The governor of Libya’s Misrata
District last week published a
document calling on the district’s
civilians and its military forces “to
be on the highest alert alertness and
readiness from now until further
notice.” The country’s third-largest
city, Misrata, was until recently
considered Libya’s safest. Now it
fears an invasion from the forces of
ISIS (also known as the Islamic State
or ISIL) in Libya.
Misrata operates as a city-state,
with its own semiautonomous
government. Most of its income
comes from iron and cement
factories, and it is a magnet for
foreign investors. As such, Misrata
also poses a temptation to ISIS,
which seeks to expand its economic
base for its operations in the Middle
East and, like any economic
institution, wants to diversify its
sources of revenue.
But as in Syria, it is a challenge to
draw the map of control of ISIS and
the other Islamic organizations in
Libya — with the exception of
Darna, Sirte and parts of Benghazi,
where ISIS has near-total control.
Two years ago, a coalition of Islamic
militias came together in Misrata.
Known as Libya Dawn, it supports
the large religious organization
Ansar al-Shariah, which controls
parts of Benghazi. This coalition
seeks to engage in battle the forces
led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter. Hifter is
one of the main supporters of the
internationally recognized interim
government, which sits in Tobruk —
after being driven out of Tripoli, the
capital, by a rival government.
Hifter may be considered a leftover
of the erstwhile government of
Muammar Gadhafi, but his powerful
militia, that includes soldiers and
officers from Gadhafi’s army, has
made him acceptable to a West that
has nearly given up on the Libyan
army’s ability to act against the
Islamic militias.
Herein lies the dilemma of the
leadership in Misrata — whether to
choose Hifter for now and support
him against ISIS, or to form a
coalition with ISIS and lose control of
this important province, where
mass protests were held this week
against the Egyptian air strikes on
Libya.
The airstrikes followed the release
of an ISIS video showing the
beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in
Libya.
This is also the conflict that is
dividing Ansar al-Shariah, parts of
which recently swore loyalty to ISIS.
Late last month, Ansar al-Shariah
said that its leader, Mohammad al-
Zahawi had been killed. According
to reports from Libya, he was
executed by ISIS supporters after he
refused to swear allegiance to Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS’ leader and
self-proclaimed caliph. The
execution was reportedly carried
out by group of Libyans who had
fought in Syria on behalf of ISIS and
returned to establish the local
branch of the organization in Libya.
The war between the numerous
militias in the streets of Libya’s
main cities and the absence of a
unified leadership — the country
has two rival governments —
presents an impossible challenge to
international forces trying to
evaluate their options.
In a special session of the UN
Security Council on Wednesday that
was convened after the Egyptian
airstrikes on Darna, which ISIS
controls, Egypt proposed the
creation of an international military
coalition to fight ISIS in Libya as well
as the removal of the arms embargo
on Libya, in order to let the
recognized government acquire the
weapons it needs to fight the
Islamic State.
But as in Syria, the United States is
stuck in a position of waiting, and its
policy is that there must be
cooperation with UN special
representative Bernardino Leon, of
Spain, who is attempting to
establish a national unity
government. In other words, first a
political solution for the Libyan
government and only afterwards,
maybe, weapons too.
The American position has no real
support in Libya. The deep conflicts
between the two governments and
the rivalries between the various
armed militias that support one of
the governments, in addition to the
tribal rivalries, have made a political
solution seem far off. Italy, on the
other hand, which sees itself as
being on the front line against ISIS
in Libya, is willing to send 5,000
soldiers to help the Libyan army, on
condition of the approval of the
United Nations. ....

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Will ISIS not eventually link with BH?