Egypt has warned that militant groups are poised to seize control of Libya’s oilfields, as the country’s foreign minister appealed for an expansion of the Western-led campaign against Daesh to tackle extremism threatening North Africa.

Tunisia’s Ennahda party, the first Islamist movement to secure power after the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ revolts, yesterday conceded defeat in elections that are set to make its main secular rival the strongest force in parliament.

Official results from Sunday’s elections ‘“ the second parliamentary vote since Tunisians set off uprisings across much of the Arab World by overthrowing autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ‘“ were still to be announced.

But a senior official at Ennahda, which ruled in a coalition until it was forced to make way for a caretaker government during a political crisis at the start of this year, acknowledged defeat by the secular Nidaa Tounes party.

‘We have accepted this result, and congratulate the winner Nidaa Tounes,’ the official, Lotfi Zitoun, said. However, he repeated the party’s call for a new coalition including Ennahda. ‘We are calling once again for the formation of a unity government in the interest of the country.’

Earlier, a party source said preliminary tallies showed the secular party had won 80 seats in the 217-member assembly, ahead of 67 secured by Ennahda.

‘According to the preliminary results, we are in the lead and in a comfortable position,’ one Nidaa Tounes official said.

Electoral authorities were due to give preliminary results later, but larger parties had observers at polling stations to oversee the initial counts, allowing them to tally results unofficially.

A Nidaa Tounes victory will open the way for the return of some Ben Ali-era figures who have recast themselves as technocrats untainted by the corruption of his regime, but possessing the administrative skills to run the country.

Even with an advantage over Ennahda, Nidaa Tounes will need to form a coalition with other parties to reach a majority in parliament and form a government. Ennahda may still be part of any cabinet.

Led by Beji Caid Essebsi, a former parliament speaker under Ben Ali, Nidaa Tounes emerged in 2012 as a political force by rallying opposition to the first Ennahda-led government when Islamists won around 40 per cent of seats in the first assembly.

Source:  gulf-daily-news.com

Thirty people, most of them Houthi militants, were killed late on Sunday during violent clashes – that continue to rage – with tribal militants in Manaseh, an area in the central Yemeni province of Al-Bayda’, a tribal source said.

He told Anadolu Agency that the clashes erupted after tribal militants had besieged Houthi militants in Manaseh, which they captured earlier on Sunday.

The clashes continue to rage until now, leaving 30 people dead on both sides, but most of the victims were Houthis, the source said, expecting the death toll from the clashes to rise in the coming hours.

The source said some people had talked about the death of Sheikh Maguid al-Zahab, an ally of the Houthis who helped them enter Manaseh and capture it.

A tribal source told AA earlier that Shiite Houthi militants had captured Manaseh, the most important stronghold of Al-Qaeda in the central province of Al-Bayda’.

The source added that the Shiite militants had controlled the area after armed tribesmen and Al-Qaeda militants had pulled out of it under intensified air and artillery attacks.

Manaseh is the most important stronghold of Al-Qaeda in Al-Bayda’, being the location of the home of Al-Qaeda leader Nabil al-Zahab.

Earlier in the day, Houthis controlled a mountain overlooking Manaseh, which eased the mission of controlling the area for them.

Houthis and Al-Qaeda have been fighting over control in Al-Bayda’ for several days now. The Shiite movement has been controlling the Yemeni capital Sanaa since September 21, but it is now moving to extend its control to other areas.

Yemen has been in turmoil since a popular uprising that erupted in 2011 ousted long-serving president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012.

Houthi control over the Yemeni capital seems to be opening the door for a sectarian Sunni-Shiite war inYemen.

Source:  albawaba.com

Fresh heavy fighting between pro-government forces and militants has claimed the lives of nearly 30 people in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

A Libyan army spokesperson said on Sunday the clashes have resulted in fierce exchanges of fire in different parts of Libya’s second-largest city.

“A number of army units today broke into houses of militants suspected of violence in the city in the past few months,” said Ahmad al-Mismari.

“The army has gone through fierce battles in different parts of the city, especially in the western entrance,” al-Mismari added.

The latest casualties bring the death toll since the beginning of the military operations in mid-October to at least 170.

On Wednesday night, the Libyan military forces, backed by armed supporters of former General Khalifa Haftar, entered the flashpoint city of Benghazi for the first time in two months.

Spokesman for Libya’s special forces Meloud al-Zewi said that though the new advances are a step forward in the liberation of Benghazi, there is still a long battle ahead of the Libyan army.

The new moves came after Libya’s internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani announced last week that the country’s army and its allied forces were ready to recapture the capital Tripoli and Benghazi.

Libya’s government and elected parliament moved to Tobruk after an armed group from Misrata seized Tripoli and most government institutions in August.

The new Tripoli rulers have set up a rival parliament and government not recognized by the international community.

Libya plunged into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The ouster of Gaddafi gave rise to a patchwork of heavily-armed militias and deep political divisions.

The North African country has been witnessing numerous clashes between government forces and rival militia groups that refuse to lay down arms. The groups are now turning their guns on each other in an attempt to dominate politics and the country’s vast oil resources.

Source:  albawaba.com

The Lebanese Army has suffered at least 11 deaths since outbreak of fierce clashes with militant gunmen in northern Lebanon four days ago, according to latest official reports.

The reports indicated that precarious calm prevailed at the hot spots in the northern city of Tripoli early today, where the army troops continued to exchanging gunfire with the militants in various sectors. In the town of Bahnin, located some 10 km north of the city center, a soldier died and another suffered serious injuries during overnight clashes.

In Bab Al-Tebbaneh, a sector considered a main stronghold for the militants in the city, thousands of civilians were seen fleeing their homes against the background of gunfire blasts.

Tripoli and surrounding areas have witnessed recurring clashes between the government troops and gunmen, affiliated to the Syrian opposition. (and) wsm-tib.rk

Source:  kuna.net.kw

France is moving troops toward the Libyan border within weeks and, along with U.S. intelligence, is monitoring al-Qaida arms shipments to Africa’s Sahel region, a top French military official said Thursday.

A French base will go up within weeks in a desert outpost 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the lawless Libyan border region overrun by Islamic militants, the official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

U.S. intelligence is helping French troops “a lot,” he said.

Earlier this month, French troops destroyed an arms convoy in northern Niger carrying three tons of weapons from Libya to Mali. A French drone had located and followed the convoy from southeast Libya, the top defense official said.

About 50 French troops will be permanently based in northern Niger and they could be reinforced very quickly by the French and Niger military when necessary, in order to be “able to crisscross the zone up to the border and hamper as much as possible the traffic route”, he said.

French and U.S. drones are already operating out of Niger’s capital, Niamey.

France launched a military operation three months ago against Islamist groups, with troops and equipment sent to ex-colonies Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Mali.

Following France’s intervention to rout Islamic militants from Mali last year, the operation is aiming to counter al-Qaida-linked militants there, and their potential ties with Nigerian militant group Boko Haram.

Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned last month that Libya is a “hub for terrorists.”

France’s strategy “reflects the changing threat,” said Francois Heisbourg, a French analyst at the Foundation for Strategic Research think tank in Paris. “That’s the cost of the success: while (French and U.N. troops) managed to undermine the permanent establishment of terrorists in northern Mali … they withdraw and went to northern Niger and southern Libya.”

Source: AP

When Abu Bakr al-Baghadi, the Islamic State’s (IS) leader and self-styled caliph, appeared July 4 for the first time in Mosul, a symbolic venue was chosen by those who manage the media strategy of the world’s most wanted terrorist group. Baghdadi chose the Great Mosque of al-Nouri, a Muslim prayer site built in 1172 by Noureddine Zangi, who’s known to have paved the way for a strong Islamic state between Syria

and Iraq and later expanded to Egypt and knocked down the Fatimid Dynasty. Zangi fought several battles against the Crusaders, vowing to liberate Jerusalem from their occupation. IS strategists played on this to try impose a comparison in the minds of those who are familiar with the mosque’s history, to indicate what kind of state they are looking to build — one that can conquer the Shiite state Iran and one that is capable of fighting the West.

Three years ago, on October 23, the defeat of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi was celebrated across Libya after he had been captured and killed and Sirte had fallen.

Success was due to the fact that some seven months before on March 17, 2011, UN Security Council Resolution 1973 sanctioned the establishment of a no-fly zone and the use of “all means necessary” to protect civilians within Libya. It allowed Nato allies to secure the no-fly zone by destroying Libyan air defences and heavy weapons to pre-empt what was going to be genocide in Benghazi.

Western leaders patted themselves on the back. The international community had acted promptly and a loathsome dictator had been toppled. The uprising, which had initially been sparked by the self-immolation of a Tunisian fruit seller, would allow the Libyan people to bathe in the joy of “true democracy” – whatever that might be?

Rough ride
What a difference three years makes. Democracy has been a rough ride for the people of Libya and there are many who wonder if they weren’t better off under their previous dictator. I believe there is a very real danger of Libya, probably the richest country in Africa in terms of its small population and oil reserves, becoming a failed state.

In June, after Islamist factions fared poorly in parliamentary elections, militias supporting them launched a broad offensive that ended with Libya’s two biggest cities – Tripoli and Benghazi – falling under their control. 

The elected parliament and internationally recognised government was forced to the eastern city of Tobruk and have now lost control of three key cities. In the Libyan capital Tripoli the old parliament, the General National Congress, has continued to sit and has appointed a rival government. Benghazi is largely in the hands of Islamist fighters, some with links to al-Qaeda and the scene of daily assassinations of officials, journalists and others. Misrata the third city and main port is now run by militias loyal to Tripoli. 

Fighting has resumed in the southwestern suburbs of Tripoli where Zintan militias (loyal to the government in Tobruk) have launched a counteroffensive to regain access to Tripoli from their strongholds in the southwest. Pro-Libya Dawn forces have reportedly been trying to prevent the advance and Zintan appears to lack the military capabilities to retake Tripoli any time soon.

Warring militias
Neither side of the conflict – Libya Dawn or General Khalifa Hiftar’s so-called “Operation Dignity” – respects UN ceasefires. The latest ceasefire agreement last month involved Libyan politicians but they have very little control over the warring militias. 

The fighting in Libya is affected by, and reflects, the clash across the whole region between moderates and extremists, Sunni and Shia, traditional and more radical governance. The instability and indeed real impact of events across the Egyptian border, have led to Egyptian involvement in the fighting and there are other countries, which either have – or may- become involved.

The world seems to have forgotten Libya. 

ISIL, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Ebola and a number of other crises have grabbed our attention. And yet the coalition air attacks on ISIL seem to have a striking similarity to those raids that superficially seemed so successful three years ago. So what next? 

There are a number of lessons to learn from the events in Libya, which apply to other countries in the region. The world cannot afford to ignore the fate of Libya and it hangs in the balance.

Source:  Alan West (former UK Chief of Defence Intelligence) aljazeera.com