Reporting on Libya in western news media is rather thin but a narrative that does stand out is the growth of the Islamic State in the country.The Islamic State itself helps this process along by beheadings of Coptic Christians, attacks on oil fields complete with kidnappings, and suicide attacks as well. However, the main parties in conflict are the two governments, one in Tripoli with prime minister Omar al-Hasi and the other internationally-recognized in Tobruk, the House of Representatives, with prime minister Abdullah al-Thinni. Each government has militia associated with it, with the main umbrella group associated with Tripoli , Libya Dawn, and with Tobruk, the former militia of CIA-linked Khalifa Haftar , whose militia are now integrated into the Libyan armed forces. Khalifa is now officially commander of the Libyan armed forces as shown in the appended video. Haftar was retired but he along with many others who were part of the Gadaffi regimes’ armed forces who turned against Gadaffi have been called up to active duty.
Haftar, in effect, started the present conflict and split between the two governments back in February of 2014 when he declared the General National Council dissolved. The GNC went on about its business but a warrant was issued for Haftar’s arrest for attempting a coup. At the time, Abdullah Al-Thinni was defense minister. The warrant issued for Haftar’s arrest was never carried out.
In May of the same year 2014, Haftar started out with an attack on two Islamist bases in Benghazi as part of Operation Dignity designed to clear Libya of Islamists. As with his supporter in Egypt, President el-Sisi, Haftar considers the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists who oppose him as terrorists. Hence, the fight against the Tripoli government and its associated militia is part and parcel of the fight against terrorism. As part of the same Operation Dignity, forces allied with Haftar attacked and burned the Libyan parliament buildings.
The present prime minister of the Tobruk government, Abdullah al-Thinni was then prime minister of the GNC transitional government. He called the attacks in Benghazi illegal and claimed that Haftar was attempting a coup. Now he has made Haftar head of his armed forces. Of course if he didn’t he would probably be out of a job.
The Tobruk government is now up in arms, because some western countries, notably the UK and the US, have not joined in wholeheartedly with Al-Thinni, Haftar and Egypt in the “fight against terrorism”. No doubt the Islamic State is anxious for full western intervention since they believe there is no way in which the west would ever accept a peaceful Islamist rule. This is evident by what has happened in Egypt the IS could claim. The IS want an all-out war of Islam as they see it, against the west and Arab states who do not accept their interpretation of Islam. They see this strategy as a way of forcing Muslims into following their jihadist ideology.
A recent Newsweek article has left out any background to Haftar’s present position, nothing about his possible CIA links, nothing about Operation Dignity or the burning of the parliament building or his coup attempt, nothing about Al-Thinni’s former position. This is all irrelevant.
Almost all accounts, including Newsweek, also leave out the fact that the Libyan Supreme Court last November declared the elections to the House of Representatives last June to be unconstitutional and that the Tobruk government should be dissolved.
The spin on this event by many in the west and the Tobruk government was to claim that the decision was made under duress since there were militia guarding the court building. Perhaps, the court needed protection from Haftar, after all he had the parliament burned earlier.The reaction of the Islamists when the election of their favourite for prime minister was annulled by the same Supreme Court was in stark contrast: As a result of this decision, Abdullah al-Thinni was left as interim prime minister of the GNC government. There was no protest then that the decision was somehow the result of force by Al-Thinni.
None of this background is relevant to understanding what is happening for Newsweek. Their article shows sympathy for Ibrahim Dabbashi Libyan ambassador to the UN. Who demanded an apology from Mark Lyall Grant a UK diplomat. Grant had voiced the opinion that the LIbyan National Army under Haftar was not up to fighting the Islamic State. As with virtually all western media accounts, Dabbashi is simply called the Libyan ambassador as if there is no question of his legitimacy, though there is. Even the UN professes to be neutral with respect to the legitimacy of the Tripoli and Tobruk government although from time to time its phrasing does not reflect this but favours the Tobruk government. According to the Newsweek article, the British emissaries in Libya explained that Grant’s words were taken out of context.
Grant along with the US and the UK want the UN-sponsored peace talks and dialogue to be successful. Haftar and Al-Thinni want an end to the arms embargo and support for their own battle against the Islamists. Many western countries far prefer a unity government which would be a stronger force against the Islamic State. While it is true that the Tripoli government is itself allied with some radical Islamists, it is at war as well with the Islamic State and in fact has sent troops to drive IS out of Sirte which is in an area controlled by Tripoli. A unity government fighting against the IS is surely preferable to supporting Haftar and al-Thinni in what would become an all out bloody civil war between Tripoli and Tobruk with an uncertain outcome.
Whether, the US will continue to refrain from helping the Tobruk government is uncertain. As the Newsweek article notes Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told the US Congress that Obama’s request to US force in the battle against IS “could apply to operations in and around Libya”. The Newsweek article pushes the Egyptian and Libyan case for intervention through statements of Egyptian president el-Sisi: Sisi has long complained that the U.S. is nitpicking over human rights violations as the Egyptian army fights jihadi groups in the Sinai. He says his political opponents, the Muslim Brotherhood, supply the ideological basis for Al-Qaeda and ISIS, which fight in the region.
The article concludes with a final statement from Dabbashi, the Tobruk ambassador:
“They want us to fight the terrorists, but they won’t give us the weapons.”
There is no equal time given to Tripoli authorities to express their views on events.
