Rifts have emerged between U.S. military leaders and the Obama White House on Washington’s future role in Libya, with the generals questioning the White House’s argument that the recent success against Islamic State shows Libya can go it alone in the fight against terrorism, without direct U.S. assistance.

Marine Corps Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the White House’s pick to lead U.S. Africa Command, called for increased American military action in Libya to ensure the Islamic State, or ISIS or ISIL, does not reconstitute itself in the country as pressure ramps up against its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

Gen. Waldhauser told a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing Tuesday that U.S. military planners were drafting up battle plans for airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Libya, Reuters reported. The fledgling unity government in Tripoli has enjoyed surprising success in recent weeks in a campaign against the Islamic State’s stronghold in the coastal city of Sirte.

But rules of engagement for U.S. forces in Libya, which require White House approval for any offensive operations in the country, have hamstrung American military planners in the region, according to the report.

Aside from clandestine drone strikes launched from NATO bases in southern Europe and small rotations of U.S. special operations teams working with local militias in Libya, the Pentagon has not conducted any large-scale military mission in the country since the cancellation of a failed train-and-advise operation late last year.

Asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, whether the White House should give U.S. commanders more leeway in going after the Islamic State in Libya, the four-star general responded: “It would be wise. It would certainly contribute to what we’re trying to do inside Libya.”

Gen. Waldhauser was not the first American combatant commander to call for an increased military role for U.S. forces in Libya. U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing earlier this year that he supported restarting the U.S.-led training mission in the country.

In May, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford told reporters that an agreement with Libya’s Government of National Accord, the U.N.-recognized governing body in the country, to open the door for new U.S. operations in the country was weeks from being ratified. At the time, Gen. Dunford said the situation in Libya had deteriorated to the point where Washington and the international community had little choice but to act.

“They want assistance, [and] you know that a number of countries, including the United States, are prepared to do that,” Gen. Dunford said in May. The only thing preventing U.S. officials from going forward was determining whether or not local forces could coalesce around the nascent Libyan government, he noted.

The Libyans’ success in Sirte has changed the calculus. U.S. officials expect the city to fall to government forces within days, Col. Chris Garver, the top U.S. military spokesman for anti-Islamic State operations, said.

Opportunity for action

Gen. Waldhauser said Tuesday the surprising success of Libyan forces against Islamic State has created an opportunity for American forces to conduct operations in Libya, which Islamic State views as a fallback should it lose more ground in Iraq and Syria.

But the White House, wary of pursuing a new military engagement in the region so close to the end of President Obama’s final term in office, has adopted a wait-and-see approach. Some administration officials even argue that the events in Sirte are proof U.S. military intervention isn’t needed.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the Pentagon would be willing to conduct additional airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Libya, telling reporters on Tuesday the department has never shied away from such operations in the past.

“We’ve been willing to take strikes in the past in Libya targeting ISIL leadership,” he said. “We are prepared to do so again in the future. But this is a situation where the government … is showing progress [and] military forces aligned with the government are showing progress.”

While pockets of the city remain contested, images of Libyan militiamen, mostly from the western city of Misurata, celebrating in the streets of Sirte began circulating through social media as forces reportedly closed to within yards of the Islamic State-held city center as militants fled their positions throughout the city.

“The most encouraging thing we see right now are the actual actions on the ground … and the progress [Libya] has been making on their own to take out ISIL,” Mr. Cook said.

However, Mr. Cook continued to balk at the idea that a more aggressive U.S. military approach isn’t needed.

“Only in consultation with the [Libyan government] and the partners in the region will we have a better sense of what [the] security needs are going forward and what role, if any, [the U.S.] would need to play,” he added.

“An ideal situation [would be] for the U.S. military not to be involved,” he added. “We understand that that’s not necessarily how this is going to play out.”

Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Seraj made similar suggestions on a possible role for U.S. troops in the country as local forces closed in on Sirte earlier this month. Senior White House officials, however, are adamant that expanded U.S. military engagement is a bridge too far.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden, who was vehemently opposed to the U.S. role in the 2011 NATO campaign that helped oust longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi, said Monday that the situation in the country illustrates the drawbacks of direct military intervention.

“My question was, ‘OK, tell me what happens. He’s gone. What happens? Doesn’t the country disintegrate? What happens then?” Mr. Biden said in an interview with Charlie Rose, recalling the internal debate on whether to support the NATO bombardment.

“Doesn’t it become … a petri dish for the growth of extremism? And it has,” Mr. Biden said.

Gen. Waldhauser warned Tuesday that local forces in Libya still had a long way to go to prove their viability to American military commanders.

“The unpredictable nature of paramilitary group patronage will most likely remain a significant obstacle to [the government’s] efforts to establish sovereignty,” he said.

washingtontimes.com/

In a remote corner of Lebanon near the border with Syria, Lebanese troops have been quietly making steady progress, fighting against Islamic extremists holed up in the rugged mountains.

It is a fight less visible than the US-led war against ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Libya. But hardly a day passes without army artillery stationed on the edge of this eastern Lebanese town pounding nearby militant positions.

Aided directly by the US and Britain – and indirectly by the Syrian army and Hezbollah allies working on the other side of the border – the under-equipped Lebanese military has registered steady successes against ISIS.

In recent months, Lebanese armed forces have clawed back significant territory once held by ISIS and Al Qaida’s branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, and have killed and detained hundreds of extremists, forcing many others to flee.

According to the army, the militants still hold about 50 square kilometres of land in the border area, compared with 20 times this size in the months after Syria’s conflict began.

Most of the activity is around the border town of Arsal, which the militants took over in August 2014.

After five days of deadly fighting, the military pushed them out to the town’s outskirts and into the surrounding mountains and has been battling them ever since.

Nearly 5,000 troops are now deployed in and around Arsal. They keep a close eye on any suspicious activity by the extremists who avoid movement during the day.

During a tour, a first lieutenant peered through binoculars toward areas controlled by the ISIS group on the edge of Arsal when he spotted a vehicle moving several miles way.

“It’s the tanker truck,” the officer told some of the troops, referring to an identified vehicle owned by a Lebanese man who has a permit to cross into ISIS-controlled areas.

“Had it been a truck with a machine gun on top of it we would have dealt with it immediately,” said another officer, pointing to two 130mm guns that are always ready to fire.

The Lebanese military, generally seen as a unifying force in a country divided along political and sectarian lines, has received support from the West.

The American Embassy says the US has provided Lebanon more than $1.4 billion in security assistance since 2005.

The stepped-up assistance came after Saudi Arabia announced in February that it was halting deals worth $4 billion aimed at equipping and supporting the Lebanese military.

Syrian forces and Hezbollah fighters have also helped the fight by clearing the militants from areas in Syria across the border from Arsal, hurting supplies for those in Lebanon.

Arsal is home to tens of thousands of refugees and in the early days of the Syrian conflict, became a major crossing point for arms smuggling to help Syrian rebels fighting the regime.

On August 2, 2014, some 2,000 members of ISIS and the Nusra Front overran Lebanese army positions as well as Arsal and captured two-dozen policemen and army soldiers and took them to the fields outside the town. Four troops were killed.

“This [attack] was a turning point and the Lebanese army command decided to put limits on those terrorists and to repel them and prevent any effect they might have on mainland Lebanon,” said Brig. Gen. Mohammed Al Hassan, commander of the 8th Infantry Brigade in the Arsal area.

Since then, the military has slowly recovered all strategic hills overlooking Arsal.

7days.ae

French reconnaissance base in Benghazi being used by multinational forces and assisting Khalifa Haftar

middleeasteye.net

Moroccan authorities have dismantled a 10-member terror cell linked to the Islamic State (IS) group in the eastern cities of Oujda and Tendrara.

Members of the terrorist cell, including an Algerian national living illegally in Morocco, had been planning a raid on a large shopping centre in Oujda using knives and “sophisticated communication devices” to raise funds for IS terror plots in the Kingdom, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The group “assaults citizens and dispossesses them of their property”, the statement added.

The suspects, who used to hold secret meetings in a “safe house” in Oujda, will be brought to justice after the completion of investigations.

Morocco has been on guard against deadly attacks like those claimed by IS in Tunisia last year that killed 59 foreign tourists.

Earlier this month, the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation, which has been dubbed as “Morocco’s FBI”, announced dismantling a six-member IS sleeper terror cell in each of the cities of Tetouan, Martil and Casablanca.

According to a press release by the interior ministry at the time, the captured IS members were planning to recruit local fighters who were to be sent to terror training camps before coming back to carry out attacks against soft targets and strategic sites in Morocco.

Rabat says more than 160 “terrorist cells” have been busted since 2002, including nearly 40 over the past three years with ties to extremists in Iraq and Syria.

A study by the US-based Soufan Group said in December that at least 1,200 Moroccans had travelled to fight alongside IS in Iraq and Syria in the past 18 months.

alaraby.co.uk/

Months after the attack on Ben Gardane, Tunisians and the regional public are still overwhelmed by mixed feelings of pride in the power of Tunisian security forces and the people and fear of the Islamic State’s bold move of attempting to establish an “emirate” in Tunisian territory. ISIS leaders had hoped to embarrass the Tunisian government by turning terrorist violence into a protest movement in the city of Ben Gardane. Like many border towns, Ben Gardane is known for its smuggling and black market activities, and for smuggling weapons and gangs who facilitate the travel of jihadi terrorists into Libya. However, the “invasion” of Ben Gardane on the morning of March 6 immediately became a battle. The local people and the government alike joined hands in Tunisia’s war on terrorism. Nevertheless, the attack reveals an important dimension of ISIS’s motives in North Africa. It also presents a window into Tunisia’s anti-terrorism strategy as it has developed after consecutive terrorist attacks, especially after the attack on the Bardo National Museum on March 18, 2015 and then-president Beji Caid Essebsi’s subsequent declaration of war on terrorism.

ISIS’s Interest in a Tunisian Emirate

The Ben Gardane attack reflects the new ambitions of ISIS to establish an “emirate.” Terrorist groups are no longer limiting themselves to fighting those they deem “tyrants,” such as their slaughter of soldiers in Jebel Chambi during Ramadan 2013 and the 2015 bombing of Presidential Security Guard bus. Nor is it enough any longer to attack Tunisia’s tourism and economy industries, such as in the 2015 Sousse and Bardo Museum attacks. They have even moved beyond attacking the democratic process and political stability of the country by assassinating Chokri Belaid and MP Brahmi in 2013. The group now seeks to destabilize the security of Tunisian society by separating south Tunisia from the rest of the country. This intervention in south Tunisia shows how serious the terrorist threat has become, not only to Tunisia but to the entire Maghreb.

ISIS’s leaders may have chosen Ben Gardane to attack because they wagered on the support of the town’s people. This belief would have been based not on the town’s stereotypical representation as an incubator of terrorism nor because of its social conservatism, but due to the smuggling and black market trading that is prevalent in the area. In fact, a World Bank report estimated that 3,800 people from Ben Gardane are involved in smuggling activities. ISIS apparently believed that terrorist violence would be accepted there as a form of popular response against the dominance of Tunisian security forces, which have a history of acting in recurring protest movements and participating in the usual confrontations and chases between smugglers and the security forces of this border town. Strategically, the border town can provide a source of cash for ISIS due to the trade, smuggling and travel activities occuring on the Libyan-Tunisian border.

Importance of Ben Gardane attack to ISIS

Ben Gardane was not randomly chosen for the Caliphate’s attempted expansion plan into Tunisia. Therefore, it is important to understand what seizure of the city would have symbolized for ISIS leaders. In particular, facts or resources based on which ISIS has rationally assessed the Ben Gardane attack as a strategic option in the war to establish a presence in North Africa. The interrelated factors that somehow encouraged the group to conduct the terrorist attack less than one week after the failed infiltration of three ISIS SUVs across the Libyan border should be closely scrutinized.

Terrorists have been trying to mobilize the escalating tensions and protests in the Tunisian interior and the increased level of violence in Tunisian society to mobilize against state institutions. The ISIS militants attempted to gain the sympathy and support of Ben Gardane’s residents by broadcasting messages of reassurance through loudspeakers. They stressed that they wanted to “liberate Ben Gardane” of the control of the Customs Department and security services to legitimize violence as a protest movement. They thought this message especially appealing since most residents of the city and the surrounding regions rely on smuggling and black market trading for a living due to the lack of national development and investment strategies.

ISIS intended to take advantage of the Salafist Jihadist affiliation of some Ben Gardane residents, renowned for their fierceness in Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion and their participation in various armed groups fighting in Syria after 2011. One can sense the hybrid interaction operating in some circles of Ben Gardane between a conservative social upbringing and the need to achieve bloody victories to serve certain principles — identity, revolution, Islam, hatred of the West, and so on. The internalization of “martyrdom” culture in tribal circles is also visible, where teenagers who have become accustomed to the risks smuggling business due to the rough economic and geographic circumstances have caused many of them to consider terrorism just another “adventure.”

The attack, despite its failure, was also designed to display the power of the terrorist group to its supporters and international public, especially by following on the heels of the strike on Sabratha. The attack highlighted that ISIS will respond to any international attack on its forces in Libya by shifting the war to Tunisia and perhaps the remaining Maghreb countries. Accordingly, the group sought to embarrass the Tunisian security services and reveal their weakness. But the terrorist group’s leaders failed to recognize the high readiness of the Tunisian army and remaining security forces and the inhabitants’ aversion to the group’s barbaric practices and violent ideology.

The attack was also intended to instill fear in Tunisian society and demonstrate that the terrorism of ISIS was a real challenge to Tunisia’s economy, tourism, and politics. On ISIS also hoped to present its ideology as a prospective alternative. Most terrorist leaders view Tunisia as a modern society seeking to build a democratic experiment, which makes it urgent for them to infiltrate the experiment and demonstrate the power of their ideological appeal to the Arab and international public. A successful conquest would also allow put the group in a better position to bargain and negotiate with all regional actors, especially Algeria.

Similarly, the attack was designed to create fear among the Tunisian people in their daily life and provoke doubts and suspicions about the “others” of Tunisian society. They attempted to reinforce the idea that the group has sleepers in Tunisian society and that the terrorist threat comes from within, regardless of any proactive strikes conducted by Western powers to protect Tunisia against terrorist violence. This goal was made clear by the systematic violence, such as the assassination of Abdel-Ati Abdul Kabir – head of the anti-terrorism force in Ben Gardane, and the random terrorist violence that killed a schoolgirl called Sarah al-Muwathaq.

Certainly this event—and the intentions of ISIS that it may reveal—calls for a discussion regarding the religious extremism of a portion of Tunisian society and the government’s efficiency and effectiveness in dealing with members of terrorist groups or takfiris.

The problem of terrorism in Tunisia is not merely a phenomenon of violence. It is instead a crisis of youths being brainwashed by extremist thoughts and hostility in the name of religion. Security alone is not enough to deter and eliminate this terrorist threat from society. All actors—authorities, civil society, and beyond—must join forces to adopt a comprehensive national strategy that aims to resolve the source of increased terrorist recruits: the social and economic challenges of the most needy and marginalized neighborhoods and regions. The “battle of Ben Gardane,” where the national will of Tunisians triumphed, now has a symbolic role in the reality of the war on terrorism. It marks a historical landmark in Tunisian identity where bloody violence as a means to express protest and desire for change is rejected. Popular aversion and total rejection of any presence of terrorist ideology on Tunisian ground has also increased. Unfortunately, the developing democratic Tunisia is now facing an increasingly direct conflict with terrorism, run by groups that have created a pragmatic strategy with clear political goals, such as the Caliphate, and material interests, including oil and smuggling. In the future Tunisia will have to examine itself in order to fight ISIS as it positions itself as a major player among international forces.

washingtoninstitute.org

The head of the Libyan Armed Forces under the control of the internationally-recognized parliament in Tobruk, who is also the legislature’s speaker, announced the general mobilization in the country on Sunday

While the massacre in Orlando has once again focused attention on so-called lone wolf attackers in the Western world who have pledged allegiance to ISIS, there is a well-organized chapter of the jihadist group operating in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that continues its murderous mission far from the gaze of the international spotlight.

Originally known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Supporters of Jerusalem), the group changed its name to Wilayat Sinai — Sinai Province — and pledged allegiance to ISIS in November 2014. It is the most active insurgent group in Egypt, and has carried out dozens of attacks that have killed hundreds of soldiers and police officers.

Sinai Province is believed to be waging a war to take control of the Sinai Peninsula and turn it into an Islamist region loyal to the self-proclaimed Islamic State, according to experts who follow the group. They estimate as many as 1,500 fighters support the organization.

The group’s militants have launched suicide attacks and gun battles mainly in the northern part of the Sinai — an underdeveloped region, largely forgotten by the country’s politicians in Cairo. The marginalization that many residents feel has fuelled support for Sinai Province.

The group also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed Egypt’s prosecutor general in Cairo a year ago.

Egypt declared a state of emergency in 2014 as its forces struggled to stop Sinai Province attacks, which focused on government forces following the overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi.

Now, security officials in Israel are keeping a close eye on their border with Egypt, concerned about possible attacks from Sinai Province.

“The enemy is Daesh,” said Maj. Shachar Nachmani of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. “We believe that these terror cells will try to hit our forces in order to prove themselves.”

Sinai Province has launched several rocket attacks against Israeli territory in recent years. Six months ago, according to Major Nachmani, a “terrorist cell” attacked an army patrol along the security fence that marks the Israeli-Egyptian border. Three of the attackers were killed by Israeli soldiers. “The force was able to respond and to hit back at those who tried to infiltrate the border into Israel.”

Canada has 70 soldiers based in the Sinai, trying to maintain calm between Israel and Egypt as part of an international peacekeeping mission, known as the Multinational Force & Observers (MFO).

In the past two years, the MFO has had to deal with an increase in violence from Sinai Province, which has launched rocket and mortar attacks against at least one of the MFO’s two bases in the Sinai.

(A request to interview the Canadian commander of the MFO mission, Maj.-Gen Denis Thompson, was denied by the organization’s headquarters.)

Both the Canadian Forces and the federal government have noted the increased security risk posed by Sinai Province. “Until recently, the MFO had not been the direct target of jihadist or terrorist attacks,” reads a government briefing note obtained by CBC News. “However, the threat environment has changed over the summer months of 2015.

Canada’s top military commander warned recently of the “increasingly dangerous” mission in Egypt.

“Where we once had relatively benign missions conducting peace support operations, such as the MFO mission, [it is] now turning more hostile,” said Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of the defence staff . “Toxic environments where, in the case of the Sinai, [ISIS] in the Sinai is now grown in strength and impedes the conduct of the mission.”

Prof. Walter Dorn of Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., a leading expert on Canadian peacekeeping, said the mandate of the MFO mission “has not kept up with the changing circumstances on the ground and the threats.”

“I would recommend that the peacekeeping become more robust,” Dorn told CBC News. “Not become a counterterrorism mission, but try to influence the local population so that they see peace is in their interest and that they shouldn’t support [Sinai Province].”

The latest ISIS propaganda videos show Sinai Province actively training fighters in the area. It also continues to make threats against the Egyptian government, and more recently Israel.

In a video from last month, the narrator in Arabic calls the Sinai the “gateway to Palestine” and promises to “liberate” Jerusalem. One fighter warns that Israeli Jews are “victims in waiting,” adding they will meet the same fate as those Egyptians who collaborate with Israel: “The knives used to slice open the necks of your spies will slaughter your soldiers tomorrow.”

In Israel, the country’s army continues to prepare against the threat of the Sinai Province. At a training base not far from the border, young soldiers from the Caracal Battalion are learning counterterrorism techniques.

“We teach soldiers that this is not a fight against an army,” said Lt.-Col. Yaron Buskila, who leads the IDF’s training base in southern Israel. “It’s a group that comes to attack, to try as fast as they can just to take a soldier back into Egypt or hit civilians. So we are teaching our soldiers to work very fast.”

cbc.ca

Libya’s UN backed unity government is keen on restoring peace and stability in the country. The latest effort is in the form of a humanitarian agreement that was signed in Rome.

The new accord brings together representatives from different ethnic and political groups from the southern part of the country and was overseen by the Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio.

The vast desert region near the border of Algeria, Niger and Chad, in southern part of Libya escapes the authority of Tripoli, even after most of the political and military leaders have pledged allegiance to the Government of the National Unity, led by Fayez al-Sarraj.

According to a statement, the agreement will include the services of the Italian ministry of cooperation which is already providing assistance in the main cities along Libya’s coast and also those of the International Red Cross and other Non-Governmental Organizations.

africanews.com

For a wonderful few days, it seemed that Libya’s new Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Fayez al-Serraj, the prime minister, was on the verge of a momentous victory last week. Forces aligned with Mr Serraj had driven the jihadists of Islamic State (IS) back over 100 miles. They then captured the airport and seaport of Sirte, the group’s stronghold and the hometown of Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan dictator overthrown (and killed) in 2011. The jihadists were pinned down in the city centre. “The operation will not last much longer,” said Muhammad Ghassri, the GNA’s spokesman, on June 9th.

But up to that point, IS had not put up much resistance. Now the jihadists are hitting back in an attempt to retake the port and other areas. Hundreds of its fighters, many from abroad, remain holed up in Sirte. The GNA’s offensive has stalled. Its forces, made up mostly of militias from Misrata, in the west, have thus far shown a willingness to take casualties. More than 100 of their men have died and some 500 have been injured. But in order to clear Sirte of jihadists, more sacrifice will be needed.

The fighting has certainly hurt IS, which had used its control of roughly 180 miles (290km) of coastline around Sirte to bring in supplies and new recruits. It has now lost almost all of that territory—the latest in a string of setbacks for the jihadists. In February militias backed by American air strikes destroyed its base in Sabratha, in the west. Last year local forces kicked it out of Derna, in north-east Libya. The group’s collapse has led some to doubt previous estimates that it had some 6,000 fighters in Libya, which was seen as a growing jihadist hub.

Many of the group’s leaders are thought to have slipped out of Sirte and gone south. The GNA had threatened its offensive for weeks, so the jihadists knew it was coming. Though aided by American and British soldiers, who are helping with logistics and intelligence, the GNA’s forces failed to secure all of the routes out of Sirte. That would have needed better co-ordination with local militias. “Even if Sirte is liberated, that does not mean that IS is gone from Libya,” says Jason Pack of Eye On ISIS in Libya, a monitoring service.

The offensive may also be intensifying rivalries in Libya, which has been mired in a hot and cold civil war for over two years. The two-month-old GNA, which is backed by the UN and based in Tripoli, the capital, has largely displaced the former government in the west. But it still has not won the support of a rival government in the east. The Libyan National Army, which is led by Khalifa Haftar and aligned to the eastern government, has not participated in the battle for Sirte. The parliament in the east, which must approve the UN-sponsored agreement creating the GNA, says it will vote on the deal—a promise it has made before.

The GNA’s quick advance has, for now, weakened Mr Haftar’s claim to be the West’s best hope of defeating Libya’s jihadists. He looms over the eastern government and is often considered a spoiler of efforts to unify the country. Some say he is losing recruits to the GNA. But it too has been exposed. Its fighting force, drawn from the western town of Misrata, is much the same as the one that backed the old western government and battled Mr Haftar. “It is not a unity government, just a rebranding of Misratan militias,” says Mr Pack. Their loyalty can be fickle. Last year they fought another militia that is now attacking IS from the east.

Despite controlling state institutions, such as the central bank and the national oil firm, the GNA has struggled to establish its authority. It has also been reluctant to assert it in some areas, so as to avoid fuelling separatist sentiment in the east. The offensive against IS, if successful, may rally more Libyans to its side. The UN also hopes to give it a boost: on June 14th the UN Security Council authorised a European naval mission to enforce an arms embargo on Libya.

But there is also now the risk of the jihadists resorting more to terrorism, as they have done elsewhere in the region. An attack in Tripoli or on state infrastructure could quickly undermine the gains the GNA has made. IS was able to gain ground in Libya because a lack of unity led to chaos. That underlying problem still has not been solved.

economist.com

libyaobserver.ly