After supporting Haftar militias… Emirates intervening militarily in Libya
UAE doesn’t only play its destructive role in Libya by supporting the militias of General Khalifa Haftar, but it has intervened militarily by launching air raids in order to spread chaos, destroy the country’s resources and plunder its wealth.
The Guardian said that the UAE drones launched raids on the Libyan capital Tripoli, on Sunday night, in light of the support provided by Abu Dhabi to the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Hafter, in the military operation there.
Several air strikes rocked Tripoli after taking part, for the first time, in unmanned aerial vehicles, in a dangerous escalation of Hafar’s attack to control the capital and oust the internationally recognized Accordance Government.
The newspaper quoted from the Reuters world news agency, that eyewitnesses confirmed that Tripoli was bombed by drones at night.
The UAE had built an unmanned aircraft facility at the al-Khadem airbase south of Tripoli in 2016, pointing out that the Haftar aircraft is old, making it likely that the planes that carried out the raids were aircraft.
Hafter, according to the Guardian, has Saudi-UAE support to control Tripoli and overthrow the Libyan government recognized by the United Nations, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj.
Peter Millett, the former UK ambassador to Libya, said: “The use of drones was a significant and tragic escalation that will increase the number of Libyan causalities.”
Anas El Gomati, director of the Sadeq Institute, a Libyan thinktank, said: “The air war in Tripoli has officially entered a dangerous new phase and has the become an attack by a foreign invading power; the UAE.
“Libya is still Libya, but it’s on the verge of becoming a Yemen on the Mediterranean. Haftar’s promise of enduring peace and stability is a myth. UAE drone strikes cannot deliver unity.”
The United Nations estimated that 227 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in two weeks of the start of the military operation in Tripoli, and the displacement of more than 16 thousand people.
Hafer’s attack led to the closure of Tripoli’s capital airport and cut off airlines from a city of about 2.5 million people, while Misrata Airport, 130 miles east, remained operational.
The air strikes on Tripoli, which began about a week ago, seem to reflect Haftar’s green light from US President Donald Trump during a telephone conversation last week.
