly backed by, and maintaining ties to the CIA ) who returned to Libya during the 2011 war and served as the head of the new army under the first post-Gaddafi government. Haftar broke with them in 2014, and he has been engaged in a fight to take control of eastern Libya and to oppose the government in Tripoli ever since. Over the last few months, his forces have seized the oil fields in the south of the country. Libya’s long-running civil war escalated sharply in the last week as Haftar launched a surprise offensive against Tripoli in an attempt to seize the national capital. His aggressive move has been met with widespread condemnation, from the UN, the US, and the EU, and it has driven the rival western militias to band together in opposition to him.

Borzou Daragahi reported on the fighting earlier this week:

A military offensive by a Libyan warlord against the country’s capital has done what years of negotiations and talks have failed to do – unite the country’s powerful western militias in an all-out effort to defend Tripoli.

Already at least 41 people have been killed and dozens more injured in clashes inside and outside of the capital, as the UN and EU struggled to put an end to the conflict that has pitted the country’s two main armed alliances against each other for control of the city of 1.2 million.

A “national conference” had been scheduled to take place next week to try to negotiate a political settlement, but Haftar’s abrupt decision to assault the capital has put an end to that for the foreseeable future. Libya has been unstable and chaotic since the US-led regime change effort collapsed the old government and left the country’s many militias vying for power, but conditions have lately grown even worse. Foreign powers have been treating Libya as their playground for the last eight years, and with Haftar’s offensive, we can see evidence of the increasingly baleful regional influence of his Egyptian, Saudi, and Emirati patrons. Haftar met with Saudi King Salman in Riyadh on March 27, and both the Saudi and Egyptian governments appear to have given him their blessing for this attack. As Tarek Megerisi put it in a recent article on Haftar and the civil war: “Haftar’s ascension has been driven by foreign powers whose understanding of Libya is skewed and whose interests are at odds with that of the Libyan population and many states dependent on Libya’s stability.”

Security conditions in the country have deteriorated so quickly over the last few weeks that American forces based in western Libya were evacuated at the start of the week. The US is currently fighting one of its many unauthorized wars in Libya, and it has cooperated with the Tripoli government against the local ISIS affiliate for the last several years. The US has so far not joined the fighting against Haftar’s forces. The Trump administration has publicly criticized the new offensive and called on Haftar to halt the attack, but it is doubtful that the US will do anything more than that.

Haftar’s offensive isn’t likely to be successful, and could end up costing him his recent gains:

Whatever the outcome of the latest battle, the continuation of the war is certain to deepen the misery of Libya’s civilian population. Eight years later, Libya is still living with the instability and violence that resulted from US-backed regime change made possible by Western intervention. Like many other such interventions, the Libyan war has left behind a legacy of upheaval and destruction. The civilians that supposedly benefited will be living with the consequences for years and probably decades to come.

theamericanconservative.com

Italy, the former colonial power in Libya, hosted a multinational conference  Nov. 12-13 in an effort to resurrect the United Nations (UN) efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the conflict there. The event was attended by the US as well as West European, UN, and League of Arab nations and African Union officials, in addition to the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents plus delegations from Qatar, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, Niger, and Chad. UN Secretary General, António Guterres, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were among the attendees. Despite all their divisive differences, Libya’s rival parties agreed to hold a UN-brokered election.

Since 2011, Libya has been split between two rival governments: the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) that is recognized by the UN as the official government and the House of Representatives that is based in the eastern city of Tobruk and supported by the forces loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army headquartered in eastern Libya. He is often called Libya’s strongman. Each of them is backed by an array of rival militia groups. Terrorists of all kinds, including ISIS factions, add to the instability.

To be honest, the outcome of the Palermo Conference was less than encouraging. It is true that the handshake with which GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and Marshall Khalifa Hafter greeted each other looked like a step in the right direction, but the conspicuous exit from the hall by the delegation led by PM Serraj just as Marshall Haftar started to speak was hardly reassuring. That military leader was not even an official participant — his entourage had emphasized the fact that he wasn't taking part in the conference itself but was rather there for side meetings with the leaders of neighboring countries. The Turkish delegation headed by Vice President Fuat Oktay withdrew from the conference in “deep disappointment” when Turkey was excluded from a meeting of key players taking part in the event. But neither Libya’s rival fractions nor the other actors involved, such as France, Italy, or Russia, objected to the UN plan to organize the elections, and that’s a positive sign.

The problem is that neither of the rival factions exercises enough control over the country to ensure the law and order that would be needed for a national vote. The NATO intervention in 2011 did so much damage that the mission to get the country back on track now seems a tall order. The problems facing the country, such as rivalry between the two administrations in Tripoli and Tobruk, internal fighting between various armed factions, tribes, and city-states, the ruined economy, and the uncontrolled influx of weapons seem almost insurmountable. But letting the crisis continue to drag out is not an option, especially as the EU is facing waves of asylum-seekers arriving on European shores from Libya. The instability in Libya threatens the entire Maghreb. The best way to fight ISIS and other terror groups is to stabilize Libya. The country is a tumultuous place in need of rebuilding. It has been devastated, but there is enormous potential in the mining of oil and gas.

With Italy supporting PM Sarraj and France taking the side of Marshal Haftar, this makes Moscow the perfect mediator, as it is in dialog with both. Both sides have already approached Russia to ask for help, seeing that country as the most reliable partner. Moscow also enjoys good relations with other pertinent actors, such as Egypt and the UAE — active backers of Haftar. It took no part in the 2011 intervention and has managed to achieve something that would seem impossible — positive results in Syria. Unlike the US, Moscow seeks to prevent conflict between Iran and the Gulf countries, as well as between Israel and Iran. In Libya, Russia is ready to cooperate with the West, as both are interested in preventing that big, oil-rich country from becoming a safe haven for terrorists. Russia was a good friend of Libya, closely cooperating with Tripoli when Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was in power. The majority of Libya’s commissioned military officers speak Russian, which they learned during their military training in that country. They primarily use Russian-made weapons. The Russian-Libyan relationship goes way back, giving Moscow a special place and unique role in the peace process.

It all changed on May 2. Fayez Al Sarraj, the Prime Minister of Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, and Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar, the country’s most powerful military leader and the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) representing the House of Representatives (HoR) located in Tobruk, met in Abu Dhabi.

The LNA is the most powerful military force in Libya, which has scored a number of battlefield successes against the Islamic State group and other militias in the eastern part of the country, pushing them mostly out of Benghazi, Derna and other areas.

According to the 2015 Libya Political Agreement, the HoR was supposed to merge with the Tripoli-based GNA and become the country’s legislative body. Until now the plan has not materialized due to many differences dividing the sides with armed clashes taking place off and on. The LNA gained considerable leverage over the negotiations process after seizing Libya’s main oil terminals last September.

The results of the Abu Dhabi talks were a breakthrough. After meeting for the first time in 16 months, the two leaders agreed to form a joint military under civilian control, and to unify state institutions. The UN-backed national accord government based in Tripoli agreed to put Field Marshall Haftar in charge of the national armed forces. It was encouraging enough for the UAE Foreign Ministry to comment that the meeting brought «optimism towards guaranteeing a political solution» and was an «important step to push forward the political process in Libya».

The very fact that the dialogue has finally started in Libya is a success attributable to the broker states – the UAE, Egypt, Italy and Russia – an actor which has a special role to play. In late 2016, the team of Libyan MPs headed by Aguila Saleh Issa, President of Libyan House of Representatives (HoR), visited Moscow.

Last November, Fayez al-Sarraj, Prime Minister of Libya’s UN-backed unity government, expressed his government’s willingness to step up security and military cooperation with Russia. He urged Moscow to use its international clout to help lift the ongoing arms embargo on Libya and secure the release of frozen Libyan funds to enable the country to overcome its current financial crisis. Al-Sarraj stressed the importance of Russia’s role in establishing «global equilibrium», while also welcoming the return of Russian companies to the troubled North African country.

In its turn, the Russian government reiterated its desire to reactivate a host of cooperation agreements signed with Libya and the willingness of Russian companies to return to the Libyan market.

The Russian delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov visited Tripoli in April to hold talks with Fayez Al-Sirraj. The Libyan PM expressed his government's willingness to regain the bilateral relations with Russia and to activate the cooperation agreements in different fields, including weapons purchases and military aid.

Haftar has also asked Russia for help, including arms supplies. He has visited Russia on a number of occasions. In January, the military leader was welcomed aboard Russia aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov on a mission in the Mediterranean.

In the 1970s, he received military training in the Soviet Union. Haftar speaks Russian language. No wonder, he approached Moscow on the subject. Libyans remember well the NATO intervention of 2011 and don’t trust the West, especially in view of its failure to achieve any positive results in Syria. Russia’s operation in that country has changed the political landscape and strengthened Moscow’s standing among the region’s powers.

A country with a significant Muslim minority, about 10% of its popula­tion, it fought jihadists in the Caucasus for a number of years. Moscow understands the problem and has vast experience to share. Unlike the US and other Western powers, Russia does not accompany its aid with lectures about human rights or political demands pushing for «democra­tic reforms». As Rus­sian armaments have proven themselves on the Syrian battlefield, it seems likely that Maghreb governments under terrorist threat will increasingly turn towards Moscow.

According to Foreign Policy, «Across the eastern Mediterranean and Levant, through Turkey, Iran, and the broader Gulf region, the trend line is obvious to anyone with eyes to see it: Russia’s star is waxing while America’s wanes».

Russia has close military cooperation with the states of the region. It enjoys a good relationship with Egypt and the UAE – the major powerbrokers in Libya. Resurgent Russia is asserting itself in the Middle East as a big and important international player and it is only natural that the Libyan leaders have approached Moscow to save their country mired in turmoil.

The May 2 meeting in Abu Dhabi opens up prospects for Russia’s military aid to Libya. The UN imposed an arms embargo on the in 2011. In August 2014, after violence had flared up, Security Council Resolution 2174 required that any supplies of arms to Libya must be approved in advance by the Sanctions Committee. If Libya has an internationally recognized government in place, the sanctions will be lifted to pave the way for all kinds of aid, including the so much needed military supplies. Moscow has stated it would be ready to supply the legitimate Libyan government with weapons as soon as the UN embargo is effective no more.

Libya needs help. It is estimated that there are 6,000 Islamic State fighters in Libya. The country’s proximity to Europe is a security concern for the Old Continent. The country is an ideal launching pad for terrorist attacks. Libyan insecurity could affect Europe’s oil and natural gas interests. Instability threatens the whole Maghreb. Greater conflict could produce even more refugees. Russia and the West face a common threat. The need to normalize the situation in Libya unites rather than divides them.

East Libyan forces led by General Khalifa Haftar are about to take control of the Tamanhent air base near the city of Sabha, which is located on the frontline between rival forces based in eastern and western Libya. The leadership of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in the capital, Tripoli, has ordered its forces to counter the attack. According to Libyan media outlets, heavy fighting is taking place in the area.

With the two leading competitors at war, the Libyan conflict has entered a new phase – a problem for the international community to face. Several members of the House of Representatives (HoR) based in Tobruk have called for an immediate no-fly zone in southern Libya. It means the UN Security Council will have to tackle the issue soon against the background of its failure to agree on a draft resolution on Syria.

Libya has been mired in a conflict between two competing governments since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 after a NATO-led intervention. Political power has been split between two rival governments in Tripoli and Tobruk since 2014, with other actors also scrambling for power, including armed formations, tribes and city-states. The continuing quarrels between the two governments are thwarting diplomatic attempts at unification.

In March, 2015, the HoR appointed General Haftar commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA). The military leader has been part of the Libyan political scene for about half a century. Around 1990 he went into exile to the United States after a failed attempt to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. In the 1970s, Haftar received military training in the Soviet Union. The general speaks Russian. After the start of the uprising against Gaddafi in 2011, Haftar returned to Libya where he became a key commander of the makeshift rebel force in the east.

The GNA is largely aligned with Misrata, the most militarily powerful city in western Libya.

The borders are open and nothing stands in the way of outside interference. For instance, all of a sudden the Misrata forces happened to be in possession of aircraft striking Barak Al-Shati airbase in southern Libya. The planes could not have fallen from the sky but they could have been delivered by Persian Gulf states, for instance Saudi Arabia, with the approval from Washington.

Libya is a problem to hit mainstream media headlines soon. The country is too important to ignore. The situation when everyone is fighting each other cannot last long. Russia and the US will have to add this issue to their security agenda.

Moscow has already been asked by Libya's military leader Khalifa Haftar to intervene. It also enjoys good working relations with the HoR. The Libyan parliament’s delegation visited Moscow. No wonder, it is Russia – not the US, France or any other Western state – the Libyan military leader has asked for help. Libyans remember well the NATO intervention of 2011 and don’t trust the West, especially in view of its failure to achieve any positive results in Syria. Russia’s operation in that country has changed the political landscape and strengthened Moscow’s standing among the region’s powers. It’s important that, unlike the US, Russia enjoys a good relationship with Egypt and good working relations with the UAE – the countries that back General Haftar.

The United States and its NATO allies have already been militarily involved in Libya with their special operation forces and drones operating in the country. As the Libyan war has entered into a new phase, it’s important to make precise what the US position is.

According to the Guardian, Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to Donald Trump, has pushed a plan to partition Libya, and once drew a picture of how the country could be divided into three areas on a napkin at a meeting with a senior European diplomat. Gorka is said to be competing for the White House post of presidential special envoy to Libya, a position that is yet to be formally announced. The plan to partition the country into three sections is based on the old Ottoman provinces of Cyrenaica in the east, Tripolitania in the northwest, and Fezzan in the southwest.

The US has tried it before. Kosovo is an example. Iraq has become a divided nation as a result of US invasion in 2003. The Iraqi Kurdistan government has recently announced it would hold a referendum on independence this year. The United States played a decisive role in partitioning Sudan in 2011. Now the world has to tackle the problem of South Sudan plunged in internal conflicts, hunger and poverty.

The lessons of history should be learnt. The international community cannot leave the country alone but this time there should be a concerted international effort undertaken upon a UN Security Council’s resolution. With the war going on it’s hard to imagine the country will have a united government to ask for outside help and make it legitimate. But any international operation approved by the UN is unthinkable without Russia. The need to normalize the situation in Libya rather unites than divides Russia and the West. But any idea of dividing the country is unacceptable. The Middle East has seen enough of divisions. Libya, Syria, Yemen and other nations should remain sovereign undivided states.

On  this day six years ago, a popular uprising erupted in Libya against the 42-year-old regime of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi. Nato famously stepped in, ostensibly to protect civilians, with the backing of France and the US. Eight months later, Gaddafi was dead and the Libyan regime was history.

So too, it appears, was the entire country.

Libya has descended into uncontrollable chaos. Power cuts are routine, topped with water shortages, hyperinflation, a liquidity crisis, and rule by militia. The capital itself is very unsafe, especially at night, manned by men with guns who are far more influential than the UN-backed National Accord Government that is struggling to assert full control of the country since assuming power last March.

Worse still, Libya is becoming a magnet for African jihadis, lured into its wilderness by the collapse of central authority and the rise of the Islamic State. The terror group swiftly ventured into Libya to set up Salafi rule and to use the war-torn country to reach not only the shores of Europe but to Libya’s neighbors: Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Chad, Niger and Sudan.

ISIS already enjoys an affiliate in sub-Saharan Africa, with the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram pledging allegiance to the ISIS caliphate in March 2015. ISIS smuggles Nato arms from the Libyan battlefield to another ISIS-affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has also pledged loyalty to the self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

In Libya itself, ISIS goes by the name Majlis Shura Shabab al-Islam (MSSI) — or the Shura Council of Muslim Youth. Established in western Libya back April 2014, it took the oath to al-Baghdadi in June, and one year later boasted of 800 fighters. Of that number 300 are Libyan militants who fought with ISIS, first in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zour and then in Mosul, and returned home to pay service to the jihadi project in their own country.

Videos appeared online of machine-gun toting Libyan jihadis dressed in beige fatigues taking mannequins from shop windows and shutting hairdressers

In November 2014, MSSI took over the Libyan city of Darna, 240 kilometers east of Benghazi, officially annexing it to ISIS’s Islamic State and renaming it the Vilayet of Darna — Vilayet being an old term describing one of the Ottoman Caliphate’s major administrative regions.

Videos appeared online of machine-gun toting Libyan jihadis dressed in beige fatigues taking mannequins from shop windows and shutting hairdressers, forcing women to wear the niqab from head to toe. MSSI now controls schools, mosque pulpits and the city’s local radio. A police force was created and charged with monitoring public vice.

Al-Baghdadi refused to send any weapons or money to his Libyan proxies, advising them to make money from trafficking, kidnapping and other illegal means, just as they did in Syria. Instead he sent them two of his top aides to advise on how to run the state — the Iraqi, Abu Nabil al-Anbari, and Abu Baraa al-Azdi, a Saudi. Both were long-time ISIS members who had spent time with the caliph at a US jail in Camp Bucca in Iraq, near the Kuwaiti border.

Many of the jihadis operating in Libya today are Yemeni and Tunisian veterans of the wars in Iraq and Syria. Foreign fighters in Libya now number around 400 although ISIS claims that it is much higher. Some are former Gaddafi supporters who went underground after their leader’s death in October 2011, similar to the way ex-officers in Saddam’s army sided with the jihadis after their president’s fall in 2003.

As it does in Syria and Iraq, ISIS feeds off the chaos and rules by striking fear into the hearts of locals. In August 2014, they executed an Egyptian citizen at a Libyan football stadium beneath the black flag of ISIS. In January 2015, they attacked the luxury Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, killing four foreigners — including an American contractor — and four Libyans. The following month, they killed nine Libyan guards in an attack on an oil field, and a month later laid claim to a car bomb that went off near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tripoli. They also seized nine foreigners at the al-Ghani Oilfield, and by May 2015 had taken control of Sirte International Airport.

The epitome of ISIS atrocities in Libya was the abduction and execution of 21 Egyptian Copts, all working as laborers in Sirte, the birthplace of Gaddafi on the south coast of the Gulf of Sidra halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi. They were beheaded, kneeling in their orange jumpsuits along the Sirte shoreline. The backdrop was no accident — ISIS wanted the world to see that this wasn’t the deserts of Iraq and Syria but the shores of the Mediterranean facing Europe; ISIS was inching closer to new territory. The video of the mass execution was posted on the group’s media channels. In it, one terrorist pointed to the ocean — to nearby Italy — threatening the now famous: “We will conquer Rome!”

Although supportive of the Libyan intervention back in 2011, Donald Trump now says he considers it one of the worst foreign policy failures of Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. General Haftar has welcomed Trump’s election, hoping to do business with the new US president. For his part, Trump has promised to strike at ISIS across the world and might find a natural ally in the 75-year-old Libyan strongman.

The Libyan Army retook Sirte from ISIS last December, and hopes to repeat the task elsewhere, with aid from the United States. Until that happens, the country will remain a failed state on every single level of governance, giving Libyans little reason to celebrate the sixth anniversary of what was supposed to be a glorious revolution against Muammar al-Gaddafi.

atimes.com