By: Azhar Azam
*This is one of my opinion pieces (unedited) that first appeared in "The Express Tribune":
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2246910/6-foreign-intervention-libya/
Almost a decade after the longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising in Libya, the major North African oil producing country is yet to witness any lull in the prickly civil war as an intense domestic strife, assisted by several international governments, continues to drive the nation into a sheer hullabaloo.
Even though the states involved in deadly internal conflict have endorsed the UN calls to end the foreign intervention and cease infighting between the two warring parties, Government of National Accord (GNA) of Fayez al-Sarraj and Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar, the fierce battle to control the torn-up land is far from over.
Bolstered by recent gains in Tarhouna, Sharara and Tripoli – the GNA forces are fighting to push its rival out of al-Jufra and Sirte, the gateway to Haftar’s stronghold in the east. Serraj, having survived the onslaught of the renegade General with surged support from Turkey for more than a year, now seeks to recapture “whole of the homeland.”
The operation, Path to Victory, launched last Saturday by the internationally recognized GNA government pledged to “liberate all of Libya from the war criminal Haftar,” who is backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – other major influential powers in the Libyan conflict. The retreating LNA also vowed to keep fighting until the ceasefire is accepted by its opposing side.
Latest clashes emerged after the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on Wednesday that both groups were fully engaged in the third round of 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) talks and called on them to further de-escalate to prevent additional civilian casualties and new waves of displacement.
Notwithstanding the announcement, resumption of fight sternly threatens the UN-brokered peace dialogue in the country. Earlier, it was LNA that undermined talks over its renewed achievements and veiled aegis from the US and now, the GNA is pursuing the same tactics to acquire leverage before the start of the peace process.
The entire poser emanates from Turkish shaky endorsement to any negotiations. Ankara’s conditional support for a political solution – while dismissing Egyptian proposal and reaffirmation that the GNA would continue fighting to seize the coastal city of Sirte and the Jufra air base further south – elevates risks to the likelihoods of any successful peace effort.
Turkish military intervention in Libya – buttressing its support for the GNA through deploying soldiers, drones and fighters from Syria – is aimed at seeking a sweeping control on vast energy reserves in the country and the eastern Mediterranean. A last year maritime delimitation deal between Ankara and Tripoli, to create an exclusive economic zone from its southern to Libyan northeast coast, described Turkish profound interests in strategic assets and resources of the region.
Ankara’s signing of the treaty has stoked tensions with Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, France and the UAE that in a joint statement on May 11 strongly condemned Turkish offensive moves. Turkey also had criticized five-nation-declaration and fired back at Cyprus and Greece for “relying on irrelevant non-regional actors.”
Now Erdogan administration is quickly stepping ahead to gain overwhelmingly from a pro-Turkish government in Libya. It last month announced plans to begin oil exploration within three to four months and deploy the Fatih ship to hold its first drilling operation in Black Sea on July 15 as well as reiterated to send its new Kanuni ship to the strategic zone.
The importunity not to commit an engagement in Libya and eastern Mediterranean by Ankara could invoke disturbances and threaten any long-lasting truce between Libyan contending sides. As its gamble to militarily intervene in Tripoli is apparently coming to fruition, the sporadic success can lead Turkey to become more aggressive in the ravaged country and across the regional seawaters.
On Friday, Turkish officials said that its air force and navy conducted joint military drills, High Seas Exercises, in the Mediterranean Sea near Libya. The maneuvers, comprising 17 warplanes and 8 frigates off the coast of Libya, was clearly a show of power and shined on Turkey’s long-term ambitions.
The contemporary events coincided with a drama in Mediterranean when a Turkish vessel accompanying two frigates and purportedly carrying weapons to Libya, prohibited an inspection from Greek navy ship that was sailing under the new European Union (EU) naval mission, Operation Irini, off the Libyan coast.
Irini replaced the prior human trafficking-linked Operation Sophia and is the EU rehabilitated campaign, which asserts to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya through a military effort by deploying aerial, satellite and maritime assets in Mediterranean and contribute to a political peace process and sustainable ceasefire in Libya.
Almost after five years of failed Sophia without meaningfully deterring the flow of migrants, disrupting the smugglers’ networks or impeding the illegal trade – the future of EU’s latest Operation Irini, akin to its predecessor, seems to be hazy and makes the goals of the Irini effort even skeptical.
While Turkey tightens its grip in Libya and eastern Mediterranean, the only thing that threatens to fizzle out in Libya over the long-winded foreign involvement is peace. As hard-pressed by Ankara, the GNA marches deep into the strong footholds of Haftar but faces a strong resistance, the bloody faceoff would push further back any peace prospects in the hapless country.
*This is one of my opinion pieces (unedited) that first appeared in "The Express Tribune":
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2246910/6-foreign-intervention-libya/
Almost a decade after the longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising in Libya, the major North African oil producing country is yet to witness any lull in the prickly civil war as an intense domestic strife, assisted by several international governments, continues to drive the nation into a sheer hullabaloo.
Even though the states involved in deadly internal conflict have endorsed the UN calls to end the foreign intervention and cease infighting between the two warring parties, Government of National Accord (GNA) of Fayez al-Sarraj and Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar, the fierce battle to control the torn-up land is far from over.
Bolstered by recent gains in Tarhouna, Sharara and Tripoli – the GNA forces are fighting to push its rival out of al-Jufra and Sirte, the gateway to Haftar’s stronghold in the east. Serraj, having survived the onslaught of the renegade General with surged support from Turkey for more than a year, now seeks to recapture “whole of the homeland.”
The operation, Path to Victory, launched last Saturday by the internationally recognized GNA government pledged to “liberate all of Libya from the war criminal Haftar,” who is backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – other major influential powers in the Libyan conflict. The retreating LNA also vowed to keep fighting until the ceasefire is accepted by its opposing side.
Latest clashes emerged after the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on Wednesday that both groups were fully engaged in the third round of 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) talks and called on them to further de-escalate to prevent additional civilian casualties and new waves of displacement.
Notwithstanding the announcement, resumption of fight sternly threatens the UN-brokered peace dialogue in the country. Earlier, it was LNA that undermined talks over its renewed achievements and veiled aegis from the US and now, the GNA is pursuing the same tactics to acquire leverage before the start of the peace process.
The entire poser emanates from Turkish shaky endorsement to any negotiations. Ankara’s conditional support for a political solution – while dismissing Egyptian proposal and reaffirmation that the GNA would continue fighting to seize the coastal city of Sirte and the Jufra air base further south – elevates risks to the likelihoods of any successful peace effort.
Turkish military intervention in Libya – buttressing its support for the GNA through deploying soldiers, drones and fighters from Syria – is aimed at seeking a sweeping control on vast energy reserves in the country and the eastern Mediterranean. A last year maritime delimitation deal between Ankara and Tripoli, to create an exclusive economic zone from its southern to Libyan northeast coast, described Turkish profound interests in strategic assets and resources of the region.
Ankara’s signing of the treaty has stoked tensions with Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, France and the UAE that in a joint statement on May 11 strongly condemned Turkish offensive moves. Turkey also had criticized five-nation-declaration and fired back at Cyprus and Greece for “relying on irrelevant non-regional actors.”
Now Erdogan administration is quickly stepping ahead to gain overwhelmingly from a pro-Turkish government in Libya. It last month announced plans to begin oil exploration within three to four months and deploy the Fatih ship to hold its first drilling operation in Black Sea on July 15 as well as reiterated to send its new Kanuni ship to the strategic zone.
The importunity not to commit an engagement in Libya and eastern Mediterranean by Ankara could invoke disturbances and threaten any long-lasting truce between Libyan contending sides. As its gamble to militarily intervene in Tripoli is apparently coming to fruition, the sporadic success can lead Turkey to become more aggressive in the ravaged country and across the regional seawaters.
On Friday, Turkish officials said that its air force and navy conducted joint military drills, High Seas Exercises, in the Mediterranean Sea near Libya. The maneuvers, comprising 17 warplanes and 8 frigates off the coast of Libya, was clearly a show of power and shined on Turkey’s long-term ambitions.
The contemporary events coincided with a drama in Mediterranean when a Turkish vessel accompanying two frigates and purportedly carrying weapons to Libya, prohibited an inspection from Greek navy ship that was sailing under the new European Union (EU) naval mission, Operation Irini, off the Libyan coast.
Irini replaced the prior human trafficking-linked Operation Sophia and is the EU rehabilitated campaign, which asserts to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya through a military effort by deploying aerial, satellite and maritime assets in Mediterranean and contribute to a political peace process and sustainable ceasefire in Libya.
Almost after five years of failed Sophia without meaningfully deterring the flow of migrants, disrupting the smugglers’ networks or impeding the illegal trade – the future of EU’s latest Operation Irini, akin to its predecessor, seems to be hazy and makes the goals of the Irini effort even skeptical.
While Turkey tightens its grip in Libya and eastern Mediterranean, the only thing that threatens to fizzle out in Libya over the long-winded foreign involvement is peace. As hard-pressed by Ankara, the GNA marches deep into the strong footholds of Haftar but faces a strong resistance, the bloody faceoff would push further back any peace prospects in the hapless country.