Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had a telephone conversation with Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maitig. This was announced by the Interior Ministry, according to which the two discussed the latest developments in Libya. The Libyan situation was also addressed during the G7 in Paris: Salvini asked the other ministers to work for the stability of Tripoli. Solicitation that he reiterated to his counterpart Castaner during a bilateral meeting. Salvini made an appeal to stop the advance of the troops to find a shared solution and avoid new bloodshed.
The situation on the ground is anything but peaceful and inclusive, where General Kalifa Haftar, as is known with the help of France and Russia, many dossiers that demonstrate the evidence, are marching on Tripoli before the national stabilization conference. Taking power now means consolidating the territorial successes in the south of the African country where the largest and most profitable oil fields are located.
As reported by La Stampa, General Khalifa Haftar challenges the "other" Libya and the international community by announcing his Operation for the liberation of the capital. Liberation at all costs even with the use of weapons.
A predictable gesture, according to some given the ferment that has animated the military forces of the general in recent times with the large maneuvers to the south and close to the oil wells. Nobody noticed, or pretended, that last Wednesday the general gave orders to three hundred vehicles to move from Kufra to the capital, catching Sarraj himself unprepared. Who, at the repeated request of the Misrata military control room, proclaimed the general alarm for all the security forces in Tripolitania.
Al Sarraj has condemned the escalation and calls for an end to the language of threats and promises to use that of wisdom. There is no solution with war because war only brings destruction.
In the meantime, however, Sarraj has also alerted the air forces of General Ali Boudeya, the Chief of Aviation of the GNA Ministry of Defense. In fact, the fighters intervened by hitting a vehicle of the Haftar Army convoy. The mobilization also involved "al Bunian al Marsus", the anti-terrorism control room in Misurata, while a group of militia leaders from the city-state announced that they were ready to "stop Haftar's advance in Tripolitania", giving orders to a general mobilization towards Tajura just outside the capital. All forces - explained sources informed - are now marching towards Tripoli in a race against time with respect to Haftar's army. "We come to you or Tripoli", thundered the general, who appeared on video dressed in full uniform, evoking the song of Muslim pilgrims to Mecca who intone "to you we come or Allah". The forces of the field marshal moved on three directives, the first from Kufra to Tripoli, with the mobilization, in fact, of at least 300 vehicles. The second from Benghazi, where the general follows the operations, towards Sirte, the city of Gaddafi and former capital of the Black Flag Caliphate in the Maghreb, garrisoned after the liberation in 2016 by the forces of Misrata. The third south of Tripoli, in Garian, less than 100 km from the capital, where forces aligned with Haftar, with a coup, took control of the city, appointing a new mayor and a new police chief. "Today we are making the earth tremble under the feet of the unjust," warns the general, urging the forces in charge of Tripoli to surrender. An appeal that falls on deaf ears: the head of the city's militias replies in a message on Libyan TV that his battalions are "ready" to "repel any attack" by the general. Even the rebels of the Seventh Tarhuna Brigade, protagonists of the mobilization in September, lined up to defend the capital in harmony with the allies of Misrata. The same is true for Zintan, another militarily strategic "city-state" which in the past had been close to the general. In addition to the resistance force, Haftar's Army is having to contend with the thousands of mobile units of Misrata, and with a supply line that may be too extensive.
An Arab country has given the green light to Khalifa Haftar, commander of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA), to launch the military operation on Tripoli. This was stated by the Minister of the Interior of the Libyan National Accord government, Fathi Bashagha, to the television station “al Hurra”. "We feel betrayed by the international community which has not kept its promises," said Bashaga. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said he was "deeply concerned" by the clashes between militias that took place on April 3 south of Tripoli, Libya, and the "risk of confrontation". In a message on his Twitter profile, Guterres said: “There is no military solution. Only intra-Libyan dialogue can solve Libyan problems ”. For this reason, Guterres "calls for calm and moderation, while preparing to meet Libyan leaders in the country".
On 3 April, the general command of the LNA announced the launch of a military offensive affecting the western area of Libya aimed at "cleaning it from the presence of terrorist groups". According to the press office of the Benghazi general command, "the movement of the armed forces is taking place under the orders and direct control of the supreme commander", meaning General Haftar. An eight-minute film was also released showing a long column of armed vehicles in motion. The note explains that "the army units are moving west to cleanse it of what remains of the terrorist groups present in their last stronghold in the western region". It is specified that "the military units will take care to preserve the safety of Libyan citizens and public goods".
In recent years, Libya has primarily been a battleground within the Gulf Cooperation Council (CCG) between the Emirates and Qatar: Abu Dhabi has supported the struggle of General Haftar against Islamist militias together with Egypt; Doha and Turkey supported the Tripoli national agreement government and groups close to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. Together with Turkey, Doha is the main rival, in addition to Iran, of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, especially after the boycott of Doha launched in June by the two Gulf countries together with Bahrain and Egypt, the main sponsor of Haftar in Libya. However, Haftar's move comes after the general's first visit to Saudi Arabia last March 2017. A mission that raised the level of Saudi Arabia's involvement in the Libyan crisis. So far, in fact, the kingdom had maintained a low profile on the Libyan dossier.
Haftar's visit marked a change of pace for Saudi Arabia in the Libyan crisis, the resolution of which has become for the Gulf countries a fact not only of regional stability, but also of an ideological-religious agenda, like the clash with the 'Iran in Yemen and Syria. With his visit to Riyadh, Haftar further strengthened his position at the regional level, after having taken control of two thirds of the country's territory and of all border crossings except Ras Jedir with Tunisia on the ground. by the Government of National Accord of Tripoli. On the ground, Haftar's forces have for some time been a barrier to Islamist militias and armed groups with their own political agenda. Already on March 11, the alarm went off in Sirte - former stronghold of the late Colonel Muhammar Gaddafi, which fell under the control of jihadists in May 2016 and freed in December of the same year from the "city-state" of Misrata - for fear that Tripolitania could suffer an attack by Haftar.