Egypt and U.A.E. Said to Secretly Bomb Militias in Libya

[YankeeFan]

The other day, I nearly started a thread asking who was launching airstrikes in Libya.

My guesses would have been, in no particular order, the US, France, and/or Britain.

Turns out, it was Egypt and the U.A.E.:

Twice in the last seven days, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have secretly launched airstrikes against Islamist-allied militias battling for control of Tripoli, Libya, four senior American officials said, in a major escalation of a regional power struggle set off by Arab Spring revolts.

The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without informing Washington, leaving the Obama administration on the sidelines. Egyptian officials explicitly denied to American diplomats that their military played any role in the operation, the officials said, in what appeared a new blow to already strained relations between Washington and Cairo.

The strikes in Tripoli are another destabilizing salvo in a power struggle defined by old-style Arab autocrats battling Islamist movements seeking to overturn the old order. Since the military ouster of the Islamist president in Egypt last year, the new government and its backers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have launched a campaign across the region — in the news media, in politics and diplomacy, and by arming local proxies — to roll back what they see as an existential threat to their authority posed by Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.

nyti.ms/1p9iYmu

This is pretty startling. The fact that two Muslim nations think the threat of Islamism warrants these attacks is news. The fact that they did not give the U.S. a heads up is also pretty incredible.

 

[old_tony]

The other day, I nearly started a thread asking who was launching airstrikes in Libya.

My guesses would have been, in no particular order, the US, France, and/or Britain.

Turns out, it was Egypt and the U.A.E.:

Twice in the last seven days, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have secretly launched airstrikes against Islamist-allied militias battling for control of Tripoli, Libya, four senior American officials said, in a major escalation of a regional power struggle set off by Arab Spring revolts.

The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without informing Washington, leaving the Obama administration on the sidelines. Egyptian officials explicitly denied to American diplomats that their military played any role in the operation, the officials said, in what appeared a new blow to already strained relations between Washington and Cairo.

The strikes in Tripoli are another destabilizing salvo in a power struggle defined by old-style Arab autocrats battling Islamist movements seeking to overturn the old order. Since the military ouster of the Islamist president in Egypt last year, the new government and its backers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have launched a campaign across the region — in the news media, in politics and diplomacy, and by arming local proxies — to roll back what they see as an existential threat to their authority posed by Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.

nyti.ms/1p9iYmu

This is pretty startling. The fact that two Muslim nations think the threat of Islamism warrants these attacks is news. The fact that they did not give the U.S. a heads up is also pretty incredible.

Least surprising part of the story.

 

[britwrit]

Oh no! the US State Department exclaims. How could you do that UAE and Egypt... exactly what we wanted to do but can't right now?

 

[Football_Bat]

Suuuuuurrrrrre the U.S. didn't know about it.