The Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar, writes the Agi, advancing towards the Libyan capital Tripoli and is approaching to strike at the heart the Government of national agreement, protected by the militias of Misurata and recognized by the UN. The armed forces of the strongman of the Cyrenaica, which in the last hours of intense battles have lost at least six fighters - according to Tripoli among them there are also Russian mercenaries of the Wagner group - they even managed to shoot down a Turkish drone. (weeks ago they managed to throw down an Italian and an American drone).
Tripoli, with its operation "Volcano of wrathHe replied with a shower of artillery shells. The clash is also becoming more heated on the diplomatic level: Egypt - according to the voice of the president of the Cairo Parliament, Ali Abdel Aal, - broke off his relationship with Fayez al Serraj, the prime minister of Tripoli, and recognized the Tobruk Parliament as the "sole legal representative of the Libyan people".
While the president of the Tobruk Parliament, Aguila Saleh, met his Egyptian counterpart in Sharm el Sheikh, Tripoli's Prime Minister, al Serraj, was instead engaged in Doha, Qatar, in a meeting with the Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, to perfect the agreement on the Mediterranean. And on the occasion, Doha renewed all its support for Tripoli, against Haftar. And Ankara has made it known that it has not received requests to send troops to Libyan territory.
However, the Turkish military presence in the battle of Tripoli was confirmed even today with the shooting down of a Turkish drone. The aircraft, a Uas Bayratkar, flew over the area of Ain Zara. Right here, on the southern outskirts of the capital, about ten kilometers from the center, the zero hour battle announced Thursday by General Haftar is being fought. His troops launched coordinated action across the Ain Zara and Wadi Rabie axes and reached the surroundings of the Al Tugara mosque, near the old international airport, a strategic position for the defense and conquest of Tripoli.
The sources in Tripoli, unconfirmed, say that among the six victims of Haftar's army there are also "mercenaries of nationality Russian". In Europe, diplomacy is working tirelessly towards the Berlin Conference with the aim of achieving a ceasefire. During the European Council on Thursday, the President of the Council, Giuseppe Conte, insisted on the point with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. The news had spread during the day, denied by sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that the foreign minister, Luigi Di May, would have visited Tripoli on Tuesday to meet with representatives of the Government of National Accord.
Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio, the Press writes and confirms, will be in Tripoli for a series of consultations with the Government of a national agreement in an attempt to give an initial implementation of the intentions that emerged during the Brussels trilateral.
The Farnesina continues to affirm that no commitment has been scheduled. Some sources have leaked that the minister's mission may include a stop in Benghazi. In the whole Libyan dossier, however, there was a strong Italian immobility of which it is not really possible to understand the "ratio". The Italian government remained silent even when a Predator of our Air Force was flying down over the Libyan skies. Prime Minister Conte, to avoid ending up on hot coals, has decided to take the initiative in Brussels invoking unity, highlighting the risk of finding ourselves in a new Somalia.
All postponed, therefore, until after the Berlin Peace Conference in mid-January which will lead to a summit in Libya to establish the EU's presence on the ground and curb the appetites of Turkey and Russia. In the name of a solution that, Conte never tires of repeating it, can only be "political". Even if many think that the taking of Tripoli is a matter of days and January 2020 could be a time too far away to be able to negotiate, or to impose a lasting peace.
The delay of our Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio but also the European Union is evident even to those Libyans who placed their hopes of pacification in Italy and in the other community actors. "In fact, there is a strong skepticism, underline sources close to the Gna. “From the beginning of the war, which entered its ninth month, the Presidential Council had been expecting strong support from friendly countries, primarily from Italy, not only from a diplomatic point of view. The two Conte governments have opted for a vague balancing act between Sarraj and Haftar which is not liked here at all".
Tripoli has therefore decided to rely almost entirely on Turkey, signing an agreement on the delimitation of maritime borders in the eastern Mediterranean, which the EU believes "violates the sovereign rights of third countries". There is more because Recep Tayyip Erdogan, very interested in Libyan gas and oil, in addition to providing drones, armored vehicles, equipment and trainers (already on the ground) "is ready to send five thousand soldiers" to support government forces .