The richly disastrous mess that is Libya has been moving into another phase of inspired aggression at the hands of General Khalifa Haftar. As he does, UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj is anxious. For some three weeks, the General’s eastern forces, known as the Libyan National Army (LNA) have been edging towards the capital of the fractured state in a hope to remove the “remaining terrorist groups” in the region, like reported by counterpunch.org.

The government of national accord (GNA) is not getting the voices of support in foreign capitals it might have once enjoyed. In early April, Al-Sarraj was keen to stress his view on how Libya would return to a state of strife-free normalcy. “We will not give up our principles and peaceful solutions to reach a civil state, to ensure that totalitarian rule or militarisation of the state will not return.”

Much stock was placed in having a national dialogue that would lead to “the unification of institutions and the holding of right presidential and parliamentary constitutional elections to allow people to have their say.”

General Haftar, veteran of the Libyan war in Chad during the 1970s and 1980s and touted past collaborator with the CIA, has preferred to spoil the party with his own effort to besiege the capital, despite efforts on the part of Western diplomats to discourage him. His argument in attacking Tripoli since the chaos of 2011 has been directed at the feeble efforts of Libya’s interim figures, whom he accuses of being oblivious to the Islamist militia problem. His response to the militia problem has been to create his own ragtag grouping of militias. It takes one to get rid of one.

Al-Sarraj is doing everything he can to assure that his forces will play by the rules of international humanitarian law, hoping that this will keep him in the good books and add him to others. A counter-offensive has begun, and clashes have been reported in Wadi Rabea, Airport Road, Ain Zara and Khalit Al-Furjan.

As the recognised government struggles, old formulae of accusations and suspicions are also playing out. Al-Sarraj and his colleagues are convinced the general is getting support from external sources, though their finger pointing is somewhat awry. Of little doubt is the assistance Haftar is receiving from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which have done their bit to add some polish in terms of equipment to the LNA.

Russia is keen that Haftar not receive all the blame for the new round of spoliation; the United States seemed confused on the matter in the UN Security Council, though President Donald Trump has done much to confuse the issue. (Previously, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had called on Haftar to halt his attack.) In conversations with Haftar, Trump seemed to give his nod of approval to the efforts on the part of the LNA leader to restore order. In a phone call, Trump “recognised Field Marshal Haftar’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources, and the two discussed a shared vision for Libya’s transition to a stable, democratic political system.”

With the regime in Tripoli isolated, the Libyan Interior Minister, Fathi Bashagha, has led the recriminations. France, despite having supplied six patrol boats to Al-Sarraj’s forces as early as February, not to mention training for the presidential guard, has been singled out as arch villain. The interior ministry has suspended “all relations between the ministry and the French side… due to the position of the French government in support of the criminal Haftar.”

European politicians are observing the latest round of violence with concern less for the humanitarian consequences to Libya than the clouded security picture that will follow. “If the war persists,” warns former Italian Interior Minister Marco Minitti, “all those fleeing the clashes will turn into refugees per the international conventions, thus bringing among them foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq who usually use chaos to transport from one place to another.” How inconsiderate of them.

The French response has been one of shrugged shoulders, and some regret. But the final picture here is one of typical, undermining indifference. It was France who, helped by the United Kingdom and the United States, led the campaign to oust Muammar Qaddafi with catastrophic consequences for a state that has ceased to be.

Since 2011, to call Libya a functioning political entity has been a charade of grotesque proportion assisted by forced theatre on the diplomatic stage. The post-2014 civil war in the aftermath of the ejection of the internationally acknowledged Libyan parliament by forces working with the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, has seen continuing, crippling conflict. What is distinctly not a charade are the deaths and refugees that are growing in number, meaning that this failed state is on track to become the next blood soaked Syria.

Moroccan authorities said Tuesday they had arrested seven militants with links to ISIS, like reported by aawsat.com.

An initial group of six suspects, aged between 22 and 28, were “supporters” of ISIS and suspected of planning “terrorist acts”, the central bureau of investigations said in a statement.

They were arrested in the coastal town of Sale, near Rabat, in a raid led by the bureau’s anti-terrorism squad.

Electronic devices, bladed weapons and “extremist” documents, were found during the raid, it said.

Investigators later said a seventh person had been arrested in the Western Sahara town of Dakhla on suspicion of links with the Sale detainees.

What is happening across North Africa, from Mauritania to Libya and many points in between, is of critical interest to European actors, like reported by eurasiareview.com. European strategic interests are increasingly at stake because of the struggle over North Africa’s immediate future. Libya is a central focus, but the entire North African coast and its hinterlands of the Sahara are within the scope of the current contested space.

France’s strategic interests in the region are driven by security requirements, from immigrants to energy. The Sahel and the Maghreb fall within the current scope and this activity is seen in Mali, Niger and Libya. It’s likely that a motivating factor for Paris’ reported support for Khalifa Haftar was to stabilize neighboring Chad, where the main heart of French interests lies. Algeria and Sudan also need to be considered in terms of the strategic layout for Paris. France’s North African mission is turning into a major security priority.

Italy is seeing its remaining strategic interests fall outside of its immediate arena of control in Libya, and it is arguing with France sharply over the latter’s objectives in Libya. Rome is ultimately sharing many of the same security concerns involving immigrants and energy. Both France’s Total and Italy’s Eni have major investments and infrastructure throughout the region.

To be sure, relations between Italy and France, who are traditionally close allies, have grown cold since the far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement formed a coalition government last year and targeted French President Emmanuel Macron. Italy accuses France and specifically Macron of doing nothing to help handle the hundreds of thousands of mainly African migrants who have reached Italy from Libya in recent years.

Thus, France and Italy are functioning in an area of power politics to determine what is best for their respective security interests, rather than for a joint European approach, especially as they are the two countries to have been facing the North African security problem for decades. To be at this juncture illustrates that no lessons have really been learned about the requirement for European cooperation on such serious matters.

Beyond the France versus Italy divide, the UK is suffering from Brexit and it shows in North Africa because London is focused inward, except on a few key issues outside of this specific arena. Brexit is also naturally dividing Europe at a key juncture in North African history, as many countries are in various states of transition.

North Africa’s many recent changes in leadership have been welcomed by the EU. The bloc’s policy is concerned with the countries of the region adhering to counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics programs during this period of time. But immigration remains the highest priority and, as has been the case since the migrant crisis began, there has been a lack of adherence by member states to central EU policy. Internal tensions within key EU states have created the environment today where France sees the necessity to step forward ahead of continental interests.

Germany seems to be late coming in to the game, and it is focusing on its neighbor to the east, Russia. It was under the German chairmanship of the UN Security Council that a joint statement against the advance of Libyan National Army commander Haftar toward Tripoli failed. Russia, as it has so many times before, stood in the way. More to the point regarding the German government’s view is that Berlin is standing back from the French-Italian confrontation over North Africa and specifically Libya. The response from German government spokesman Steffen Seibert was “say nothing” to the question of whether Germany knew about the French support for Haftar. Now the German Foreign Ministry is assuring that it is “in discussions” with its partners in Italy and France.

Germany retreated on the topic when it came to mediating among its European allies. It failed to openly confront countries like France and Italy over their disjointed stances. This inability to agree opens the door to the ongoing transition being done on Arab terms in a more robust way then previously seen.

Russia sees European disunity over Libya and North Africa as a weakness and consequently has been achieving an impressive build-up of good, stable relations with many countries across the region. The transformation of key states such as Algeria, Libya and Sudan is playing perfectly into Russia’s favor because of this broken security environment. European states need to recognize that their own internal bickering is creating the conditions for Moscow to become an alternative center, much like the Kremlin did with much success in Syria.

Overall, Europe’s division is helping to reshape the North African security environment by ceding some of the responsibility to regional states. These states are thus getting heavily involved, which can be seen as a requirement of key Arab states to help make up for Europe’s shortcomings and to partner with those who demonstrate the most resolve and strength.

Fierce fighting intensified in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, leading to the death of more than 254 people and the injury of 1,228 others, but the cost of these battles may trespass Libya borders, causing serious consequences for neighbouring Tunisia, like reported by middleeastmonitor.com.

Tunisia, which shares a 500 kilometre border with Libya, is wary of the consequences of a second-week of fighting after the retired General Khalifa Haftar launched a military operation on 4 April to take control of the city.

Although Haftar has so far failed to make progress on the ground, the long fighting increased Tunisia’s fears, which announced a few days ago that 24 European militants, including 13 French citizens, had crossed the border from Libya.

According to observers, fears have been evident since the first moments of Haftar’s operation in Tripoli. The Tunisian Ministry of Defence announced that it would anticipate any emergency and would take all precautions to secure the south-eastern border and face potential repercussions in anticipation of possible developments.

While the Tunisian Foreign Ministry called for the immediate cessation of fighting in Tripoli. It also renewed its call to the parties to the conflict to seek a peaceful and consensual solution, describing the military escalation witnessed by Libya as “dangerous”.

In turn, the Tunisian presidency called for the need to avoid military escalation in Libya and end the infighting.

The Ministry of the Interior increased its readiness, and warned of the risk of the infiltration of terrorist militants across the eastern border, because of the security situation in Libya.

A climate conducive to terrorism
Tariq Al-Kahlawi, former Director of the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies, said: “The instability in the western region in Libya could deepen the chaos and weaken the power of the forces that support the Government of National Accord, which could lead to the return of the concentration of ISIS [Daesh] on the Tunisian border.”

In an interview with the Turkish agency Anadolu, Al-Kahlawi pointed out that “what is happening in Libya would create a favourable atmosphere for the activity of terrorists, and investment in chaos.”

He added that “the state of chaos will make the task of the Tunisian side to find a party in Libya to coordinate with more difficult, as the Libyan parties are engaged in internal conflict.”

“The situation in Libya may exhaust the ability of the [Tunisian] army and security forces to secure the border. Nevertheless, these forces remain on high alert,” Al-Kahlawi continued.

As for the repercussions of the situation in Libya on the economy of Tunisia, Al-Kahlawi said that this influence “will not be limited to Tunisia, as Libya is an oil country and the conflict there may affect the rise in fuel prices and the oil market, although the current policy of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is based on not increasing production to maintain prices.”

Hamas has managed to recruit members of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces into the terrorist group over the past year, including some in sensitive units that work alongside Israel to thwart Hamas terror activity in the West Bank, according to toi.com report on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Authority’s intelligence agents caught wind of the breach, launching a covert crackdown on the Hamas spies several months ago that saw several security officers jailed after confessing to working for the terror group, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, which cited Palestinian sources.

The report said Palestinian security officers were reeled in to work for Hamas either through bribes and financial incentives, or through the jailing of their relatives in Gaza.

Leaders of Hamas in Gaza and abroad oversaw the recruitment of the PA security officers, the report said.

The officers were asked to convey sensitive intelligence to the Gaza leaders on PA security operations, including against Hamas cells in the West Bank. Some were told to plant false information to mislead the PA forces.

Hamas managed to infiltrate various units, including the Preventative Security Service that works with Israel to foil terror attacks (and is the equivalent to the Shin Bet security service in Israel), intelligence, and the Palestinian police, among others, the report said.

The PA has largely thwarted the infiltration after jailing suspects who admitted they were serving Hamas, the report said, and PA President Mahmoud Abbas was updated throughout on the secret investigation.

But concerns linger that other Palestinian security officers, who recently have received only 50 percent of their monthly salaries amid a budget crunch, could easily be enticed to work for Hamas for the money.

Hamas and the Fatah-dominated PA have been at loggerheads for years and attempts at reconciliation between the warring Palestinian factions have repeatedly failed.

Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) accused France of backing rebel commander Khalifa Haftar on Thursday and said it would suspend all security cooperation with Paris, like reported by euronews.com.

A statement from the Tripoli-based GNA’s interior ministry said it had suspended “all relations between the ministry and the French side” because of “the position of the French government in support of the criminal Haftar.”

A French presidential source said in response to the accusation that France supported the internationally recognised government in Tripoli and that Emmanuel Macron’s legitimate interlocutor was Fayez al-Sarraj, the GNA’s prime minister, with whom he spoke on Monday and reaffirmed that.

France has helped train Serraj’s presidential guard and in October 2013 signed a deal between a consultancy of the French interior ministry and the Libyan interior ministry to train 1,000 police.

Most recently in February, France provided the Tripoli government with six patrol boats for its coastline.

However, Paris has given Haftar support in the past viewing him as the best bet to end the chaos that has reigned since a NATO-backed rebellion set out to end Gaddafi’s murderous four-decade rule.

Euronews has reached out to the French Foreign Affairs Ministry.

‘For the dignity of Libya’

General Haftar leads the rebel Libyan National Army (LNA) forces, aligned with the House of Representatives, an elected government based in the east of the country. The LNA has fought the GNA for control of the north-African country since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

On April 4, Haftar launched a military operation to take Tripoli. LNA spokesman General Ahmed Mismari told Euronews the offensive aimed “to defend civilians, to defend the Libyan people, to defend our country resources, for the dignity of Libya.”

Some 205 people have died and more than 900 were wounded so far in the fighting, according to the World Health Organisation.

The GNA also issued arrest warrants on Thursday against Haftar and six other LNA commanders.

The EU has officially called for negotiations between the two parties and Germany called on Wednesday for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

An armed group on Thursday attacked a major air base in southern Libya controlled by eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar who has moved much of his forces north to try take the capital Tripoli, officials said according to arabnews.com.

Fighting was continuing at the Tamanhint base near Sabha, the main city in southern Libya, Sabha Major Hamid Rafaa Al-Khiyali and an eastern military official said, without giving more details.

The identity of the attackers was not immediately clear.

The base is Haftar’s main air base in southern Libya, which his Libyan National Army force seized earlier this year, though tribesmen with flexible loyalties remain strong in the sparsely populated desert region.

Haftar, who is allied to a parallel government based in the east, started an offensive two weeks ago on Tripoli, which is held by the internationally recognized government, increasing the chaos that has plagued the oil producing nation since 2011.

The fighting in Tripoli has killed some 205 people, including 18 civilians, and wounded 913, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

The thousands of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadis in Libya have reportedly expanded their resurgence in the region in recent months amid the fall of the group’s so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The terrorists are reportedly exploiting the clashes between the two rival governments in the country as a cover and distraction to launch a surprise deadly attack against the town of Al-Fuqah in the last few days.

ISIS has steadily been making a comeback after losing its grip of Libya’s coastal Sirte to U.S.-backed local fighters in late 2016, once considered the group’s largest stronghold outside its now decimated territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

In October 2018, Frank Kryza from the Chatham House think-tank’s Royal Institute of International Affairs declared in an editorial, “There is a significant risk that Libya will become the new caliphate, the long-sought Islamic State.”

Libya is located a few hundred miles from the coast of Europe and some experts have warned Sirte, in particular, could be used as a launchpad for attacks against Europeans.

“If we do nothing, Libya will cease to exist as a country. Imagine, if you can, an Islamic caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea not far from Italy. It is a grim vision,” Frank Kryza from Chatham House wrote.

Libya’s two prominent warring factions — the forces of Russia- and France-backed warlord Khalifa Haftar and those of internationally-recognized Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj’s administration – have been clashing in Tripoli, undermining U.S. military efforts against ISIS since the American troops “temporarily” left due to the ongoing unrest.

ISIS capitalized on the opportunity stemming from ongoing tensions between the two sides to launch a surprise nighttime assault on al-Fuqaha, the pro-Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad al-Masdar News (AMN) agency reported Monday.

AMN reveals ISIS conducted the deadly assault in Fuqaha using dozens of jihadis transported into the area in 13 vehicles.

Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) — loyal to the renegade government based in eastern Tobruk region — reportedly killed two jihadis in the town after they executed two local police officers and killed the police chief’s spouse and set his house and office ablaze.

The jihadis also kidnapped a dozen people before abandoning the town.

In the wake of the attack on the town, ISIS’s media unit disseminated several images of the alleged operation, including jihadis executing law enforcement officials.

Soon after U.S.-backed local forces pushed ISIS out of Sirte in 2016, American and Libyan military officials warned about a potential resurgence of the terrorist group, noting the jihadists were regrouping outside of Sirte in deserts and mountainous regions of Libya.

ISIS remains a “potent menace” in Libya, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) found in September 2018, adding, “In July 2018, United Nations reporting citing Member State information estimated that the group has 3,000 and 4,000 members and ‘still has the capacity to launch significant attacks within Libya and across the border.’”

Echoing other experts, Kryza from Chatham House declared Libya’s descent into chaos following the U.S.-backed overthrow and execution of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 is providing a fertile ground for ISIS to flourish.

Citing the CIA, Kryza estimates Libya is already home to “between 20,000 and 30,000 ISIS fighters.”

The Hezbollah terror group has put up a giant antenna in Lebanon broadcasting a Hamas-run radio station south into Israel, urging Arab citizens to carry out terror attacks, Israeli authorities said this week, like reported by toi.com.

Israel in February said that that Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that rules the Gaza Strip, was using its Al Aqsa TV channel to coordinate attacks in the West Bank with on-air cues, after the IDF bombed the network’s Gaza headquarters in December.

But some two months ago, Hezbollah built the antenna at a Lebanese army base in the southern Lebanese village of Marwahin to broadcast the network’s radio hundreds of kilometers into Israel and as far as the Tel Aviv area, Channel 12 reported Tuesday night.

The antenna is so close to the Israeli border that the TV network was able to publish footage of armed soldiers guarding the antenna.

The radio is being blasted into Israel at the frequency 101.6FM, very close to that of an Israeli radio station that broadcasts on 101.5FM. The latter station has many Arab Israeli listeners and has received several complaints lately about the disruptions to its broadcasts.

Al-Aqsa TV’s reporters have frequently extolled violence against Israelis and rocket attacks on the Jewish state.

The report said the broadcasts can be heard clearly in jails in northern and central Israel, and that the radio has conveyed several messages to Hamas prisoners in recent weeks.

Israeli prisons have recently seen severe protests and a hunger strike by Hamas inmates after the Israel Prisons Service installed cellular jamming devices in the wards to prevent prisoners from using smuggled cellphones.

The IPS said some 300 contraband cellphones, some carrying messages between terror cells, had been smuggled into the wards in recent months. The cellphones were being used to coordinate terror attacks, and had been implicated in at least 14 recent attempts at coordinating attacks from inside Israeli prisons, the IPS said.

The hunger strike came to an end earlier this week after Israeli officials reportedly agreed to install public telephones in their prison wards.

Israel’s Communications Ministry said: “We checked and found that the transmitter is located in Lebanese territory, about three kilometers from the border. The ministry has filed an official complaint with the International Telecommunication Union, and it has been transferred to Lebanese authorities.”

The Shin Bet security service in February accused Al-Aqsa TV and Gaza-based journalists of acting as agents of Hamas’s military wing, passing clandestine messages to terror operatives in the West Bank and East Jerusalem by using quotes from the Quran or subtle gestures by the presenters.

The Shin Bet said the plot was a key factor in the decision made by the Israel Defense Forces to bomb Al-Aqsa TV’s headquarters in Gaza in November.

Shortly after the razing of the station’s building, the Hamas-affiliated outlet appeared poised to close, but was kept on air at the last minute, broadcasting from another location, thanks to an influx of money from the terror group.

In 2010, the US government designated the station a terror group. Last month, Israel followed in its tracks and also blacklisted the network.

Israel has also long accused Hamas and other terror groups of using the special status granted to journalists as a cover for nefarious activities.

Forces of the UN-backed unity government carried out an airstrike on Tuesday on a military camp belonging to East Libya-based commander Khalifa Hafter in the southern city of Al-Jufrah, according to local media and like reported by aa.com.tr.

The attack targeted the camp in the oasis town of Houn in southern Libya, 218 news channel said.

The channel, citing local sources, said the air defenses of pro-Haftar forces fired back at the warplane that carried out the airstrike.

There has been no reports of casualties.

Earlier this month, Haftar, who commands forces loyal to East Libya-based government, launched a military campaign to capture Tripoli, where the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) is based.

The GNA announced Monday that at least 76 people, including 24 civilians, had been killed since clashes erupted in the surroundings of capital Tripoli.

Since the 2011 ouster of late President Muammar Gaddafi, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya, and another in Tripoli, which enjoys UN support.