Libya has become the battlefield among paramilitary forces.
The capital, Tripoli, has been in a critical state since 4 April, when Khalifa Haftar, the renegade military commander, ordered his troops to advance on Tripoli.
Haftar troops, majorly supported by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE), have not made any success yet and are now launching attacks on residential areas in Tripoli to compensate for their military failures.
After Haftar military failure, western countries, backed up by Saudi Arabia and UAE, are now trying to run a new plan. They are trying to exaggerate ISIS presence in Libya and has started publishing several news about ISIS threats in Libya.
The scheme is, however, an elaborate one. Recently, after five years of silence, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, ISIS leader, released a video. The video has caused concerns about the possibility of him being alive and has given rise to speculations about his whereabouts.
Daily Express has recently published a report saying that UK and Arab countries are aiming to go to Libya to look for Al-Baghdadi since they have received intelligence that he has fled to Libya.
According to the report, British, American and Italian planes are carrying out round-the-clock flights in search of a symbol to define Al-Baghdadi as a target.
We should not forget that ISIS was initially created by western intelligence services, and especially those of US.
It was actually created so that US can use it as an excuse to lead an international coalition to Syria where it can both give logistic and military support to terrorist groups and attack the country’s army bases and residential areas.
US also substantially supported QSD, the Kurdish militia group in Syria, a group that Syrian people had long requested to cast out in demonstrations.
And the same scheme was carried out in Iraq.
Libya National Oil Corporation (NOC) Chairman Abdallah al-Badri has recently announced that new conflicts are posting a serious threat to oil production in Libya.
In 2016, Haftar troops took hold of the majority of Libya oil fields by seizing the fields controlled by ISIS. Most Libya oil infrastructures are located in the east that is majorly controlled by Haftar forces.
Clearly, US and President Donald Trump are supporting Haftar to get their hands on Libya oil since Haftar is their puppet. If an army rose from among the people and ousted Haftar, US could not grab hold of the country’s oil.
Subsequently, Trump thanked Haftar for safeguarding the oil sources over a phone conversation.
In near future, west might substantially expand its military presence in Libya. On the one hand, they want to support Haftar troops and put him into power. On the other, they want to take hold of Libyan oil fields under the pretext of protecting the country from ISIS and capturing Al-Baghdadi.
The current turmoil in Libya gives them the best opportunity to run this plan.
MNA/TT