Libya Security Highlights (February 17 – 23, 2020)

In Tripoli, three people from one family were injured on February 21 night, in a shellfire attack by Haftar’s forces on the Sawani area south of Tripoli.

Khalifa Haftar’s forces have carried out a rocket attack on Tripoli sea port, hitting the port’s facilities and interior quay, according to eyewitnesses.

On the international level, Russia does not plan to host a global conference on Libyan peace and expects warring parties to act on the commitments made in Berlin, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on February 23.

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his country’s stance towards Libya, stressing that Ankara would continue to support the Government of National Accord (GNA) until it extended its control over the entire country.

TRIPOLI

• three people from one family were injured on February 21 night, in a shellfire attack by Haftar’s forces on the Sawani area south of Tripoli. The Field Medicine and Support Center has confirmed that their medical team at the Sawani branch had provided frontline treatment to the wounded, before transferring them to Ghout al-Shaal clinic [Libya Observer, 22.02.2020];

• at least three people were killed when Haftar’s forces shelled Tripoli port on February 18 afternoon, the Health Ministry reported. Five other people were also injured in the attack, according to the health ministry without clarifying the extent of their injuries. At another level, the Ministry of Transport said that the bombing of Tripoli port is a “terrorist act”. It added that several containers loaded with goods were destroyed and burned as a result of the bombing [Libya Observer, 19.02.2020];
• Khalifa Haftar’s forces have carried out a rocket attack on Tripoli sea port, hitting the port’s facilities and interior quay, according to eyewitnesses. Photos and footage on social media showed on February 18 afternoon smoke pillowing the sky over Tripoli port, whose sources said fuel and gas vessels docked at the port had been pushed away from the port as a precaution. Meanwhile, Haftar’s forces claimed the attack on Tripoli port as their major operations room said the attack was on an arms and ammunition depot, while their Motivation Department’s Chief Khalid al-Mahjoub said they targeted a Turkish warship [Libya Observer, 18.02.2020];

• Mitiga International Airport resumed air traffic on February 17, after a two-hour suspension due to a shelling carried out by Haftar’s militias. The airport’s administration confirmed earlier yesterday the landing of several shells on the airport simultaneously with the departure of a Libyan Airlines flight heading to Tunisia. The flight was delayed at the last minute while the plane was on the runway ready for take-off, the airport officials stated [Libya Observer, 18.02.2020].

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

• Europe will face a new refugee crisis if the war in Libya did not stop, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio warned on February 23. “There are 700,000 refugees in Libya. Many of them do not want to go to Europe as long as they can live there in peace and have a prospect,” Di Maio said during an interview with German newspaper Bild [Address Libya, 23.02.2020];
• Russia does not plan to host a global conference on Libyan peace and expects warring parties to act on the commitments made in Berlin, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on February 23 [Address Libya, 23.02.2020];
• Algeria is at the same distance from all crisis parties in Libya and it is not siding with any of them, said Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. In press statements, Tebboune stressed on his country’s unbiased stance towards the Libyan parties, noting that Algeria is giving back to Libya and its people for their historic stance during the Algerian liberation revolution [Address Libya, 22.02.2020];
• Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan said his country has sent Syrian opposition fighters to Libya. “Turkey is there in Libya with a training force. There are also people from the Syrian National Army,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul, referring to opposition fighters who were previously known as the “Free Syrian Army” [Address Libya, 22.02.2020];
• the Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan said on February 21 that Ankara won’t sit for dialogue with Khalifa Haftar because he is “a mercenary who has not legal or legitimate status” [Libya Observer, 22.02.2020];
• United States President Donald Trump in a letter to Congress on February 20 said he has extended the national emergency with respect to Libya for another year in order to continue to prevent the diversion of the country’s assets [Address Libya, 21.02.2020];
• spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry Ahmed Hafez has warned that the infiltration of terrorists into Libya, particularly from Syria, would have serious consequences on North Africa as well as European countries [Address Libya, 20.02.2020];
• Algeria is ready to act as a mediator in any Libya ceasefire talks, its president Abdelmadjid Tebboune told French newspaper Le Figaro in an interview published on February 20. “If we are given a mandate by the U.N. Security Council, we are capable of quickly bringing peace to Libya since Algeria is a sincere and credible mediator, and one that is accepted by all Libyan tribes,” he told Le Figaro, in an interview aimed at reaching Algeria’s large expatriate population in France [Address Libya, 20.02.2020];
• the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that world powers cannot seem to come together to prevent the fighting in Libya. Cavusoglu added that international governments seem to lack the resolve to consolidate their efforts in assisting a strategy to end the conflict in the war torn country of Libya [Libya Observer, 20.02.2020];
• the European Union’s High Representative Josep Borrell said the escalation in Tripoli needs to stop as a matter of urgency and all parties need to fully respect the truce they agreed to, refrain from any further military action, and re-engage in a political dialogue for a solution to the crisis in Libya [Libya Observer, 20.02.2020];
• the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has strongly denounced the attack on Tripoli Port by Haftar’s militia groups. UNSMIL said in a statement that the bombing, which resulted in several casualties, could have resulted in a catastrophic situation if the ship carrying liquid petroleum gas (LPG) had been struck. It expressed hope for a resumption of talks in Geneva as the only way to resolve the Libyan crisis [Libya Observer, 19.02.2020];
• the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his country’s stance towards Libya, stressing that Ankara would continue to support the Government of National Accord (GNA) until it extended its control over the entire country. Erdogan added, in a speech to his party’s parliamentary bloc in Ankara, that Turkey’s entry into the Libyan arena had brought Haftar’s operations to a halt [Libya Observer, 19.02.2020];
• the US ambassador to Libya Richard Norland said in a meeting with the Chairman of National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah on February 19 that the attack on the Tripoli port prevent the arrival of fuel for civilian use and thus aggravate the suffering of Libyans [Libya Observer, 19.02.2020];
• the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame has said that the arms embargo on Libya was subject to repeated violations, explaining that its full implementation requires international cooperation. At a press conference in Munich, Salame talked of numerous violations committed in Tripoli, the most recent was the shelling of Tripoli port [Libya Observer, 19.02.2020];
• the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli (temporarily in Tunis) reported that U.S. Ambassador Norland paid his first ever visit to Libya on February 18. However, this visit was to eastern Libya where he met Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army which is leading the attack on the capital Tripoli [Libya Herald, 18.02.2020];
• Libya’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Taher al-Sunni held discussions on February 18 with his Russian counterpart, Vasily Nebenzya in relation to the developing conditions in Libya and the national and international repercussions from the situation [Libya Observer, 18.02.2020];
• European Union’s foreign ministers agreed on February 17, though only in principle, on a new mission — which would include naval assets — to monitor Libya’s UN arms embargo, according to the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. The agreement was also confirmed by the Italian and Austrian foreign ministers [Libya Observer, 17.02.2020].