Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the General Commander of the Libyan National Army, announced that the Armed Forces accepts the authorization of the Libyan people to officially lead the crisis and the revocation of the Political Agreement of Skhirat.
This announcement made a shock to many local, regional and global parties. The United States of America expressed its rejection to Haftar’s statements, according to an official statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Libya.
The most interesting matter to think about now is what is the stance of the European countries?
In my opinion, the declaration of Field Marshal Haftar enjoys support of many regional and western countries, most significantly France, Italy and Russia.
Early this month, the European Union, in the framework of stepping up its efforts to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya, launched a new Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) military operation in the Mediterranean entitled “Operation IRINI”.
“Only political solutions and the full respect of the UN arms embargo will bring a solution to the Libyan crisis. But diplomacy cannot succeed unless it is backed by action. This operation will be essential and a clear contribution to promoting peace in our immediate neighbourhood through a permanent ceasefire,” said Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and President of the Council.
IRINI is led by Rear Admiral Fabio Agostini as EU Operation Commander, and its headquarters is located in Rome, Italy.
It seems that the operation IRINI was a preliminary step to Haftar’s announcement. Hence, I believe that the overthrow of the western government in Libya has been on the table of discussion among European leaders whose countries have experienced many bad impacts lately.
In other words, the IRINI guarantees that forces and militias associated with the Government of National Accord, led by Faye al-Sarraj, will not be able to receive arms supplies from Turkey.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has repeatedly revealed that Ankara facilitated movement of Syrian mercenaries from northern provinces in Syria, such as Idlib, to Tripoli to fight against the Libyan army, led by Haftar who launched an operation to liberate the western part of Libya from Sarraj militias.
To sum up, Haftar’s declaration regarding the Skhirat Agreement is globally endorsed.
The Western countries have been suffering from illegal migration movement from Libya since the overthrow of the late President of the Libya Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 in Sirte.
The liberation of the Libyan territory from Sarraj forces whose loyalty lies in Ankara helps the western countries to preserve their southern borders from illegal migrants who add burdens on these governments.
Accordingly, Haftar's battle will achieve its goals sooner or later amid global, regional and domestic approval.
Follow the latest news on Google News
