UK £2 www.thearabweekly.com Issue 202, Year 5 EU €2.50 April 21, 2019 The lessons Erdogan’s Iran’s floods of Sudan and Istanbul fuel anger Algeria debacle Pages 3-5 Page 14 Pages 8,15 US stance gives Haftar momentum in push to curb extremists in Tripoli ► A White House statement April 19 said Trump “recognised Field-Marshal Haftar’s significant role in fighting terrorism.” Lamine Ghanmi rity Council on April 5 called on all warring parties to de-escalate the conflict but did not issue a formal Tunis statement because of Russian ob- jections to singling out the LNA orld powers, including for blame. On April 19, Washington the United States, seem also objected. intent on not foreclos- A senior UN diplomat told Reu- W ing on the option that ters the United States was “trying the Libyan National Army could, if to evaluate all the scenarios and successful in its Tripoli campaign, work out which one is in America’s curb the rule of extremist-allied mi- best interest and just hasn’t done litias in Libya. that yet.” The White House said US Presi- Efforts by Qatar, Turkey and dent Donald Trump spoke by former colonial power Italy seem phone to Libyan Field-Marshal to have encountered unexpected Khalifa Haftar, commander of the headwinds because of the percep- Libyan National Army (LNA), to tion the Government of National discuss “ongoing counterterrorism Accord (GNA) was a disparate array efforts.” A White House statement of armed gangs, militias and Islamic April 19 said Trump “recognised militants. Field-Marshal Haftar’s significant Videos of battles showed militia role in fighting terrorism and se- fighters on global lists of wanted curing Libya’s oil resources and the terrorists and human traffickers. two discussed a shared vision for They are suspected of wreaking Libya’s transition to a stable, demo- havoc in Tripoli since Islamists took cratic political system.” over the city after they lost elec- Jalel Harchaoui, a research fellow tions in 2014. at the Clingendael Institute think- Calculations by the Tripoli gov- Lawlessness. A militiaman loyal to the Tripoli government fires a machine gun during clashes with tank in The Hague, told the Asso- ernment and some European pow- Libyan National Army forces south of Tripoli’s suburb of Ain Zara. (AFP) ciated Press the Trump phone call ers led to the encroachment of the was tantamount to supporting Haf- militias in Tripoli. Wolfram Lacher, Turkey unleashed in Libya their an- in tandem with a diplomatic cam- Fighting in such areas has led to a tar’s operation and thus is “creating a Libya expert at the German Insti- tagonism against Egypt, the United paign focused on the human toll of recurring blame game. At least four an environment where a military tute for International and Security Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the fighting while playing down the people were killed April 17 in heavy intervention by foreign states, like Affairs, told the Associated Press which view Haftar as a block against issue of the make-up of the forces shelling in Tripoli’s southern Abu Egypt, is likelier.” that Tripoli militias had infiltrated Islamist destabilisation. battling the LNA. Salim district. Forces allied to Trip- Diplomatic efforts reflected GNA institutions to steal state re- Paris has lent support to Haftar, LNA’s commanders sounded up- oli accused the LNA of firing rockets French, Russian and American re- sources. He described the militias whose help in southern Libya was beat about their chances of reach- into residential areas while the LNA luctance to go along with the drive as “criminal networks straddling crucial for France’s antiterrorism ef- ing the heart of Tripoli soon. “We said in a statement it had nothing led by the British and the Italians, business, politics and administra- fort in the Sahel as well as for the expect to conclude the liberation to with the shelling and accused a with the support of Qatar and Tur- tion.” security of neighbouring Mali and of the capital just before the be- Tripoli-based group. key, to block the advance by the The Associated Press reported Niger, which are main sources of ginning of Ramadan (May 5),” LNA “The areas shelled are located be- LNA towards seizing control of that, in 2017, Italy agreed with GNA French uranium imports. Lieutenant-General Faouzi al-Man- yond the range of our forces. They Tripoli. leader Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Experts said France and Russia souri said April 17. were shelled by 170 (mm) artillery UN Envoy to Libya Ghassan Sala- al-Sarraj to pay militias to prevent eye expanding business and energy Military experts said that a rapid launchers manned by the terrorist me repeatedly expressed alarm migrants from leaving from Sabra- ties in a post-conflict Libya. This military conclusion of the battle Islamist militias,” countered LNA over the humanitarian consequenc- tha, even though security officials includes oil resources, which are for Tripoli is necessary for Haftar’s spokesman Ahmed Mismari. es of the fighting. warned that the groups would use mainly in areas virtually all con- forces, which rely on a long supply Both the United States and Rus- the aid to buy arms and recruit trolled by Haftar’s troops. line, to avoid getting bogged down Lamine Ghanmi is an Arab Weekly sia said they objected to a draft UN fighters. Wary of the consequences of a in an intractable showdown with correspondent in Tunis. Security Council resolution calling By aligning themselves with the swift victory by the LNA, Haftar’s militias entrenched in heavily pop- for a ceasefire in Libya. The Secu- Islamist camp in Tripoli, Qatar and rivals stepped up military attacks ulated areas. P2 S-400 purchase leaves Turkey’s NATO future in limbo Sabahat Khan meet its own requirements, Turkey Turkey. The Turkish Air Force was Turkey this November. as challenging the US fight against selected China’s FD-2000 missile to purchase as many as 120 of the However, US Air Force General ISIS. defence system in 2015 before US aircraft, making it one of the larg- Tod Wolters, who is to take over Turkey is also under fire from the Dubai pressure forced Ankara to restart est buyers. the US European Command this United States for Turkish President the tender process, resulting in the year, in a US Senate Armed Ser- Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s alleged urkey has been part of the selection of Russia’s S-400. vices Committee meeting recently rights violations, including the NATO alliance since 1952 Turkish officials justified their If sanctions against said he backed steps to block Turk- jailing of US citizens and violence and, with geopolitical dy- decision, they said, because Rus- Turkey are imposed over ish pilot training on the F-35. The against demonstrators in Washing- T namics shifting, it has been sian and Chinese suppliers offer its purchase of Russia’s man Wolters will succeed, US Army ton in May 2017. in the spotlight more than ever in comparable systems at lower costs S-400, US President General Curtis Scaparrotti, earlier If sanctions against Turkey are recent years. and, crucially, with a technology Donald Trump will most called for the F-35 sale to Turkey to imposed over its purchase of Rus- Moscow’s courting of Ankara af- transfer that the United States was certainly let them be. be cancelled if Ankara purchased sia’s S-400, US President Donald ter its military intervention in Syria unwilling to match. the S-400. Trump will most certainly let them created sharp divergences with Washington has stated concern While the F-35 is not part of a Compounding tensions between be because he maintains a transac- Turkey’s partners in the West, par- that Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 NATO programme, the future force the United States and Turkey has tional view of US ties with Turkey. ticularly the United States. would compromise the security of transformation it enables would been the status of the Syrian Kurd- In his view, Erdogan must buy Turkey’s insistence on seeing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, among underpin NATO air power and ish People’s Protection Units (YPG). American or face the wrath of the through the purchase of the Rus- other systems, by potentially mak- make the Turkish Air Force one of While Washington has relied on the United States. This means that a fis- sia-made S-400 missile defence ing it possible for Russia to work the world’s most modern. By halt- YPG to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) sure inside NATO is possible, with system has strained these ties, out how to spot and effectively ing delivery of parts for the F-35 to in Syria, Turkey views the force, an Turkey’s role in the alliance hang- bringing it to a strategic crossroads track the fifth-generation stealth Turkey, Washington has raised the offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ ing in the air. that could uproot its NATO role and multirole fighter. stakes in this standoff. Party, as a terrorist organisation future. The F-35 brings together nine Turkish pilots have been training and an existential threat. Sabahat Khan, based in Dubai, As air and missile capabilities countries into a US-led produc- for about a year on F-35s at Luke In 2016, Ankara launched incur- maintains a cross-disciplinary proliferated in the Middle East, tion programme in which 6-7% of Air Force Base in Arizona and two sions into Syria to undermine the focus in international security, Turkey’s capabilities lagged. To the parts were to be produced by of the aircraft were to be flown to group, a step Washington viewed defence policy and strategic issues.