In recent days, an ISIS spokesman released a new audio message, which included a call for jihadist factions in the Sinai Peninsula and in Syria to step up attacks against Israel. ISIS also claimed credit for blowing up a section of an Israeli-Egyptian natural-gas pipeline in the Sinai, like reported by jns.org.

In Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian military has spent years battling a bloody ISIS insurgency, and while Cairo’s offensive has notched up achievements, the global terror organization’s Sinai branch remains active and dangerous.

The Israel Defense Forces’ mixed-gender Caracal light infantry battalion prepares for that very threat. Through a range of combat drills designed to stop any surprise attack in its tracks and ongoing border-security missions, the battalion works around the clock to ensure that it’s ready to prevent a killing spree in an Israeli border village, as well as neutralize potential attackers.

“ISIS is very close to us on the border fence. We see it. As soon as it decides to do something in our direction, we have to be ready,” Lt. Col. Erez Shabtay, the commander of the IDF’s Caracal (Hebrew for “wildcat”) Battalion, told JNS in an interview.

The fact that ISIS has not recently launched attacks on Israel does not allay Shabtay’s concerns, for the simple reason, he says, “that I do not know when it will happen. It can happen in 10 minutes or six months. For us as a battalion, it doesn’t matter. We have to know that a border incident can occur without warning, and that is the biggest challenge.”

Describing the ISIS threat as tangible, Shabtay said examinations of ISIS attacks in other areas of the region are sufficient to make the threat clear. “As soon as it decides to do something in our direction, we have to be ready. And our working assumption is that we will have no prior intelligence warning—that they will surprise us. This is what the training is all about. All of the training is about scenarios of incidents with no prior warning.”

At the end of January, the Caracal battalion completed a major series of combat drills lasting almost four weeks—part of a larger nine-week training period.

Established in 2004, Caracal is the IDF’s first mixed-gender light infantry battalion, which unlike other infantry units that maneuver into enemy territory has a fixed sector it is designated to defend.

After proving a success, the IDF set up three other battalions based on the same concept, such as the Bardales (Hebrew for “cheetah”) Battalion, which guards Israel’s border with southern Jordan.

‘Defending the border with Egypt’

Soldiers complete four months of infantry training after their basic training and then become specialists in their sectors, gaining knowledge on the local terrain, communities and threats.

“Our main mission is defending the border with Egypt,” said Shabtay. “The Egyptian border is a border of peace, but we have the ISIS Sinai Province on the other side, and this is our main enemy. This is the enemy that we are preparing ourselves against.”

While ISIS has been engaged in roadside bombings and shooting attacks on Egyptian security forces, as well as carrying out a series of mass-casualty attacks on civilians in Egypt, the IDF assumes its guns can be turned against Israel at any time.

“Our concern is that its next target will be IDF forces and [civilian] residents in this sector,” said the officer. “And there are quite a few residents here.”

Every four to five months, the battalion heads out for training drills designed to boost the male and female combat soldiers’ combat fitness, field abilities and marksmanship. “On top of that, we prepare the battalion for attacks by the ISIS Sinai Province,” said Shabtay.

Preparations include weeks of combat drills in open areas, built-up zones, desert valleys and farming greenhouses. Units sleep out in the field for weeks, despite harsh winter storms. The intensity of the most recent drills continued to build as the weeks wore on, and the mental and physical pressure placed on the troops increased.

The scenarios they trained for included ISIS cross-border raids for the purpose of conducting killing sprees in Israeli villages, attacks on IDF forces and posts, and pursuits.

The battalion practiced a rapid deployment and transition from routine to emergency, as well as operational movements, such as a nighttime 15-kilomter trek with full equipment.

‘We are highly mobile and rapid’

Speaking two hours after a drill involving some 400 soldiers, Shabtay also explained what makes light infantry battalions special.

“We are highly mobile and rapid. We have lookout units on the border fence—and the lookouts have their own skill set. Unlike battalions that maneuver in enemy territory, we have amassed in-depth knowledge of our sector,” he said.

The unit has access to a network of cameras, radars and an array of other special forces patrolling the area, such as the Border Police’s elite counter-terrorism unit, known by its Hebrew acronym, Yamas.

Caracal’s intimate knowledge of the local communities forms another advantage, he said. “We personally know local community security officers and the members of the readiness squads [volunteer teams of armed civilians in border communities). We hold joint drills with them,” he noted.

Other types of infantry units rotate in and out of their sectors, and are unable to build such close knowledge of the region they defend as a result.

Shabtay also stressed the fact that the battalion has drawn a considerable number of volunteer female lone soldiers from North American cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Montreal and Ottawa.

“They left the U.S. and Canada to be soldiers in the IDF, and they found their home in Caracal,” he said. “They found that this is the best place for them to contribute. It’s a choice for them to come here.”

Morocco’s interior ministry announced that it had dismantled a terrorist cell that was plotting attacks in the kingdom, like reported by aawsat.com.

It said that the six-member cell was operating in Casablanca, Mohammedia and Azilal, reported the state news agency (MAP).

The members, whose ages ranged between 18 and 59, had adopted extremist ideology and pledged allegiance to ISIS.

They were planning on carrying out attacks in Morocco ahead of declaring the establishment of a “state” loyal to ISIS.

Investigations are underway with the detainees to uncover their accomplices.

The conference on the settlement of the Libyan conflict is considered successful in Russia. But what about Russian mercenaries? Every now and then it comes to the fact that they are participating in the civil war in Libya. Let’s consider a question in more detail, like reported by bulgarianmilitary.com.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently spoke of about 2,000 Russian mercenaries involved in the army of General Khalifa Haftar. According to representatives of an internationally recognized government led by Prime Minister Faiz al-Sarraj, there are 600-800 Russian fighters from the so-called Wagner group in Libya.

Russian laws prohibit private armies

The Russian leadership, for its part, denies the participation of Russian mercenaries in the Libyan war. And not without reason – Russian law prohibits private armies. Mercenary is punishable by long terms of imprisonment. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the statement recently made by Vladimir Putin in the presence of Chancellor Angela Merkel: “If there are Russian citizens there, they do not represent the interests of the Russian state and do not receive money from the Russian state.”

From minerals to military training

But all this does not mean that fighters of the Wagner group cannot be in Libya, Russian experts say. After all, “Wagner” is considered a private military company acting at its own peril and risk, and also, on which they like to focus, in their own interests.

Apparently, she has wide interests: it is about access to mineral resources, then about protecting strategically important infrastructure, then about training and education of military and militants.

Carefully correlated facts gathered by Russian investigative journalists indicate that Wagner’s units are also actively involved in hostilities. Especially where the presence of regular Russian troops would be dangerous from the point of view of security policy or would be regarded ambiguously at the international level.

Connection with Russian intelligence?

It is interesting that in such cases, fighters can use heavy weapons, journalist Denis Korotkov explains in a telephone interview: “If necessary, they receive artillery weapons, tanks, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, unmanned aerial vehicles and mortars.”

This is not at all the technique that a conventional security service or a private military company can use. The Russian Ministry of Defense is more likely to be involved here. And it seems that the Wagner group is related to him, not only in the field of weapons. The training ground of the company is located at the military training ground of the Russian military intelligence of the GRU.

No photo evidence

Korotkov and his colleague Ruslan Leviev, head of the Conflict Intelligence Team investigation team, have no doubt that the Wagner group was involved in eastern Ukraine and Syria: “But in the case of Libya, everything is still not clear. Many say that these people are present there, but we have not yet seen unambiguous photo and video evidence. ”

Meanwhile, there were reports of fighters who died fighting on the side of Haftar. News portal “Medusa” names the figure of up to 35 Russian citizens.

Alleged Putin Sponsor

The videos also show that entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as the “Putin cook”, who allegedly finances the Wagner group, attended a meeting between Haftar and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow a year ago.

Prigogine denies any involvement in Wagner. According to the official version, he was responsible for catering at the event. Many wondered what kind of soup this is preparing the Russian government.

As far as one can judge, oil, strategic points, and also influence in the region matter. That is, a lot of what constitutes the interests of Wagner, as well as the interests of the Russian leadership, which from now on intends to do everything in order to maintain a truce in Libya.

On Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan orders, the Turkish state had been deploying its mercenaries from Syria to Libya. The Syrian mercenaries used primarily in the occupation of Afrin in Rojava were sent to Libya in order to support the Tripoli-based government under the prime ministry of Fayez al-Sarraj, like reported by anfenglish.com.

The London-based Syrian Human Rights Observatory has disclosed that most of the 2400 mercenaries sent to Libya have actually left their weapons and have escaped. An important part of these mercenaries, according to the Observatory have fled to Algeria to reach European Union member countries.

The Observatory also reported that at least 17 of these mercenaries, Syrian citizens, have reached EU territory and requested asylum in Italy. The Syrian Human Rights Observatory said that they had access to this information thanks to the families of these mercenaries still living in Syria.

In its previous statement, the Observatory reported that the Turkish state had sent about 2,400 Syrian citizens to Libya so far. It also noted that Turkey is training a further 1,700 mercenaries to be sent to Libya.

Meanwhile, according to Western media outlets Turkey has 80 military officially in Libya. While Turkish sources said they have 35, Erdoğan claimed that these soldiers were in Libya for training and coordination of the soldiers of the Tripoli government, not for fighting.

A militant group with ties to the Iranian regime and Hamas — the de facto ruling authority of the Gaza Strip in Palestine — is allegedly upping its Bitcoin (BTC) fundraising activities. The spur for the increase is reportedly a slump in resources, compounded by Iran’s recent rejection of the group’s request for financial support.

An analysis of the group’s activities was detailed in a cyber desk report from the IDC’s International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), as reported by the Jerusalem Post on Jan. 19.

“Irregular increase” in wallet activities
The ICD-ICT cyber desk report claims there has been an “an irregular increase in the scope of activity” of a BTC wallet address (1LaNXgq2ctDEa4fTha6PTo8sucqzieQctq) it ties to the fundraising activities of the Hamas and Iran-affiliated “al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades,” the military wing of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).

The PRC is a coalition of armed local groups, formed in late 2000, in opposition to what they perceive to be the overly conciliatory line taken by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah towards the Israeli regime. The al-Nasser Brigades were active in both the 2008-9 and 2015 wars in Gaza and clashed with Israeli forces in Nov. 2018 in response to the killing of a PRC militant.

The Brigades were also responsible for the high-profile kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shilat in 2006, eventually freed as part of a prisoner exchange in 2011.

Brigades raised almost $24 million in Bitcoin
According to ICT’s findings, a thorough review of the transactions associated with the wallet revealed that it served a “a seemingly legitimate financial website by the name of cash4ps,” which ostensibly enables the Brigades to send and receive funds out of the Gaza strip whilst ensuring a degree of anonymity to donors and beneficiaries.

The report, which mapped the Brigade’s network of media platforms and various online fundraising strategies, ties the wallet address to a company allegedly identified as operating an account registered at the Islamic National Bank (INB).

INB was blacklisted by the United States Treasury in 2010 due to its being controlled by Hamas, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization. It has also been declared illegal by the PA, the Palestinian Monetary Authority and the Palestinian Capital Market Authority.

As of Dec. 1 2019, ICT claims that the total transaction volume in the wallet had hit 3,370 Bitcoin ($29 million at press time), having performed thousands of transactions over a four-year period.

ICT identified the company’s two physical addresses in the Gaza strip, as well as a key figure purportedly behind the fundraising scheme, Ramadan Alkurd (a.k.a. Wesam Ismael), whose ties to Hamas they traced and documented.

An ICT representative has advised the U.S. government to designate all the accounts identified in the report as terrorist-affiliated entities, and to implement more robust regulatory and legal measures for Bitcoin exchanges in cooperation with international allies.

Hamas’ financial isolation
Hamas’ financial isolation stems from its classification as a terrorist organization, in whole or in part, by several countries and international blocs — including the U.S. and the European Union.

Having ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, Hamas comprises a social service arm “Dawah” and a militant faction “Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades,” the latter of which initiated this year’s Bitcoin fundraising appeal.

Russia, Turkey and China are among those who do not designate Hamas as a terrorist entity.

As reported, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades has likewise allegedly availed itself of Bitcoin contributions, according to investigations by blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic and others.

Armed clashes resumed early on Tuesday in the South of the Libyan capital Tripoli as commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar left Russia’s Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement, the Al-Arabiya TV channel reported.

Meanwhile, the Al-Wasat news portal reported, citing eyewitnesses, that artillery fire is heard in Tripoli’s Southern neighborhoods of Salah Al-Deen and Ain Zara.

According to local media reports, Haftar and President of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives Aguila Saleh Issa have left Moscow without signing a ceasefire deal with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj.

“The speaker of the House of Representatives and the commander-in-chief of the Libyan Arab armed forces left the Russian capital of Moscow and departed for Libya, without signing any agreements with the head of the unconstitutional Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, regarding ceasefire or troop pullback from areas controlled by the army in the country’s capital Tripoli,” the Libyan News Agency (LANA), active in the East of the country, said.

The news came as hostilities resumed in the South of Tripoli. In a statement, cited by the Al-Hadath TV channel, the Libyan army has declared its “readiness and determination to win”.

A ceasefire took effect in Libya at midnight on January 12 within the framework of a joint initiative proposed by the Russian and Turkish presidents. Delegations of the sides arrived in Moscow on January 13 for talks, after which Chairman of Libya’s Government of National Accord Sarraj and Chairman of the High Council of State Khaled al-Mishri signed a draft document on the settlement in the country, while Haftar has taken a pause until Tuesday morning.

Sky News Arabia earlier reported that during the indirect talks in Moscow, Haftar insisted on allowing his troops to enter Tripoli and on forming a national unity government that would receive a vote of confidence from the Tobruk-based parliament. The field marshal also called for international monitoring of ceasefire without Turkey’s participation and demanded immediate withdrawal of mercenaries “who arrived from Syria and Turkey”.

At the same time, Sarraj wanted Haftar’s forces to retreat to positions they had occupied before April 4, 2019, when LNA announced it was advancing towards the country’s capital city. He also insisted on retaining the post of the supreme commander-in-chief of the Libyan armed forces.

According to the channel’s sources, those demands became the main bone of contention for the sides during their talks in Moscow.

Commenting on the Moscow talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that al-Sarraj and al-Mishri had signed a draft document on the settlement in the country, while Haftar and Issa “view this document in a positive light and asked for extra time until next morning to decide on signing.”

However, according to Abdulhamid al-Safi, a media adviser to the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives affiliated with LNA, no accord has so far been reached in Moscow, except for agreements on humanitarian aid. In his opinion, talks on other issues are also planned, but may not take place.

Currently, Libya has two parallel bodies of executive power: the internationally recognized GNA and Abdullah al-Thani’s interim government operating in the country’s East together with parliament and supported by Haftar’s Libyan National Army. After a standoff near Tripoli since April 4, Haftar on December 12 declared the beginning of a decisive offensive to seize the capital.

Fighters operating as part of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) had been killed in Libya, fighting along with the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, like reported by syrianobserver.com.

According to a rebel commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the bodies of the fighters were buried on Friday in the towns of al-Bab and Marea.

The fighters were from the Sultan Murad Brigade and al-Mu’tasim Division.

Sources told Zaman al-Wasl that tens of Turkish-backed rebels have been deployed in Libya along with Turkish forces, as Ankara presses to implement a military cooperation agreement with the GNA in Tripoli reached in November.

The Turkish Military Intelligence met with commanders of the SNA in December in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, where they agreed to open a recruitment office.

The Turkish intelligence offered a number of incentives to attract the largest possible number from the National Army to register, including a monthly salary estimated at 3,000 dollars for officers and 2,000 dolars for other elements, in addition to providing weapons and ammunition as well as food, in exchange for at least a three-month combat mission in the Libyan territory.

Sultan Murad and al-Mu’tasim opened the door for voluntary registration, according to the source.

Two weeks ago, the opposition Syrian Interim Government denied it would be sending any troops to Libya amid reports confirming the beginning of training and deployment.

“We categorically deny sending any of our forces and military formations to Libya. Our priority in the Syrian National Army is to protect our Syrian people from the regime’s militias and its Russian and Iranian supporters,” it said in a statement.

The Syrian National Army is an umbrella group in northern Syria consisting of an assortment of rebel forces. Many of the group’s factions, made up largely of Syrian Arab fighters, had already fought at Turkey’s behest in two previous military operations over the past three years,

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he expects that a cease-fire in Libya would take effect in line with the recommendation jointly put forward by Russia and Turkey.

Speaking at a press conference, following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin said the conflict in Libya undermines the situation in the region and has a “negative impact” on Europe.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin urged a cease-fire in Libya following their meeting in Istanbul.

Since the ouster of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.

Turning to Iran, Putin called on the EU to fulfil its obligations under the nuclear deal, saying it is necessary to preserve the agreement to prevent Iran from developing nuclear arms.

The Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar, continued its advance on the western city of Misrata as military officials seemed determined to enter the city ahead of any potential deployment of Turkish troops to the country, like reported by aawsat.com.

The move towards Misrata comes just days after the LNA captured the strategic coastal city of Sirte in a rapid advance preceded by air strikes.

The LNA moved beyond Sirte and captured new positions west of the city ahead of completely storming it.

A prominent LNA commander told Asharq Al-Awsat that demoralized Misrata militias that had fled Sirte were returning to their city.

The capture of Sirte was the LNA’s second rapid operation, he said on condition of anonymity, adding that the first such operation led to the liberation of oil ports.

“The situation is excellent. Our forces are advancing on all fronts amid the collapse in morale of the militias,” he added.

The LNA was, meanwhile, making advances on the capital Tripoli, against the Government of National Accord and its loyalist militias.

LNA media said its forces had captured positions in the Salaheddine area in southern Tripoli that were previously the frontlines of militias.

Head of the GNA, Fayez al-Sarraj, has yet to comment on the loss of Sirte.

Libya’s call seeking military assistance from Turkey and the latter’s prompt announcement on December 26 of its readiness to meet the request as early as January is no doubt a carefully choreographed sequence of events, like reported by counterpunch.org.

Tripoli and Ankara are moving in tandem. The day before the Turkish announcement, President Recep Erdogan made a “secret” day-long visit to Tunis to streamline a regional axis comprising Turkey, Qatar, Tunisia and Algeria over the Libyan situation. In the Turkish perspective, if Libya falls under dictatorship (as in Egypt), a similar threat would arise to the democratization (“Arab Spring”) in Tunisia as well.

Turkey and Libya are taking care that they have regional support while countering the renegade general Khalifa Haftar’s offensive to capture Tripoli. Haftar has the backing of Russia, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which is a formidable combination.

Erdogan has openly alleged that thousands of mercenaries from Russia and Sudan are operating on Haftar’s side. The UAE keeps a base in Libya from which drones operate. Effectively, Erdogan has highlighted Moscow’s doublespeak on “regime change.”

The Russian predicament comes out clearly in the defensive remarks made by the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in Moscow on December 26. Peskov was hard-pressed to give a cogent explanation for the Russian mercenaries fighting in Syria. (Washington has alleged that Moscow has also lately deployed regular troops to Libya.) All he’d say was that “‘citizens of different countries act as mercenaries in various parts of the world’ and it is impossible for a country to control the movement of all its citizens.” Just not good enough.

Prima facie, if Erdogan deploys troops to Libya following parliamentary approval on January 8-9, that could pit Turkish forces against Russians. But neither Turkey nor Russia wants such a confrontation that could spoil their warming ties.

Meanwhile, Moscow is also leveraging the situation in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, the last remaining bastion of extremist groups, where Russian-backed Syrian government forces lately stepped up an offensive, threatening a new refugee wave toward the Turkish border.

Erdogan said on December 22 that fleeing the Russian-Syrian bombardment in Idlib, some 80,000 people are heading toward Turkish borders. Erdogan’s key aide, Ibrahim Kalin, disclosed on December 24 that Ankara has asked Russia to (re)establish the cease-fire in Idlib and “They [Russians] told our delegation that they will make an effort to stop the regime’s attacks within 24 hours.”

Moscow holds an “Idlib card.” The point is, it is highly improbable that Moscow would withdraw support for Haftar. Moscow sees a window of opportunity to become the most influential player in Libya if Haftar captures Tripoli.

The renegade general might have been the CIA’s asset in the past, but today he’s “our s.o.b.,” Washington having taken the window seat in the Libyan conflict. Haftar’s other backers are Egypt and the UAE, and Russia overshadows them in military capability.

The Russian intervention in Libya is “self-financing” insofar as Saudis are bankrolling Haftar. Over and above, Russia is also serving the interests of the Egyptian, Saudi and Emirati regimes who are petrified that democratic transformation of Libya (on the lines of Tunisia or Algeria) may eventually lead to the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, as happened once in Egypt.

Succinctly put, a “strong man” ruling Libya with an iron hand is what suits Russia, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Moscow is pushing a big agenda in Libya. Apart from Libya’s vast oil reserves, the country can offer Russia bases along NATO’s “soft underbelly” in the Mediterranean, which would supplement the bases in Syria and help to change the geopolitical dynamics of the Eastern Mediterranean. (See “Haftar Is Russia’s Stone to Kill Many Birds,” Daily Sabah, December 27, 2019.)

Furthermore, a towering Russian presence in Libya would compel the European Union to negotiate with Moscow over the issue of refugee flow from north Africa to Europe, which would lead to a constructive engagement, EU sanctions notwithstanding.

Clearly, it is crucial that Russian and Turkish ambitions in Libya are reconciled and a flashpoint avoided. A Turkish intervention would complicate Russia’s best-laid plans for the Eastern Mediterranean. On the other hand, Russia is the only power standing in the way of the Turkish ambitions to reclaim the glories of its Ottoman past history or to mitigate its regional isolation by breaking the phalanx of hostile powers that are ganging up against it in the Eastern Mediterranean—Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt—with backing from the U.S. and EU.

Turkey’s considerations are similar to Russia’s, ranging from oil to geopolitics. (Read the Turkish narrative featured by the state news agency Anadolu on Erdogan’s grand strategy: “Turkey’s New Geostrategy From Tripoli to Doha: ‘Defending an Area.’”)

The Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is due to visit Turkey on January 8, is sure to try to dissuade Erdogan from his present path. In the final analysis, what remains to be seen is how they cooperate in Libya as they have been doing in Syria.

The Eastern Mediterranean holds the “triple gates” of Europe, Africa and Asia. The great power rivalries are traceable to at least 1453 when Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II captured Constantinople.

The noted Italian scholar and writer Francesco Sisci wrote recently on the riveting history of the Eastern Mediterranean and touched on the Turkish-Russian rivalry:

“Turks and Russians were rivals for centuries, contending for control and access to the Mediterranean. The Turks had basically total control of the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea until after they were clearly defeated in the siege of Vienna in 1683. In the following decades, Russia moved to push back the Turks from the Sea of Azov, and basically a century later they defeated the Crimean Khanate and established themselves on the north shores of the Black Sea.

“Yet it was only early in the 19th century in alliance with the English against Napoleon that the Russian fleet moved into the Mediterranean proper and began to strike an alliance with the Kingdom of Naples, in southern Italy, first against the French then against the English. Russians were expelled from southern Italy only with Garibaldi’s 1860 expedition to the south, backed by the English.

…

“The present slow but steady encroachment of Russians and Turks in Libya seems to follow the ancient pattern, in a rare historical moment in which Russians and Turks are getting along better with one another and both wary of other threats.”