Middle East Eye: Saudi Arabia doubled its support for Haftar in Libya

A British news website reported that Saudi Arabia is working to increase its support for the retired Libyan brigade, Khalifa Haftar, and intensify its efforts in order to have influence in any political settlement to the conflict in Libya.

The Middle East Eye website reported in an article to the journalist Samuel Rammani that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are concerned about the increasing activity of Turkey in Libya in favor of the internationally recognized government of national reconciliation.

Saudi Arabia's growing involvement in Libya is evident - according to Romani - in the diplomatic and military fields.

The French newspaper Le Monde revealed on January 24 that Saudi Arabia had provided financial assistance to the "Wagner" group (a Russian paramilitary organization that deployed mercenaries in Libya in support of Haftar's forces).

Saudi activity
The author says that although the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not address Le Monde's allegations, she stressed in her official statements that Riyadh is focusing, through its involvement in Libyan affairs, on finding a political solution to the crisis in that North African country.

Samuel Rammani goes on to say that Saudi Arabia's increased activity in Libya indicates a noticeable shift from its previous cautious support for Haftar, and has given up its position on the diplomatic process.

The writer pointed out that the UAE has been supplying Haftar with military hardware since the start of his campaign to control the capital, Tripoli, and regularly participates in diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the protracted conflict in Libya.

Although Saudi Arabia played a less clear role in Libya than the UAE has been playing, it reportedly guaranteed - tens of millions of dollars in financial aid before Haftar launched his attack on Tripoli.

Facing Turkey
In his article, Ramani believes that Saudi Arabia's growing activity in Libya can be justified by its desire to confront Turkey's military intervention in favor of the National Accord government, and in its quest to play a long-term diplomatic role in the Libyan crisis.

Saudi Arabia views Ankara's military aid to Tripoli - which coincided with joint gas exploration operations by Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean - as a threat to regional stability.

As a kind of showing its solidarity with Egypt - one of its largest allies in the Arab world - and affirming its opposition to Turkish behavior, Saudi Arabia has strengthened its alliance with Haftar.

Ramani quoted Saudi writer Salman Al-Ansari (the founder of the Saudi-American Public Relations Committee) as telling the "Monitor" news site that Saudi Arabia is "absolutely concerned about Turkish interference in the affairs of the Arab countries", claiming that Haftar controls more than 90% of the Libyan lands. It is supported by a democratically elected parliament.

Arab position
In another statement to the same website, geopolitical analyst Hamdan al-Shehri said that Riyadh views Hifter's decision to seek help from Arab countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as a "positive contrast" to woo Prime Minister Al-Wefaq Fayez al-Sarraj to a non-Arab country, Turkey, seeking assistance.

Al-Shehri added that Saudi Arabia wanted to stand with an Arab country, saying that was similar to its opposition to Iranian interference in Yemen and Syria.

Although a Middle East Eye article attributed Saudi Arabia's double support to Haftar to Ankara's military intervention in Libya, some Turkish and Libyan analysts expressed concern about Saudi Arabia's attempts to establish a sphere of influence in Libya.

Rammani believes that this concern is due to the fact that Saudi Arabia sided with the Salafi-led Islamist movement, which formed militias loyal to Haftar, who espouse an extremist view of Islam.

Misurata Alliance
Tanzo Oztas, a security affairs expert at the TRT World Research Center, claims that Saudi Arabia is seeking to establish an alliance between supporters of the mainstream movement and Salafi groups in the city of Misurata, which would establish Saudi Arabia as a major geopolitical stakeholder in Libya.

Although the UAE remains Haftar's main ally in the Arab world - according to Romani - the importance of Saudi Arabia as a sponsor of the Libyan national army and opposes Turkish intervention in Libya has increased in recent weeks.

The article author believes that if Turkey continues its military intervention in Libya, Saudi Arabia will likely increase its support for Haftar's forces and put pressure on its Western partners in order to get Turkey to moderate its behavior.

Although Saudi Arabia's strategy to contain Turkey has not yet been demonstrated its effectiveness, Riyadh hopes that the difficulties Ankara faces in the Syrian Idlib governorate will reduce its interference in Libya.