Reports

For the last decade, external sponsors and non-state actors have pursued conflicting interests in Libya, turning the initial civil war into a protracted conflict with no end in sight. However, recent events suggest that the country is once again on Washington’s radar. Given the wide-ranging regional security risks posed by ...

In October, the key domestic actors in Libya’s conflict resumed political dialogue. Three factors have helped this process: the military setback suffered by the warlord ruling in the east, Khalifa Haftar; the prolonged cease-fire, and the mounting street protests as the country sinks into chaos.

The UAE is among a number of regional and global powers that have inserted themselves into the years long civil war in Libya. The small Gulf state has been keen to influence maritime dynamics, control energy infrastructure and preserve access to the Sahel. The UAE will likely follow a softer ...

The militias of Tobruk-based warlord Khalifa Haftar failed to take the capital of Libya and are being pushed out from the western part of the country, where there are strategic oil fields. Turkey’s intervention played a decisive role in this military outcome. As other external powers engaged in Libya consider ...

After nearly a decade of conflict and foreign interventions, the Libyan conflict is nowhere near resolved. Weapons and ammunition are still being delivered to both parties by external actors, perpetuating the fighting. With deep divides in both the international community and Libyan society, the situation is unlikely to change in ...

With the international community paralyzed by political strife, the Libyan conflict appears set to intensify in the weeks ahead. If the Libyan National Army enters Tripoli, the ensuing fight will be incomparably more brutal than previous battles. It is likely that Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and his army will break ...

Libya has been a test case for the European Union’s ability to intervene effectively in its neighborhood. Yet eight years after the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, the country is still torn by civil war and virtually ungovernable, while refugees and migrants continue to flow north. With the key EU ...

Turkey provides considerable assistance to the Libyan Government of National Accord in its war against the Libyan National Army in the hope of gaining access to the oil-rich Mediterranean Basin. More than religious sentiment, it is Prime Minister Erdogan’s wish to see Turkey become a key player in the region ...

Khalifa Haftar, the military leader of one of Libya’s two battling governments, tried to short-circuit a UN-sponsored peace process by launching a lightning offensive against the nation’s capital, Tripoli. Instead of a successful blitzkrieg, however, his overstretched forces found themselves stuck on Tripoli’s outskirts – blocked by a militia cartel ...

In North Africa, France and Italy share vital national interests on migration, terrorism and energy. Yet profound differences on tackling these issues – rooted in history and leadership styles – has put them in direct competition, and even led to a diplomatic crisis earlier this year. Nowhere is the rivalry ...

Libya continues to fall apart. Daily life is in a downward spiral, militias run Tripoli like criminal cartels, and as rival governments in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica vie for control, the desert interior is up for grabs. UN mediation has failed to overcome these centrifugal forces, and hopes for U.S. involvement ...

The recent outbreak of fighting in Libya’s capital shows who are the real masters of the country – the militias. The international community’s focus on the reconciling the feuding governments in Tobruk and Tripoli ignores how they have already been captured by local warlords. Until the grip of these armed ...

As Libya’s civil war sputters on, the country’s principal source of revenue remains its oil fields. The feuding Tripoli and Tobruk governments have allowed the National Oil Corporation to keep managing operations, with the Central Bank of Libya apportioning revenue among the various factions. Now, a power struggle is disrupting ...

It seems Western powers have again been caught off guard by Russia’s moves in the Middle East. This time, Moscow is stepping up cooperation with Libya, an old ally. Closer ties with the Tobruk government could give it a pretext to strengthen its presence there, and even potentially to establish ...

As war threatens to engulf a region stretching from Iraq to sub-Saharan Africa, the United States, Europe and their allies must come up with a coordinated strategy for intervening. A major international conference where a plan could be hashed out would be a good place to start. In any possible ...

As Islamic State begins to lose ground in Syria and Iraq, regional and global powers are trying to carve out their own spheres of influence. The struggle is less military than political, and will hinge on negotiations to establish workable solutions, federal and otherwise, in both countries. But managing the ...

The flow of illegal immigrants across the Mediterranean to seek a better life in Europe's welfare environment, many drowning in unseaworthy boats on the way, are a huge concern, writes Prince Michael of Liechtenstein.Now they have become an election issue in the UK although Britain receives far fewer refugees than ...

France, Great Britain and the United States helped create the chaos in which Libya now finds itself. Large swathes are under the control of militias and it is teetering on the brink of secession, with its borders wide open. Assassinations are multiplying and there are currently some 8,000 former Gaddafi ...

Each time there is a fall-out between Russia and Ukraine, urgent calls are made for the European Union to free itself from Russian gas. The reality is that the EU is in a better state than it was 20 years ago, partly because it has succeeded in diversifying its gas ...

A different model of political development and organisation is needed in the Middle East to avoid endless cycles of war and chaos. The conflicts have increased in intensity since the so-called Arab Spring of 2010. One way forward would be to develop ‘cantons’ in Iraq, Syria and Libya to achieve ...

After a brief period of calm following the civil war in 2011, Libya is experiencing a new wave of turmoil. Security challenges and political rivalries between different groups vying for control of local oil and gas resources and power have resulted in a significant fall in oil production and exports, ...

The euphoria over the downfall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011 has long since evaporated, as the country sinks further into chaos, and militias and tribes vie for power. The production of oil and gas, however, is back to pre-conflict levels, with energy companies showing no signs of backing away ...

Liberals appear to be the winners of Libya’s first free elections since the defeat of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. Early results indicate the coalition party – the National Forces Alliance – has won more than half the seats in the new National Congress edging out the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and ...

Threats of new divisions between the east and west of Libya could plunge the country back into civil war. Some in the oil-rich east, which has 80 per cent of Libya’s oil, want independence from the rest of the country. And this uncertainty is causing apprehension among foreign investors who ...