Haftar and his covert israel ally in the war for Libya
Opinion analysis by anonymous Staff Writer
June 2nd, 2020
The identity of this Staff Writer will remain undisclosed for security and safety reasons.
Libya has been experiencing an ongoing civil war for a year between the Eastern government led by military commander Haftar and the Western government led by UN appointed Prime Minister Fayez Seraj.
Both sides have had international support and funding of their weaponry most noticeably Turkey for the Western government and Emirates for the Eastern government, giving rise to suspicion of a proxy war taking place. Despite the evident involvement of various international actors, israel providing weaponry and specialists to Haftar’s government has not been a notion of common knowledge.
If Haftar succeeds in his pursuit of the capital Tripoli and leads the country, Libya will be forced to have relations with israel. According to an interview conducted by the Hebrew-language newspaper with Haftar’s foreign minister, Abdul Hadi Al-Howeej, he says," we are a member state of the Arab League and are committed to its decisions, as well as those of the UN," (Middle East Monitor,2019). Al Araby television reports that air defense systems manufactured in israel are being sent to Haftar via UAE. (Melman, 2020).
Furthermore, Haftar's army, which consists of tribes, militias, and mercenaries, are receiving street warfare training from Israeli specialties to prepare them for the war waged against the UN-appointed Government of National Accord. The coordination is conducted by Egypt, which transfers the israeli specialists to Haftar's territories.
The israeli military is extremely specialized in street warfare due to battles fought in densely populated Palestinian refugee camps (The New Arab,2019). As such, this proves beneficial to Haftar, who is similarly fighting a war in Tripoli with an estimated population of 1,165,085 (World population review, 2020). Because israel has historically had an interest in Libya, due to Ghedaffi's commitment to the Palestinian cause, many Libyan officials have been followed and tracked by israeli intelligence (Melman, 2020).
This arrangement Haftar has pursued also brings in the question of borders . Currently, Libyans are prohibited from traveling to the occupational state of israel as it is considered occupied territory by the Libyan government. However, if Haftar gains control of Libya he will change that and allow israelis to travel into Libyan territory since he intends to have diplomatic state relations with israel.
This will not only prove to be taboo for an Arab government to have friendly relations with israel but will also not settle well with the Libyan population who harbor strong opinions agaisnt israel due to their affinity with the Palestinian cause. Consequently, this probable access of territorial entry into the future if Haftar wins his war is not something to look over by everyone involved.
References
Arab, T. N. (2019, December 7). EXCLUSIVE: Israeli military 'secretly training' Libya's Haftar militias in street warfare. Retrieved from https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/12/7/exclusive-israeli-military-secretly-training-haftar-militias-in-libya
Libya's Haftar hopes to have normal relations with Israel. (2019, December 2). Retrieved from https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191202-libyas-haftar-hopes-to-have-normal-relations-with-israel/
Melman, Y. (2020, April 15). Israel's little-known support for Haftar's war in Libya. Retrieved from https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-little-known-support-haftar-war-libya
Tripoli Population 2020. (2020). Retrieved from
https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/tripoli-population/