Last June marked the last Libyan national army withdrawals from the entire western region, to draw a defensive line from the city of Sirte in the north to the neighboring Al-Jufra region home to Libya’s largest strategic airbase, towards the south, forming a “cold front” waiting for any spark that could fire up a regional war.
The last two months were distinguished internationally, as the play between the supporting forces shifted to the table, starting with unlimited Turkish support, on the other side, Russian support, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s assertion of the defense line of the National Army in what became known as the Sirte al-Jafra red line.
On the other hand, the European position witnessed a clearer move by activating the “IRINI” operation off the Libyan coast to monitor the prevention of the flow of weapons, the last of which was the Germans’ movement of a warship with which the European Union was ready to revitalize the operation.
This comes in addition to the American role, which is no longer content with moving from behind, to exert pressure on the Turks to limit their expansion in the Mediterranean basin, whether the exploration process in the eastern basin or their approach to ignite an international armed conflict in North Africa through the Libyan crisis. The US expressed its keenness to prevent a war between its allies in the region.
In light of all this, the rulers of Libya stand on both sides in a waiting circle, as Libyans wonder whether they have a future role left, and whether they are the ones who determine the beginning of any future conflict or even peace if they like; or whether the political path of consensus and negotiation has significance or meaning.
Their cause turns into a struggle between superpowers that cannot even expect what they are planning.
All this is happening, and the Libyan issue for the people of the country turns into an issue of existence in the absence of a free, unified and effective national will that saves what can be saved from a country whose fate has been blown by the wind.
