Libya Updates 6/12/17

Malta helps secure freedom for hostages held in Libya
1/13/16

Two Europeans hostages, kidnapped nine months ago, have been released and were flown to Malta last yesterday before heading home to their respective countries.

Austrian Alexander Haas and Serb Babic Radoslav Srja, both of whom worked with Argus Security for the Italian oil and gas company Eni, were said to have been seized west of Tripoli nine months ago by a Misratan militia.

[link to www.libyaherald.com (secure)]

Iran and Saudi Arabia are critical to oil, but don't ignore this OPEC 'wild card'
1/13/16

As oil prices continue to slide and tensions continue to flare in the Middle East, all eyes are glued to Iran and Saudi Arabia.

But there's another unpredictable player in OPEC that folks should be watching: Libya.

"Libya is the only other real OPEC supply wild card to the upside for 2016," an RBC Capital Markets team led by Helima Croft wrote.

[link to www.businessinsider.com]

Libya Meets With Energy Companies to Bolster Recovery of Its Damaged Petroleum Sector
1/13/16

ISTANBUL—The head of Libya’s state-oil company on Wednesday said he is meeting with major oil companies such as BP PLC to try to jump-start the country’s potential to produce petroleum, after Islamic State recently inflicted heavy damage to a key oil export terminal.

Mustafa Sanallah, chairman of the state-run National Oil Co., said he is meeting with France’s Total SA, Eni SpA of Italy and the U.K.’s BP, among other companies in Istanbul, trying to convince them to resume exploration efforts in Libya, as a unity government is expected to take power this month.

In the power vacuum that emerged after the ouster and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi 2011, militia groups have divided the country between the east and the West. An internationally backed government in the east has clashed with an Islamist group of militias known as Libya Dawn, which controls Tripoli and much of the country’s west.

[link to www.wsj.com]

Libya: To Be or Not to Be, That Is the Question?
1/13/16

Rabat – In 2011 when Gaddafi was killed by the mob or the militias, everybody believed that it was a new beginning for the country: a free and democratic Libya. In the aftermath, Libya did not become free and was not democratic, in the least. Instead, it became fractured, violent, tribal, patriarchal and divided. Rather than starting a new chapter and a new life, Libya, alas, was sliding slowly but surely into a tenebrous abyss resembling some sort of a hell or purgatory chamber.

Over the years, as violence became a daily casual occurrence, Libya almost became synonymous of disorder and dissonance in the news and the views and there were even thoughts that it is on its way to become a sister country of God-forsaken Somalia. However, hope emerged anew with the United Nations attempt to negotiate a national agreement through UNMSIL (United Nations support Mission in Libya).

[link to www.moroccoworldnews.com]

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Lengthy, but worth a look.

Islamic State's next target: Libya's oil industry?
1/14/16

[link to www.thehindu.com]

Libya oil pipeline hit by explosion
1/14/16

A spokesman for the NOC said it was not clear what had caused the explosion at the people, which has been closed for more than two years.

[link to www.energyvoice.com (secure)]

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Major oil pipeline hit by blast south of Libya's Ras Lanuf, NOC says
1/14/16

An explosion hit a major oil pipeline south of the Libyan terminal of Ras Lanuf overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, a spokesman for Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) said.

[link to news.yahoo.com]

Here We Go Again: Western Powers Preparing For New Invasion of Libya?
1/14/16

Alain Barluet, a correspondent for France’s Le Figaro, reported in late December that France is considering a plan for intervention in Libya to eradicate “the cancer of Daesh” as well as its metastases. Citing the French Defense Ministry the journalist pointed out that a six-month military operation would possibly be launched against Daesh in Libya before spring.

Furthermore, in the beginning of January 2016 Chris Hughes of the Daily Mirror reported that the British Special Air Service (SAS) have been deployed in Libya waiting for the arrival of almost 1,000 British military personnel. The journalist added that the upcoming military operation would bring together about 6,000 American and European soldiers, including Italian, British and French forces.

The question remains open as to whether 2016 will bring another all-out NATO-led military invasion of the North African state and what fruit the new war would bear.

[link to www.mintpressnews.com]

Libya: Benghazi’s displaced families appeal for assistance
1/14/16

“No matter how much civil society organisations try, they can’t support and care for all the families displaced in the absence of state and state support. The situation is very difficult right now. The state has not provided subsidies, most of the families in the schools are living in very difficult financial conditions, many below the poverty line,” Hanan al – Shuheibi, an official of the Libyan organization for development said.

The number of displaced families in Benghazi is reported to have reached about 47,000 . By the end of 2015, some 62 schools in Benghazi have been hosting families displaced by the war.

[link to www.africanews.com]

David Cameron defends Libya decisions
1/15/16

With all the focus on air strikes in Syria, the situation in Libya has been getting less attention in the UK. But David Cameron was forced to confront it this week when he was quizzed by MPs.

The prime minister promised, in September 2011, that he would not allow Libya to turn into another Iraq, but that, said senior Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, is effectively what has happened in the four years since the toppling of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.

[link to www.bbc.com]

Former US official: ISIS has the capability to organize Paris-like attacks out of its new base in Libya
1/15/16

Former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford testified before the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday and said the US will have to be ready to help a new government control territory in Libya as ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh) expands its influence there.

"I'm watching what's happening in Libya with concern," Ford said.

"They have an increasing ability to project military power out of their base at Sirte, and they have a safe haven space to organize, plan, and recruit. Just as the attack in Paris was organized in Syria, so they have space in Libya to do the same kind of thing."

[link to www.businessinsider.com]

New Emails Expose Hillary’s Dirty War in Libya
1/4/16

[link to levantreport.com]

Libya’s threatened ancient history, and why it is significant
1/15/16

Libya has been in the news in recent months as fears increase over the safety of its extraordinary heritage. The country’s treasures – like those of Syria and Iraq – are little known in Europe, but their loss would be a major blow to our shared cultural history. We asked Susan Walker, President of the Society for Libyan Studies at Oxford University, to introduce the most significant sites.

[link to www.apollo-magazine.com (secure)]

‘Jihadist African revival started by NATO misadventure in Libya’
1/16/16

RT: The capital of Burkino Faso witnessed a horrific terrorist attack on a luxury hotel on Friday; in November, terrorists struck in Somalia, while two months ago, Mali was targeted. Is Africa being consumed by terrorism?

Dr. Sreeram Chaulia: I think there is a global jihadist revival. We are seeing from Indonesia through Africa, there is a wide arc there. Jihadist groups are regrouping, remobilizing and taking advantage of unstable polities and weaker states. Burkina Faso is bordering Mali, where there has been an Islamist takeover and a French military intervention. And before that, there was the catastrophic NATO intervention in Libya that started off this whole process by spreading weapons and fanatics all over the region.

So there is a revival going on. There is competition between Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. And in the region, there is Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS…

[link to www.rt.com (secure)]

From 2011

Italy rescues nearly 250 migrants off Libya: coastguard
1/16/16

An Italian ship on Saturday morning reached the Sicilian port of Catania bringing 246 migrants to safety as well as the body of another after two rescue operations off the coast of chaos-wracked Libya, the coastguard said.

[link to au.news.yahoo.com (secure)]

flashback

Islamic State 'planning to use Libya as gateway to Europe'
2/17/15

Islamic State militants are planning a takeover of Libya as a "gateway" to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, letters written by the group's supporters have revealed.
The jihadists hope to flood the north African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on people trafficking vessels, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group.

[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

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ISIS Threatens to Flood Europe and Elsewhere as “Libyan Refugees”
2/19/15

Libim cites “the number of trips known as ‘illegal immigration’ from this coast, which are huge in number … if this was even partially exploited and developed strategically, pandemonium could be wrought in the southern European states and it is even possible that there could be a closure of shipping lines and targeting of Crusader ships and tankers.”

While this is propaganda, the fact is that ISIS is aware of the value of Libya.

At least 200,000 refugees and immigrants are about to make the crossing from Libya to Sicily or the tiny island of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost territory.

Last year more than 170,000 arrived in Italy by boat, including tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the civil war in their home country. Greece is another popular port for refugees from North Africa.

[link to www.independentsentinel.com]

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U.N. estimates up to 850 migrants perished in capsized boat off Libya
4/21/15

BERLIN — The United Nations refugee agency estimated Tuesday that as many as 850 migrants had perished in a boat capsizing this week off the coast of Libya, as the ship’s captain and a crew member were taken into custody on criminal ­charges.

The U.N. estimate would confirm fears that the accident was the single worst disaster involving the flow of migrants seeking to reach Europe across the Mediterranean Sea.

But Italian prosecutors gave a broader range on the possible death toll, saying that interviews with survivors placed the number of victims between 400 and 950.

[link to www.washingtonpost.com (secure)]

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What’s Behind the Surge in Refugees Crossing the Mediterranean Sea
5/21/15

The civil war in Libya has made it easier for smugglers to transport people through the country. As a result, the number of people fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea has surged since last year. So far this year more than 1,800 migrants may have drowned attempting the journey.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

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Half a million refugees gather in Libya to attempt perilous crossing to Europe
6/6/15

Up to half a million refugees are gathering in Libya to attempt the crossing to Europe on the deadly boats that have killed thousands already.

The toll of misery was revealed by senior Royal Navy officers leading Britain’s Mediterranean rescue mission off the Libyan coast. Britain’s amphibious assault ship HMS Bulwark has helped save around 4,000 refugees before they drowned having set sail in unseaworthy boats.

The ship’s 350-strong company of sailors and Royal Marines is bracing itself to rescue a further 3,000. Captain Nick Cooke-Priest said: “Indications are that there are 450,000 to 500,000 migrants in Libya who are waiting at the border.”

[link to www.theguardian.com]

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Migrant crisis: up to 200 dead after boat carrying refugees sinks off Libya
8/28/15

Up to 200 bodies have been discovered off the coast of one of Libya’s main people-smuggling hubs, in the latest tragedy of the European migration crisis.

The bodies were found by a Libyan coastguard vessel around a kilometre from Zuwara, a port in western Libya that is a major departure point for migrants hoping to reach Italy.

[link to www.theguardian.com]

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'The only difference': Gaddafi's ghost is hovering over the European refugee crisis
10/19/15

There's a tragically ironic subtext to Europe's refugee crisis, which is becoming increasingly problematic as the war in Syria rages and Libya struggles to bounce back.

Turkey has become the prime entry point for hundreds of thousands of Syrians making their way to Europe, and Italy's navy and coast guard continue to rescue thousands of refugees off Libya's coast.

And now that the refugee influx has intensified, Italy can no longer count on a key ally who helped stem the flow in the past: Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who died in 2011 after being ousted by a NATO-backed revolution.

[link to www.businessinsider.com]

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Libya warns it could flood Europe with migrants if EU does not recognise new self-declared government
11/2/15

Libya has issued a veiled threat to send "hundreds of thousands" of extra migrants to Europe if Brussels does not give official recognition to its self-declared government.
Officials say they could hire boats to send large numbers of African migrants across the Mediterranean, massively adding to the numbers already reaching Europe's borders.
The warning was made by a spokesman for the National Salvation Government of Libya's General National Congress in an interview with The Telegraph in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

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No end to migrant crisis: Number of refugees arriving by boats TREBLES in a year
1/16/16

Only a fortnight into 2016, almost 25,000 refugees have reached the EU at a rate of over 1,700 every day.

The rate is three times the 570 who reached Italy or Greece by boat every day last January.

The first sailings of 2016 also brought the first deaths.

At least 59 men, women and children have tragically lost their lives - nine trying to reach Italy from Libya and the other 50 after their boats capsized in the Agean Sea.

[link to www.express.co.uk]

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Haftar allies reject security arrangements for new Libyan regime
1/15/16

Tripoli - Deputy Prime Minister of the UN-supported Libyan Government of National Accord(GNA), Ali Al-Gotrani, rejected the 18-member temporary security committee that might make it possible for the GNA to move to Tripoli.

[link to www.digitaljournal.com]

Naming of Libyan unity government delayed by 48 hours
1/17/16

The body tasked with naming a unity government for Libya under a U.N.-backed agreement to resolve the country's armed conflict has delayed announcing the government's members by 48 hours.

The Presidential Council said in a statement released late on Saturday that it had made "great progress" since beginning discussions on Jan. 1 but needed two more days to complete its work without giving any details.

[link to news.yahoo.com]

In Libya, U.S. Courts Unreliable Allies to Counter ISIS
1/18/16

TRIPOLI — The American Special Operations forces expected a warm welcome when they landed at the Libyan air base where an allied militia was stationed. Instead, armed men from another militia at the base threatened to detain the commandos, forcing the Americans to evacuate.

The episode, on Dec. 14, highlighted the difficulties faced by the Obama administration as it engages in a search across Libya to find armed groups that can act as a ground force against the country’s increasingly potent branch of the Islamic State.

American and Libyan officials said that the sudden departure of the group of 20 American commandos from the Al Watiya air base last month was the result of a miscommunication between the militias stationed there. But the episode laid bare the lack of central authority in Libya, with no single government in charge and an army barely able to exert control over groups nominally under its command.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

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Supporting 'unreliable or questionable allies' is nothing new. Just look at the other US misadventures that are currently underway.

Also, I notice that the Times uses the name 'Hifter' in place of 'Haftar', when replying to the Libyan General, who is pictured in the above article.
Wiki says it's Haftar, the majority of Libyan and Mid east sources say Haftar, so Haftar it is, AFAIC.

Who is General Haftar?
~~~~~~~~

[link to en.wikipedia.org (secure)]
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Khalifa Haftar: The man who left Virginia to lead Libya's rebels
4/4/11

CNN) -- His story reads like a political thriller. Once a confidant of Moammar Gadhafi and then his sworn enemy, he led a band of Libyan exiles trying to overthrow the Libyan regime before being spirited in secrecy to the United States when things went bad. His name is Khalifa Haftar.

[link to www.cnn.com]
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Libya's New Strongman
2/13/15

Haftar’s work in Chad did not bring him glory. His enemies like to recall that Chad’s government accused the Libyan forces of employing napalm and poison gas during the war. Afterward, two of Haftar’s fellow-prisoners reported that those who refused to join his coup were left behind in their jail cells. As military commander of the Salvation Front, he plotted an invasion of Libya—but Qaddafi outflanked him, backing a disruptive coup in Chad. The C.I.A. had to airlift Haftar and three hundred and fifty of his men to Zaire and, eventually, to the United States. Haftar was given citizenship, and remained in the U.S. for the next twenty years.

For a time, Haftar stayed involved with the C.I.A., and with the Salvation Front’s abortive efforts to topple Qaddafi, including a plot in which a number of Haftar’s fellow-conspirators were captured and executed. According to Ashur Shamis, a former leader of the Salvation Front, Haftar lived well in Virginia, though no one knew how he made his money. But he did not return to Libya, fearing that he would be executed.

After the U.S. invaded Iraq, in 2003, Qaddafi, who had been among America’s most vitriolic enemies, suddenly agreed to give up his nuclear-weapons program and attempt a rapprochement. By then, the C.I.A. had evidently loosened its ties with Haftar, and, when he returned to Libya, in March, 2011, he was on his own. Nevertheless, Haftar’s enemies accuse him of being a C.I.A. plant, a traitor, and a vicious killer, and of seeking to install himself as a latter-day Qaddafi.

[link to www.newyorker.com]
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Libyan General With U.S. Passport Wages War On Islamist Extremists
5/30/14

Into the chaos of post-revolution Libya rides Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a former confidant of Muammar Gaddafi with a U.S. passport and a reputed history with the CIA. A resident of northern Virginia until the 2011 revolution that deposed his old boss, Hifter, 71, returned to his homeland and, after a couple of embarrassing personal setbacks, recently persuaded elements of the military forces to join him in battling the most extreme of the many armed militias operating in Libya today.

[link to time.com]
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Profile: Libyan ex-General Khalifa Haftar
10/16/14

Libya's enigmatic General Khalifa Haftar has been on different sides of almost every power struggle in Libya since the 1960s.
He initially fought for Muammar Gaddafi, then against him. He fought alongside Islamist rebel groups in the uprising that toppled Gaddafi in 2011 before becoming their nemesis this year.

[link to www.bbc.com]
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2nd Benghazi Almost Happened again Last Month
1/18/16

According to Libyan sources, the American personnel were disarmed by the local militias. Which means that the administration put American personnel into danger to provide "training" to Islamist militias, without authorizing them to defend themselves and nearly created another hostage situation or massacre. When Obama claims there are no boots on the ground, this is what he means.

When you watch 13 Hours, it's important to remember that nothing has changed. American personnel are still wandering around Libya without knowing who the bad guys are and without having the ability to defend themselves in many cases.

[link to www.frontpagemag.com (secure)]

The United West: Clinton-Obama Benghazi Gun Running Operation Exposed
1/13/16

Clare Lopez of the Center for Security Policy, a member of the Benghazi Citizen’s Commission and former CIA intelligence officer, exposes Benghazi as a complete national security disaster resulting from the lack of leadership from President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

[link to www.breitbart.com]

Libya has a government? Who knew.

They don't have one yet. Only factions, seeking 'unity'. Like that's going to happen.

Libya not another Iraq, Lord Hague tells MPs
1/19/16

The UK did not repeat the mistakes of the Iraq war with its intervention in Libya, former foreign secretary Lord Hague has said.

It was "different" because there was no lack of planning following the ousting of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.

"We had plenty of planning but no power to implement the plans," he told the foreign affairs committee.

He said Colonel Gaddafi was to blame for the "sorry state" state of the country now.

[link to www.bbc.com]

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Really? Let's see what other claims he's made in the past, since I'm not really familiar with this particular maggot.....
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William Hague: UK intervention not responsible for Libya migrant crisis
4/21/15

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said on Sunday it was “the European response that caused this problem in the first place, the fanaticism of Sarkozy and Cameron to bomb Libya”.
But Mr Hague, who was foreign secretary during the intervention in 2011, said this morning it would be “wrong to think that whatever’s happened in Libya in the last few years is the cause of this”.
He added on BBC Radio 5live: “Let me remind you of something as well, which is that when Colonel Gaddafi was still in power, there were periods when he simply allowed people to do exactly this, to get into boats and try to go to Europe – that was one of the ways in which he put pressure on Europe. So I don’t think that is the change in this situation; I think this is a problem that goes well beyond Libya.

[link to www.politicshome.com (secure)]

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William Hague: Libya is 'a tremendous success story'
7/16/12

Mr Hague also pledged that the UK would continue to provide support to the country and expected strong relations to remain between the two nations.

[link to www.bbc.com]
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Libya: Where William Hague got it wrong

Like all little men, William Hague is a protagonist, eternally searching for a front to hide behind, an excuse for his sad little existence and a cover for the extreme unpopularity of his Tory party. And like all protagonists, William Hague has jumped the gun.

Time after time after time, that whiny, tinny little voice on TV, that self-righteous tone of the British northerner-cum-toff (it never quite comes off, does it?), claiming that "Gaddafi" used weapons against innocent civilians, that NATO is there to defend civilians against a "dictator" and that "Gaddafi must go". Now just who the Hell is this...freak...to say anyone should go, in their own country? What kind of imperialist arrogance is that, coming from this apology for a man?

[link to www.moscowtopnews.com]

Libya's Rivals Declare Unity Cabinet Under UN Plan
1/19/16

Representatives of Libya's rival factions who are sitting in Tunis and negotiating through a U.N.-brokered process announced on Tuesday that they have formed a unity government aimed at stemming the chaos that has engulfed the country in recent years.

In a statement received by The Associated Press, the Unity Presidential Council said it has agreed on a 32-member Cabinet, drawn of representatives from across the country.

But whether that government will in fact be able to govern the country remains to be seen.

[link to abcnews.go.com]

A Terror State in Libya
1/18/16

The problem is that the new government—the product of a shaky agreement last month between the internationally recognized government based in Tobruk and the Islamist-backed General National Congress, headquartered in Tripoli—remains a mostly notional entity. The competing governments have been at war for years, even as they both fight Islamic State, and elements of both governments have rejected the unity deal, as have some of their respective tribal and militia supporters. Whether those political divisions can be resolved is anyone’s guess, but in the meantime the jihadist threat from Libya is growing larger.

[link to www.wsj.com]

Germany hints at possible troop deployment to Libya
1/19/16

When asked in a Sunday interview with Bild newspaper about reports on Berlin’s plans for troop deployment to Libya, Ursula von der Leyen said “Germany will not be able to evade responsibility for contributing its share.”

She stopped short of giving details on the nature of such a possible deployment, but made clear that implementing law and order in the North African country was an important goal for Berlin.

The German minister also voiced concern over increasing terror attacks by Daesh terrorists in Libya and said the recent advances by the Takfiri terror group could unleash a new wave of refugees to Europe, which is already suffering from an unprecedented refugee influx.

[link to www.presstv.ir]

Libya factions announce unity government
1/19/16

The UN-backed unity government of Libya, which was announced on Tuesday, is supposed to bring the country's warring factions together under one umbrella. The Tunisia-based Presidential Council named 32 ministers, though reports of disputes over the distribution of posts cast a dampener on the list's release.

[link to www.dw.com]

Germany's 'dirty deal' with Libya to stop migrants
1/20/16

Germany's opposition Left party has expressed its suspicions of a "dirty deal" after German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen raised the prospect of sending troops to Libya to support a potential unity government in the fractured North African country.
"Germany will not be able to duck its responsibility to make a contribution," von der Leyen told Monday's edition of the "Bild" newspaper. If a unity government were established in Libya, "it will quickly need help to establish justice and order in this huge state and at the same time fight against Islamist terror."
The Left party's foreign policy spokesman Jan van Aken said he suspected a "dirty deal" was being hashed out to support the government in exchange for demanding that it prevent more migrants from reaching Europe via Libya's coast.

[link to www.dw.com]