Libyan government forces and their Turkish allies appear on the verge of an unexpected victory after the strategic retreat of Russian fighters over the weekend, and U.S. officials on Monday offered strong support for the government in Tripoli in its stand against Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army.
The sudden pullback of hundreds of Russian mercenary fighters — who had been fighting alongside Gen. Haftar’s forces, which are also backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — and Russian-made heavy military equipment from the outskirts of Tripoli was the latest sign that the tide may have turned. The Russian military contractors reportedly were flown from areas outside Tripoli to Bani Walid, nearly 100 miles southeast of the capital.
They then retreated even further to the central Libyan Jufra District, a stronghold of Gen. Haftar’s forces.
“They were flown in three military planes to Jufra and their military vehicles were driven there,” Bani Walid Mayor Salem Alaywan told Reuters over the weekend.
The dramatic shift comes just months after Gen. Haftar and his allies were on the verge of capturing Tripoli and landing a decisive blow against the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). The capture of Tripoli would have fueled even greater instability in a nation that’s been gripped by a decade-long civil war.
The chaos inside Libya sparked a 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which killed four Americans and sparked a political firestorm in Washington.
But Gen. Haftar’s drive to capture Tripoli faltered and the retreat of Russian forces indicates that the rebel army may be giving up on its effort to control the capital city — at least for now.
Turkish support appears to be the key difference. Last week, Libyan government forces used Turkish-made drones to target a Russian missile defense system at the al-Watiyah airbase, disabling the system and allowing government troops to ultimately capture the base.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also has deployed surface-to-air missile systems on the ground inside Libya which have proved effective in countering UAE-made drones and other craft employed by Gen. Haftar’s Army.
The Turkish weaponry has helped swing momentum back in favor of the GNA forces, an outcome that observers say seemed nearly impossible just a few months ago.
A GNA victory likely would be a major strategic defeat for Russia — which has saw oil-rich Libya as a theater to exert greater influence over the Middle East and North Africa — and a major foreign policy coup for Turkey. It also would likely give Ankara greater leverage in other dealings with Russia, such as the fragile peace agreement the two nations have tried to implement in northern Syria.
For the U.S., the geopolitical picture in Libya is more complex. U.S. officials on Monday voiced strong support for the GNA and suggested that Gen. Haftar’s eastern-based army is destabilizing the nation.
“Even now, in Libya, there are forces seeking to impose a new political order by military means or terrorism,” the U.S. embassy in Libya said in a statement Monday. “The United States is proud to partner with the legitimate, U.N.-recognized government of Libya, the GNA, and all those who are prepared to protect freedom and peace.”
But that statement did not acknowledge the fact that in April 2019, President Trump spoke on the phone with Gen. Haftar. The unexpected conversation at the time seemed to be paving the way for a potential shift in U.S. policy and potentially even the formal backing of the Libyan National Army.
“The president recognized 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,” the White House said in a statement after that call.
Since then, the administration has reiterated its support for the GNA.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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