- Libya: The UN-recognized government retakes control of Tripoli and its periphery after expelling the troops of Marshal Jalifa Haftar
- Tarhuna: Russia and Turkey stoke decisive battle in Libya
Marshal Khalifa Haftar's ambition to take Tripoli and seize power across Libya collapses. Its hosts have suffered a humiliating and definitive defeat on Friday , key to ending a 14-month offensive against its rival, the United Nations Government (GNA) recognized by the United Nations. The fall of this city comes just a day after the allied GNA militias regained control of all of Tripoli and its periphery and marks a new turning point in the inter-Libyan conflict.
The battle had been going on for weeks with a frenetic movement of troops, mercenaries and armament, spurred by shipments from Russia (Haftar's ally) and Turkey (main support of the GNA). But it took the pro-government militias only an hour to exchange fire to expel forces aligned with the renegade military from Tarhuna. It was his last great bastion in Tripolitania and a strategic city to conquer Tripoli since it is located just 80 kilometers from the capital and was the base from which the siege was directed.
GNA-loyal troops, in high spirits after gaining control of the Greater Tripoli hours earlier, surrounded the city on all four sides and engaged in combat with the Kaniyat militia , a local brigade that joined Haftar in the early days. of his offensive against Tripoli. In the space of an hour, the pro-Haftar fighters were defeated and retreated to Bani Walid, the coastal city of Sirte and the base of Jufra, in the center of the country.
"Our troops fought with the horrible Kaniyat militia for over an hour. They defeated it and forced it to flee in the direction of Bani Walid," announced General Mohamad Gnunu, spokesman for the 'Volcan de Ira' operation , which groups the Tripoli and Misrata militias supporting the GNA. According to his story, collected by Efe, in just two hours, his troops took control of the strategic places in the city, where a government body and a security officer related to the GNA have already been established, reports the media ' Libya Observer '.
The entry of the GNA in Tarhuna has caused the flight of population groups eastward, for fear of reprisals. Among them, the Al Kani family, who leads local militias aligned with Haftar. The Al Kani brothers had controlled Tarhuna since 2014 and had built their armed group after the war that in 2011 overthrew the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyan leader had recruited soldiers in this city to feed his units and that was how after the defeat of the Gadafistas in late 2011, Tarhuna had a surplus of unemployed militiamen who were regrouped by the Al Kani. War crimes are attributed to the militia . The change in power in the city can unleash revenge, according to Amnesty International, which has called for an end to the revenge attacks against civilians by both sides.
The advance of the GNA extends its dominance in most of the northwest territory, reversing the offensive that Haftar started on April 4, 2019, when he directed all his combat capabilities to evict the Executive from Tripoli. For his part, the marshal still retains some strategic points in the west (Gharian and Bani Walid, where the GNA boots are now headed) and is strong in the east - where he has his 'capital', Benghazi - and the south. There are the oil fields and export terminals. The logistical, financial, military and political support of Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan guarantee him, for now, the dominance of this geography.
The two Libyans
But the victory of the Executive recognized by the United Nations - which imposed it in December 2015 - has a bitter taste. Consume the division of Libya into two zones with two governments, supported by their respective armed militias, and two central banks. The internationalization of the conflict, with the intervention of foreign powers that support rival sides, underpins the vision of a Libya divided 'de facto' into two entities: Tripolitania and Cyrenaica . "What is happening now is the beginning of the partition of Libya," said Sayed Mughib, a chamber parliamentarian from Tobruk, Haftar's ally, in statements collected by the Reuters agency.
The intervention of Turkey on the side of the GNA, from the end of 2019, has been definitive to decide the conflict in favor of the Prime Minister's Executive, Fayez Serraj, who is just visiting Ankara these days and interviewing the President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The flow of drones, Turkish military advisers, and Syrian militiamen on contract has changed the course of the war despite the United Arab Emirates and Russia also increasing their shipments of mercenaries and weapons destined for Haftar. Libya is considered the first privatized conflict of our time .
In a diplomatic movement predicting the now consummate change of course in the military theater, the United Nations announced on Wednesday that the negotiations between Haftar and Serraj, suspended for more than three months, were reactivated. Although the preceding dialogue tables do not give much hope about the new one, since none has managed to consolidate a ceasefire . The UN has also been unable to name a new special envoy for Libya, since Ghasan Salameh resigned in early March.
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