Will Libya Become a Failed State Run by Islamist Militias?

America is still trying to understand what happened on 11 September 2012 when US Ambassador Chris Stevens was murdered by terrorists who attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, and I'll cover the latest details tomorrow. But, today in Benghazi the breaking news is that fierce clashes killed 24 people and wounded at least 120 others when a paramilitary force led by a former general attacked islamist militias in Benghazi. Local media reported that government troops participated in the attack against the islamists. But acting Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni condemned the operation as "a coup against the revolution." The attack included dawn air strikes on militia bases and 6,000 troops storming a series of bases and checkpoints around the city. Eyewitnesses told the BBC that Benghazi was in chaos, with jets flying low over rooftops, tanks on the streets, heavy weapons detonations and aggressive fighting. "The fighting is close to my house," said one resident in the Hawari district. There are questions about whether the attacks were officially approved. The government in Tripoli denounced the offensive led by Khalifa Hiftar, a former commander of the 2011 uprising that deposed Muammar Qaddafi. Hitfar announced that the operation was launched to clear Benghazi of islamist militias and restore Libya's dignity. In February, Hiftar called on the army to mount a coup against the government, and he seems to have the support of a significant proportion of Libya's armed forces, even though the depth of the support is unclear. He insisted today's Benghazi operation was sanctioned by army commanders, saying : "All reserve forces are mobilized. If we fail today, the terrorists win." But the Libya government's chief of the general staff, Abdu Salam Jadallah, branding Hiftar a criminal and ordered Benghazi's militias to fight back. Air force planes struck the bases of the Rafalla al-Sahati and Ansar al-Sharia militias. Ansar al-Sharia has been named by Washington as one of the terrorist organizations that led the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi and the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. ~~~~~ There are few foreigners in Benghazi now. Most diplomatic missions were evacuated after a 2012 string of attacks and bombings. Britain closed its consulate in the city in 2012 after a rocket attack on the former ambassador wounded two of his bodyguards. The American consulate was the last large diplomatic staff that had not been evacuated from Benghazi when it was attacked in 2012, and the American Congress wants to find out why as part of its new probe. Elsewhere in Libya today there are reports of pro- and anti-government forces mobilizing, as instability in Libya increases, with the national congress split between islamists and their allies and non-islamists, paralyzed by rivalries, and little progress toward full democracy since Qaddafi was overthrown in 2011. The new constitution is still not written. A new prime minister, Ahmed Maiteeg, was elected earlier this month, but opponents labelled his election fraudulent, and Maiteeg has not yet taken office, so the prime minister job stays for the present in the hands of former defense minister Abdullah al-Thinni, himself a replacement for Ali Zeiden who was fired in March. The Algerian embassy staff was evacuated this week by an Algerian special forces team after threats were made to the embassy and staff. Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that a force of 200 Marines, backed by helicopters and vertical takeoff aircraft, has been sent from Spain to Sicily so that they will be poised for faster action if Libya's unrest escalates. The US and Europe are helping build up a regular army but Libya's armed forces and government cannot control the brigades of ex-rebels and militants who once fought Qaddafi. The nation's vital oil export industry has suffered badly, being targeted by armed protesters seeking a greater share of oil wealth. Since last summer, armed protesters have repeatedly closed down ports and oilfields bringing production down to around 200,000 barrels per day from the 1.4 million bpd that the OPEC member state produced before the protests erupted. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the situation in Libya is so fragile that experts are suggesting that it is rapidly becoming a failed state. The militias that have formed fiefdoms in the vacuum caused by a non-functioning national government are uncontrolled and dangerous. They often work with the weak Libyan army, but more often impose their will on pockets of undefended population. The militias are usually either openly islamists or infiltrated by them. They also add to the growing islamist-terrorist threat in northern Africa. Libya is clearly another country recently liberated from a tyrannical regime where tribal and secular interests are standing in the way of creating a sense of nationhood. The UN and the West should try to help before Libya explodes again, as Egypt did, or becomes a rogue area whose oil supplies could become a major financial support for terrorist groups.