Civil War in Libya: The ominous hum of drones

Actually, the international allies of the Libyan warring parties had met in Berlin on Wednesday to finally end the civil war in the North African country. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had invited diplomats from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, the US, Russia and the EU countries in the context of the so-called Berlin Process to stop arms deliveries to Libya and to prepare a peace conference , However, the silence after the meeting made it clear that the war in Libya continues.

Because both Libyan warring parties are convinced that they can win the civil war and are not prepared for a ceasefire. Chancellor Merkel recently called for a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian mercenaries of the private service provider Wagner are reportedly on duty since the summer on the side of the warlord Khalifa Haftar.

Since the spring of its Libyan National Army (LNA) tries to take the capital Tripoli and thus gain control of the entire country. The result of his offensive so far are more than 1000 dead and over 100,000 displaced persons. However, up to now, it has hardly been possible to gain ground in the majority of soldiers from Haftli, who come from eastern Libya.

Sonore hum in the sky over the capital

After Hafter has expelled the various radical and Islamist militias of the "Libyan shield" after three years of housing combat from the East Libyan Benghazi, he now wants to drive away their fled to Tripoli commanders. A few hours before UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced a peace conference, Haftar issued the order to attack in April. "We will chase away the terrorists and Islamists from the ministries and the central bank," said the only of his supporters "Mushir", Field Marshal, called 74-year-old in his speech at "Hour 0". But the surprise attack failed. (Read here a detailed portrait of Khalifa Haftar)

Since Haftar had too few soldiers to overrun Tripoli, he now sets with the help of mercenaries from Chad and Sudan on a grueling tactic. Even the capital militia of Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj are missing volunteers in order to win the position war against the radical groups on the one hand and Haftar's troops on the other. The warring parties are therefore now using drones delivered from abroad. Day and night a sonorous hum in the sky over the Libyan capital can be heard.

On the front line in Ain Sara in the south of Tripoli, the government fighters pay more attention to the combat drones circling above them than to the positions of the Haftar troops only a few kilometers away. "Mostly they can not be seen, as soon as their cameras detect several soldiers, they shoot their missiles out of nowhere," says Commander Jamal Alaweeb, saying that since April alone, his men have been staging 1000 drone strikes on this front.

Africa's oil richest country is raging the world's first international drone proxy war.

It is about access to the still abundantly filled state coffers. Since the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) recognized Libya's strategic position between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe in 2013 and conquered a 180-kilometer-long stretch of coastline at Sirte, Libya has been the raiding ground for numerous armies. The radicals were displaced with militia from the port city of Misrata, supported by the US Air Force.

Video: Chaos and violence in civil war Libya

Video

MIRROR TV

Now it is the drones delivered from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates firing along the 80-kilometer front south of Tripoli to groups of uniformed men heading out of cover. According to a report by the United Nations Commission on Experts on Libya, there were also unknown foreign fighters who killed 53 refugees and injured another 130 in an attack in the Tagiura suburb on 2 July.

According to the assessment of the UN experts, the Wing-Loong drones from Chinese production used by Haftar are controlled by Emirati specialists. During a visit to Tripoli, Libyan militiamen tell the SPIEGEL that Turkish specialists are working on the part of the Prime Minister's GNA troops. Despite the UN arms embargo since the Libyan revolution, the Turkish government delivered drones of the type Bayraktar-2 by ship to Tripoli.

A few hundred meters away from the front of everyday life in the two-million metropolis seems to continue normally. Since the capital militias are active about ten kilometers south of the center, armed police officers are patrolling again for the first time on the traffic-prone streets of the capital.

But the superficial normality is deceptive. In the Libyan Sahara, IS fighters south of the city of Bani Walid have once again taken control of a larger area. Again and again checkpoints are attacked by Haftar and Serraj militias with car bombs.

Europe is also involved in the drone war

Because of the Islamists and the continuing precarious situation in the Libyan refugee camps, Europe has long been interfering in the Libyan civil war. French military officials fear that radicals coming from Libya to Libya could destabilize neighboring countries, as they did in 2012.

Since three French soldiers died in July 2016 in a helicopter crash in Benghazi, the Paris Ministry of Defense no longer denies that special forces are deployed in Libya. Italian troops meanwhile operate a field hospital at the airport of Misrata, whose assigned soldiers are fighting alongside the Sarraj government and are launching commandos with an unknown destination from Misrata, as Libyan commanders told SPIEGEL. Last Monday, Haftar's air defense allegedly shot down an Italian drone.

However, both Paris and Rome are also involved at the diplomatic level: French President Emmanuel Macron managed in May last year to persuade Haftar and Sarraj to a common group portrait in Paris. Half a year later, at the Italian government's Palermo conference, Haftar refused to meet his archenemy. The peace conference planned by Guterres in the Libyan oasis Ghadames came before Haftar with his surprise offensive on Tripoli.

Darrin Zammit Lupi / REUTERS

Libyan Air Force pilot in front of his Mirage jet: It's about air sovereignty over the front line

According to the Italian website "ItalmilRadar", US cargo planes regularly commute between the Ramstein military base and Benghazi, the headquarters of Haftar. The Africa Command of the US Army in Stuttgart does not comment on the missions. Rumors persist that even 100 Russian mercenaries of the so-called Wagner group fight for Haftar. This is reported by the agency Bloomberg and a group of investigative Russian bloggers.

Now the way out of the Libyan chaos in Berlin should be found. During his visit to Libya at the end of October, Foreign Minister Maas reported that he had been asked by the Libya Commissioner of the United Nations, Ghassan Salamé, for his German engagement.

After his meeting with the largely impotent Premier Sarraj, Maas seemed sobered. Sarraj rejects a truce without a withdrawal from Haftar's army. But the field marshal controls the oil resources of Libya and large parts of the country. He rejects a diplomatic solution without deduction of all enemy militia from Tripoli.

The night before the meeting in Berlin, his air force flew a precision attack on an ammunition depot right in the center of the port city of Misrata.