Very hot Mediterranean, not only at sea but also in the skies. We are talking about the "shadow" missions in Libya and Tunisia by the US special forces. The demonstration was already given by PRP Channel which had reported activity suspicious last March. A US Fairchild C-26 (multi-mission surveillance / transport) had taken off from Misurata with destination Sigonella. The radar tracks overlapped as always from the Sicilian base an RQ-4B drone (11-2048) radio call FORTE10 had risen with destination Libya. Also used are the Global Hawks that are usually destined for the Black Sea or in any case in long-range missions close to the Russian borders as happens with the RQ-4B (10-2043). The need to raise an RQ-4B drone is often necessitated by adverse weather conditions in desert areas (high resolution synthetic aperture radar can penetrate through clouds and sandstorms) or for a persistent new aerial assessment of the operational context. It was therefore noted that the main US surveillance and troop transport platforms deployed in the bases of Sigonella, Trapani and Pantelleria often carry out flights to Libya. Cyprus is also very active with Dash 8.
Other than shadow missions, they leave the transponder of military aircraft on. Operational situation that with applications, accessible to all, it is possible to follow "real time". Missions that they should remain secret. Like the Imint / Sigint mission last March near Agedabia, south of Benghazi with a Gulfstream IV, registration number N338MM, which took off from Trapani. A few hours earlier from Pantelleria a B350 registration number N351DY had taken off for Libya. The data on the Magma fleet (radio code) is even more interesting, the C-146As take off very often from Pantelleria and Sigonella to Libya and Tunisia. The main mission of the C-146A is the infiltration and exfiltration of special forces and all other top-secret operators deployed around the globe. The Wolfhounds (C-146A) are deployed with the 524th Special Operations Squadron of the Air Force Special Command Command (AFSOC), at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. So many American secret missions that take place periodically to counter and fight terrorism in the world. Are they legal? There are many doubts about this question that are raised both by the media and by the American Congress.
Secret missions to combat terrorism in Africa that dictated the attention of the American Congress when four American soldiers were killed in Niger. Another operation that attracted attention was an air strike against al Qaeda men in southern Libya, a very hot area frequented by radical Islamists and jihadists.
The American newspaper the Politician has recently written that the American special forces in Africa do not carry out only monitoring operations, but perform real combats, in support of local forces.
Politico then considered the missions regulated by Federal Law 127e, which precisely concerns special operations to combat terrorism. As the law states, American soldiers should only provide assistance, training and advice to local troops. They do not have to participate in the fighting but can only go to the battlefields at the end to gather information for analysis.
United States Africa Command, the command for US operations on the African continent, through its spokesman, did not clarify the countries involved in counter-terrorism operations. However, some sources within the Trump administration, who asked for anonymity, indicated eight countries: Libya, Somalia, Kenya, Tunisia, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, with particular attention to the countries of North-West Africa, which in addition to hosting many jihadists, they are also a transit point for migrants who decide to reach Libya and then cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
The disagreements in the US about this type of "secret" missions are leading the Congress, pressured by the media, to ask more and more often to hear hearings to know exactly what is happening in those countries and above all the level of US participation. In this regard, Joseph Votel, who was commander of the American forces in the Middle East, in a recent hearing in Congress defined the program to combat the earthly, "low-cost, small and very discreet".